No. 01- Parental involvement beyond the phone call: A Director's Perspective (part 1)

Parental involvement beyond the phone call - why involving parents in CTE programs is important for student success from a director's perspective with Mr. Terry Miller and Dr. Daniel Potutshnig.

What major factors contribute to or limit the success of your school's parental involvement? According to Joyce Epstein, there are six factors of parental involvement - parenting, communicating, volunteering, decision-making, and collaborating.

To learn more about Epstein's 6 factors of parental involvement and possibly utilize a survey to conduct your research on parental involvement, please refer to Mehmet Erdener article - "Principals' and Teachers' Practices about Parent Involvement in Schooling", and Dr. Cynthia Shaw' dissertation - "A Study of the Relationship of Parental Involvement to Student Achievement in a Pennsylvania Career and Technology Center" both articles as well as other resources can be found in the show notes for this episode. Specifically, Dr. Shaw's dissertation includes a survey located at the end of her paper that may help you analyze what type of Parental involvement you currently have in your classroom. The data you collect from the survey may benefit you as you move towards creating your very own parent classroom, your parent Association, or alumni Association.

Additional resources –

Additional resources including the Franklin County CTC: Student and Community Resource Guide can be accessed here.

Guest Speaker Profile –

Terry Miller is the current Assistant Director at the Franklin County CTC. He began his career as a 6th generation family owned masonry contractor and started teaching masonry at the Harrisburg Vocational Technical School in 1989. He became the Cooperative Education Coordinator in 2010 in Harrisburg and began working at the Franklin County CTC in 2014 as the Workforce Development Coordinator. He has a Master of Science in Workforce Development from Penn State. 

Dr. Daniel Potutschnig joined the Mifflin County Academy of Science and Technology as Administrative Director in July of 2011. Previously, he was the Assistant Director of the Huntingdon County Career and Technology (HCCTC) from 2009 to 2011. As Assistant Director, Dr. Potutschnig provided leadership in the area of curriculum and instruction, teacher evaluation, professional development, facility management, and adult programming. Prior to HCCTC, Dr. Potutschnig was employed by the Central Pennsylvania Institute of Science and Technology (CPI), as the Precision Machining Instructor from 2003 to 2009 where he obtained the National Institute of Metalworking Skills (NIMS) accreditation for his program. 
 
Dr. Potutschnig holds Pennsylvania Vocational II, Co-Operative Education, Principal, Vocational Director and Superintendent's Letter of Eligibility certifications. He received his Associate Degree in Machine Tool Technology from Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology. He earned his Bachelor of Science and Master of Education degrees from the Pennsylvania State University where he majored in Workforce Education and Development. He completed his Principal certification through St. Francis prior to earning his doctorate from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania in May of 2019. 

To cite the podcast -
M. Border & J. Matu (Hosts). (2021). Parental involvement beyond the phone call: A director’s perspective (part 1) (No. 01) [Audio podcast episode]. In Drive CTE with Penn State.