Parental Involvement : Children 's Academic Performance And Self Competency Level

An obstacle I have witnessed in my school is the lack of parental involvement. Throughout this year, I believe the parents' investment in their children education has been disheartening. I can say in my own classroom, nearly one-third of student’s parents have no idea how they are doing in school academically. About one-sixth of student’s parents don’t sign daily agendas or notes that are sent home. Only about one-fifth of parents consistently attend school programs. My biggest concern is that too many parents are disengaged. Parent involvement can indeed make a difference in a child’s education. Students would perform better academically and behaviorally if their

Parents should always be an essential and ongoing part of school curriculum; just because their child starts school it does not mean they need to stop teaching them or not be a part of their child’s learning process (Lindberg, 2014). According to Lindberg, parent involvement is described as, “an ongoing and systematic approach involving such activities as providing knowledge and skills in needed matters in order to ensure and support both student’s academic and personal development, the establishment of ongoing and active communication with teachers and school administration, recruiting and organizing parents’ help and support by volunteering in the activities demonstrated in one’s school and classroom, and creating

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.

Some reasons for parents become involved in schooling are the beliefs that they should be involved, that their help is wanted, and also it will affect their student's outcome. (Hoover-Dempsey, et al) Another motivator for parental involvement is a specific invitation from their students for help. In one study, this was found to one of the main motivators along with parental efficacy and parent networks.(Ice and Hoover-Dempsey) Parental efficacy is a personal belief that the parents are able to help their student succeed.(Green and Hoover-Dempsey) Parents want to be active roles in their students’ education, find ways that they are capable to help, and find time to help at school or through homeschooling.(Green and Hoover-Dempsey, 2007)

Many schools want to incorporate a powerful and positive parent involvement community, yet face a challenge in how to implement effective strategies to involve parents in helping students reach academic achievement. I believe parents want the very best for their child, even if they do not know how to go about helping their child reach success. Students come to school with countless attributes that I may or may not acknowledge, yet parents know the many accolades about their child that I must embrace. As I build a partnership with families, we become a partnership in their child’s education. We begin to collaborate to ensure the student maximizes

Parent involvement is generally seen to have a positive effect on childhood academics. In the

In “Opening Doors: Understanding School and Family Influences on Family Involvement” by Erin Carlisle discussed how that there is many different influences that will affect how many parents are involved in the schools. Those influences could be school-related or even family-related. Most of the time, people think that parent involvement is just how much parents volunteer and help their children with their homework. But there are many other ways parents could be involved in the school: going to school activities or functions, being in leadership roles, or visiting your child’s classroom. If parents are involved in schools, it will help ease the students transition into schools in the beginning. Also, if the parents are involved the relationship

Parent Involvement during the primary school years is a key factor in a child’s education. Having parents or even a parent being involved in their child’s education significantly increases positivity in the classroom and at home. Children who know they have a parent or parents that check their homework, go over study guides, stay in contact with the teacher, etc. want to strive to do a better job in the classroom. Teachers, administrators, students and the parents can all benefit from the importance of Parent Involvement. Schools shape the community, and from the help of parents staying involved and knowing what is going on in the classroom, it helps policymakers decide what the best rules and procedures are for our schools. Studies show that students with positive parent involvement lead to better test grades, homework, and attendance. Even though parent involvement is important in all of the years of a student’s educational journey, involvement in the primary school years shape the path ahead for a successful student, which comes from a positive parental influence.

For instances, African Americans and Latinos in particular seem to have a lower Socioeconomic status compared to Asian and Caucasians who seem to have a higher Socioeconomic status. This can affect the parent involvement because parents with low socioeconomic status can find themselves working past regular hours at work to simply provide necessities to their children. This can then decrease the parent involvement in school events or assistance a child might need with schoolwork. In general the socioeconomic status within certain ethnicities show a lack of parental involvement due to factors that are impacted by the socioeconomic status of the family. In regards of a child’s education level, parental involvement is critically necessary for children to do well in school regardless of what grade level they are in. The studies demonstrated that as a child gets older and progresses through their education parental involvement begins to decrease. Therefore, parental involvement proved to be much more higher in early education (e.g. elementary school), than secondary education (e.g. middle school and high

Judge and Bono (2001) found that on the Self-efficacy scale that self-efficacy was connected to a higher sense of self-esteem. The beliefs and attitudes that one holds about self, for example, are connected to the belief in ones own abilities and subsequently to higher self-esteem, which in turn, affects parental participation in their child’s school life (Bandura, ). It seems as though parents who choose to take part in the child’s academic life have a stronger sense of their positive influence on their child’s school involvement and success. Comparatively, Hoover-Dempsey, et al., (1992) found that parent efficacy was statistically significant in three different indicators of parent engagement. Their findings highlighted that a “higher level of parent efficacy” was linked to “more hours spent in education activities with children,” whereas parents who scored lower on the Parent Perceptions of Parent Efficacy scale by Hoover-Dempsey, et al., (1992) indicated that these parents would be less involved as a result of experience low

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.

This paper was about the benefits of parents being more involved in their children’s educations, researchers have noticed that if more parents were involved in their children’s educations, they would have a more positive outlook on life. They have also found that more children would go on to furthering their education. Peters, Seeds, Goldstein and Coleman performed many research tests on this in 2007. There were many articles and much research to support that parent involvement influenced their children’s successful academic achievements. This paper concluded that parental involvement in education is beneficial to the children’s

According to Marphatia, Legaul, Edge, and Archer the environment in which parents and children live directly influence how much time is available to parents and the level of which they are able to contribute to their child’s education. Epstein, Coates, et al., tell us that what a family does with the child(ren) is more important to student success than family income or the education level of the parents. Parental participation improves student learning. Epstein defines parent involvement as families and communities who take an active role in creating a caring educational environment. Epstein says that parents who are involved with their child(ren)’s education are those who do 6 things - demonstrate good parenting skills, communicate with the school, volunteer in their child(ren)’s school, engage in the learning process at home, takes an active role in the school decision making process, and who collaborates with the school and the school based community.

The researchers of this study bring to our attention, that parents feel it is only

Parent support for classroom instruction is critical to student success. Teachers and administrators need to employ various communication strategies in the school to provide additional information to parents and to increase parental involvement in supporting classroom instruction. Engaging families is very important to longterm success that a student might have. “Research conducted by the U.S. Department of Education and others shows that family involvement- including factors such as parenting style, family participation in learning activities, and parental expectations- is a more accurate predictor of student achievement than family income or socioeconomic status” (Berg, Melaville, & Blank, 2006). Teachers and administrators can encourage participation through frequent communication and nonjudgmental attitudes. Emails, phone calls, and Classroom Schoology pages are simple strategies that the teachers at Platte River Academy (PRA) use to help connect families to the classroom. We also have the added benefit of being a charter school. When a parent chooses to send their child to our school, they agree to 20 hours of volunteer time. For most parents in our community this is a small contribution. We