what did i learn from my data today?

After talking about my data today I learned that I think that I am on the right track; although it would have been useful to have more time to conduct research. I also learned that I need to add in secondary sources to what I think about the 'conversation' going on about parent involvement. I also learned today that the data is not cut and dry and there may be many external sources influencing behavior and results.

My data collection plan

I am still trying to do my teacher research paper on the coorelation between parent involvement and student achievement both academically and socially. Today I gave my class a survey that they filled out for me. I found that I recieved a lot of "yes" and "no's" as answers which doesn't really give me too much to work with, but I will try. I am also going to talk to my practicum teacher about what she thinks and the different students that we have in class. When I go home for Thanksgiving I am going to talk to my parents, and my friends' parents to see what they think. I may go to my old high school and see if I can do another survey, but we will see what time allows me to do. But I am stuck, where else should I try collecting data?? Any ideas?

Parent involment research question- just getting started

As stated in a previous blog, I am wanting to research the effects of parent involvment in the classroom and whether or not it is a positive or negative thing. After searching for information on my question I have realized that it is very hard to find information of parent involvement being a negative thing. As a matter of a fact, I didn't find any (except one article that Tiffany reccomended that I still need to look at). Due to the lack of articles and information on negative parent involvement i am concidering taking a new approach to my question and possibly asking why parent involvement is a positive attribution in the classroom and what future and current teachers can do to encourage more parent involment in their classroom. Almost all of the articles that i read address the idea of keeping communication with the parents positive and open from the very beginning. They say that if you start off on a good note with the parents then they will be more receptive to you if you need to address a behavior issue. Suzette Youngs wrote the article, "Parents as Reflective Partners," and talked about how the parents in her classroom are there on a daily basis. She also talked about how she looks forward to their help and knowledge and see's it as a bonus to have them in the classroom. I think that the gap in the information that I have found is with the negative side of parent involvement. i know that when i was growing up there was a kid that i went to school with and his family was too involved, and this caused him to be too uptight and timid and a perfectionist about everything.