Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of Schools’ Values and Practices, Parents’ Motivational Beliefs, and Home Musical Background on School-Based Parental Involvement in the form of a predictive model. Survey data were collected from a sample of 205 caregivers of elementary and middle school students with special education needs in the United States East Coast. All the participants’ children were enrolled in music courses at public schools when the study was conducted. Data analysis included Pearson correlation analysis, exploratory factor analysis, maximum likelihood confirmatory factor analysis, and maximum likelihood structural equation modeling. Results of the CFA indicated significant loadings of all observed variables on the latent factors, resulting in good model fit ( = 89.531 (70), p = .06), (TLI= .948), (RMSEA= .033), (CFI= .947), (GFI= .927). Results of the SEM indicated a large effect of Schools’ Values and Practices on Parents’ Motivational Beliefs (β= .66), and moderately sized effects from Parents’ Motivational Beliefs to School-Based Parental Involvement (β= .31), and Parents’ Impressions about Music to School-Based Parental Involvement (β= .29). In addition, parental involvement was found to differ significantly by the students’ disability category.