St.

Cloud State University

theRepository at St. Cloud State
Culminating Projects in Child and Family Studies Department of Child and Family Studies

12-2017

Parent Communities: Key Indicator in Increasing

Parent Involvement and Satisfaction
Karin Erickson-Thoemke
St. Cloud State University, creativekarin@hotmail.com

Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/cfs_etds

Recommended Citation
Erickson-Thoemke, Karin, "Parent Communities: Key Indicator in Increasing Parent Involvement and Satisfaction" (2017).
Culminating Projects in Child and Family Studies. 21.
https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/cfs_etds/21

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Parent Communities: Key Indicator in Increasing Parent Involvement and Satisfaction

by

Karin Erickson-Thoemke

A Thesis

Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of

St. Cloud State University

in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of

Master of Science

in Child and Family Studies

December, 2017

Thesis Committee:
Jane Minnema, Chairperson
Karin Ihnen
Amy Knopf
 2

Abstract

The effect of parent involvement in schools has been a research concern for decades.
However, little research has been conducted on the impact of building parent communities
within a preschool program. This study aims to investigate the effects of developing
relationships among parents, building parent community, and determining whether or not this
increases overall parent satisfaction and involvement. A questionnaire survey will be carried
out on 26 families using a pre/post-test pre-experimental design. The findings will show that
building positive adult relationships among parents increases overall parent satisfaction and
involvement.

Key words: parent involvement, parent satisfaction, parent community, preschool

program