Principal Leadership for Special Education: An Ethical Framework

A constructive home-school relationship is an integral component of a child's educational success. Parents must be equal partners in this relationship. One way to find out what parents' needs are is to ask them. Bryan (1992) asked parents of students in different class settings (regular, resource, and self-contained) for their opinions about homework, testing, and grading practices. On the back of each survey, a space was provided for additional comments. We analyzed unstructured parental comments regarding homework, tests, and grades using qualitative meth- odology to identify patterns. The comments contained eight broad themes: (a) complaints, (b) traditional beliefs about education, (c) alternative beliefs about education, (d) communication issues, (e) beliefs about involvement, (f) stress factors, (g) involvement depends on child characteristics, and (h) compliments. Although some differences emerged between parents of children in resource and self-contained classrooms and parents of children in regular classrooms, parent comments across groups were more similar than different. We discuss homework as a means to bridge home and school and suggest further research in the realm of home-school expectations and communication.