History of Parent Involvement in Education: Family Organizations

In an educational environment portrayed by an immense weight on accountability, our nation has been occupied outlining its educational goals to allow us to take part in a global economy. Even in this situation, the notion of family and parent participation in school takes precedence. There are two substantial examples of this. First, in 1994, Congress constituted the Goals 2000: Educate America Act. In composition with Goal Flight, "By the year 2000, every school will promote partnerships that will increase parent involvement and participation in promoting the social, emotional, and academic growth of children" (Sec. 102, 8, A). Some of the aspirations of this goal encompassed the installation of programs to increase parent involvement, encouraging parents in the support of academic excellence of children at home, and shared decision making at school. Second, parents are referred to a few hundred times in various parts of the No Child Left Behind Act (2002), specifically in Section 1118, Title 1. This section of the Act is written explicitly for parent involvement. “More specifically, this section requires that school districts and schools receiving Title I dollars must have a written parent involvement policy and build school capacity to effectively

Collective research focusing on family-school partnerships provide an extensive examination of parent involvement. Smith et al., (2011) referred to parent involvement as school, family, and community partnerships for the purpose of shared expectations, responsibilities, interests, and correlating influences of family, school, and community. Epstein’s (2008) framework of parent involvement approached parent involvement typologies from an institutional perspective; the framework for this literature review was conducted with a parental perspective that may positively affect academic achievement among students in 6th – 12th grades attending high poverty, rural schools. An explanation of Epstein’s six categories of parent involvement follows:

“Good” parenting is in the eyes of the beholder, parenting varies from family to family. It is important not to judge parents based solely on how they are involved in their child’s education. Not every parents has the opportunity to be as involved as they would like to be. Deficit thinking is another way parents and children are blamed for low academics instead of teachers and institutions. Janet made me aware of how Mason’s teachers have some fault in the kind of education he is receiving. In a more positive note, Janet is helping Mason build CCW. She has created aspirations for him and is helping him develop language capita. After analyzing the data I realized that parenting is a difficult job, and society expects highly involved parents. If you are not involved you will fall into the “bad” parent category. As a future teacher this information will help me understand parental life. I will be more patient, understanding that parents cannot always be there for their child educationally. It would be my duty to be there for those students that need support and don’t have that parental

Noel, A., Stark, P., Redford, J. (2013). Parent and Family Involvement in Education, From the National Household Education Surveys Program of 2012 (NCES 2013-028), National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch.

It is doubtless that most of parents want their children get a well-rounded education which will lead children to a successful future. Some parents believe that the obligation of educating their children only belong to schools, whereas parental involvement is definitely important to their children’s education. For those parents who are willing to spend money and energy on getting involved into their

The National Education Goals, adopted in 1990, specified eight goals for educational improvement in the United States. As stated in the National Education Goals, “By the year 2000, every school will promote partnerships that will increase parental involvement and participation in promoting the social, emotional, and academic growth of children” (National Education Goals Panel, 1998). According to the final report, there was no significant change in the level of parent participation in the majority of the states. The No Child Left Behind law established strict provisions for states, school districts, and schools with regard to parental involvement among the parents of disadvantaged students for increasing academic achievement (U.S. Department of Education, 2003). Epstein suggests that schools establish comprehensive school-family partnership programs.

Department of Education called the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS); ECLS sought to measure the academic success of a randomly selected group of American schooled kindergarten students through the fifth grade (162). From this study, Levitt and Dubner came to the conclusion good parenting “techniques” have to do more with the parents themselves and less with the parent’s actions (177). Data collected from this study suggests that the success of a child is more dependent of who the parents is than what the parent does for the child. Even though it may seem parenting is not fully in the parents control, it is actually the

According to Michael Seville, a writer for Eutopia Magazine, “… parental involvement is a key ingredient in how well a student learns.” The idea of parental involvement in their school is not a concept exclusive to charter schools. There are many traditional public schools that are launching programs to do just that. In Saratoga, California, an elementary school has made it mandatory for parents to volunteer and attend a seven-session STEP (Systemic Training for Effective Parenting) class. This class is designed to help improve the parent’s usefulness when they appear in class. According to the principal of the McAuliffe Elementary, Michael Kalb, even single working parents are able to find a few hours a month to help out, even if it is in the evening. Since the inception of this program, teachers have noticed more cooperative behavior of their students and a willingness that was not present before. These types of programs could be and should be incorporated into any traditional public school in any part of the country and would create a synergy within the school of parents, teachers, and students.

Lately, it seems, parents are getting more and more involved in their children's daily lives. A parents constant involvement in their child's lives can be a good thing, when their child is still a child and not so much after they have grown up. A new trend has sprung where parents feel it necessary to ,not only, take their child to college but to stay there with them.

The research suggests parent involvement increase student’s academic achievement. The key concept is for building leaders to ensure parents feel welcome and have a voice. All the concepts and ideas sound outstanding and were backed by much research. However, the question still remains; does our society really want to close the achievement

Parent involvement in schools is positive to the extent that the child is encouraged and getting help on their homework when they need it. If the child is neglected the influence that they need from their parents, they would think that there would be no use to study and get good grades. The letter from a ”Concerned Mother” and the article, ”In Defense of Helicopter Parents” by Lisa Belkin from the New York Times, show evidence of parent influence being beneficial to a child. The influence of parents will help encourage their children to not give up, causing their determination to grow. Parent involvement from an early age will affect how they grow up academically.

As discussed above, the extensive research conducted has demonstrated that parental involvement has positive effects on student achievement (Allen, 2005; Epstein et al., 2002; Mapp & Henderson, 2002). A large portion of the research conducted has been influenced by Dr. Joyce Epstein. Dr. Epstein is the director of the Center for School, Family, and Community

One of the ways education is a shared public responsibility is through parental involvement and the affect parents have on their children’s education. Meier wanted children to be as focused on school as they were play, but she couldn’t do this without the help of parents. Parents need to work with the

A common issue within the non-profit education sector is the constant struggle to involve parents (Dunn Shiffman, 2013; Azzi-Lessing, 2010). Dunn Shiffman (2013) describes parent involvement, regarding education, as manifesting in activities such as: “supervising homework, attending a parent teacher conference, and ensuring children go to school ready to learn as well as in setting high expectations” (Dunn Shiffman, 2013, p. 68). However, it can be difficult for many of the parents in low-income communities to balance the interests of their child and the responsibilities associated with being economically self-sufficient (Dunn Shiffman, 2013; Hilado, Kallemeyn, & Phillips, 2013). In a study conducted by Hilado, Kallemeyn, and Phillips (2013)

Parental involvement in education is a vital essential for creating a cooperative environment for the student to thrive and succeed in. When a student knows that he or she is receiving support both inside and outside the school, the chances of that child becoming responsible for and active in their education are more likely. I know that there can be difficulties including parents for many reasons. Such parents may be too busy, uninterested or just feel helpless. However, as an educator, I will still have an obligation to reach out to these parents and assist them.