Parental Involvement On Student Motivation And Academic Achievement

The fact that African American students lag several years behind their White peers in math and reading continues to be a persistent problem in America’s public schools – a critical issue that should not be ignored in any meaningful discourse on community, literacy and public schools. The wide body of relevant research reveals many causal factors and correlates including race, socioeconomic standing, social class, teacher competence and perceptions, quality of schools, etc. It is also generally acknowledged that there is a direct, positive correlation between greater parental involvement and student academic achievement. The particular focus of this paper is on the question of to what extent parental involvement – or lack thereof- influences the academic performance of African American students. I will argue that African American student underachievement is, to a significant degree, likely to be attributable to lack of active parental guidance and involvement. The variety of factors that impact parental involvement, particularly that of parents of non-dominant backgrounds, will be examined in order to demonstrate the need for schools and teachers to diversify the approach generally taken to collaborating with parents, such that it becomes a more meaningful, inclusive and relevant process for these parents. In closing, I will draw on an interview conducted with the parents of an

Homework allows parents to become involved in their child’s education, and communicate more with their children regarding school (Plato). It is the link which allows parents to know what their child is learning at school. Homework is also a great method for reinforcing concepts learned in class. Sharon Stallings, principal of Signal High School in NJ says that “Homework is important because it’s an opportunity for students to review materials that are covered in the classroom. You need to practice in order to become proficient” (Akman). There is only so much time that teachers have in the classroom. Homework offers more practice that can’t be completed in class time so students can master the subject content. This practice at home is essential, because American students already spend much less time studying academic content when compared to students of other countries. A study by the National Education Commission on Time and Learning found that “students abroad are required to work on demanding subject matter at least twice as long as US students” (Marzano & Pickering, 2007). With that said, the fact that students in countries like Japan, Germany, and France outperform students in the US is not that surprising. Proponents of homework believe homework is one of the ways we can raise the quality and standard of American

“Homework is arguably the worst punishment inflicted upon the student body.” One would think this extreme statement would come from the 10-year boys and girls who complain to their parents about the homework they have to complete. However, Rodney Jones starts of his argument against homework using this statement. He argues that homework does not help children taking up all their time. Continuing, he explains how parents should extend child’s knowledge out of school instead of homework and in the end these assignments do not help students grade. However, in contrast of Jones’ beliefs homework indeed benefits children’s learning through the small amounts of extra practice it gives to help the students excel.

Before everyone rushes off to condemn homework altogether, they should realize the many benefits provided when students take work home. Many times, repetition has been proven as “the law of learning.” When students do work outside of school, it helps reinforce what they learn inside school. According to Wendy J. Ponte, a freelance writer with three school-aged children, there are “no studies to back up the claim” that repetition improves academic performance. While some repetition might be helpful, Ponte points out that “When kids come home with 100 multiplication problems to solve, it becomes simple drudgery.” Can a love of learning be fostered in children who are overcome with hordes of homework?

This article interviews Dr. Harrison Cooper, author and professor at Duke, about the current homework controversy. Media, along with many other outlets, discuss the homework controversy: is it unecessary or valuable practice? Cooper says that people's’ views on homework has changed very little and it has proven to be somewhat of a cycle. For example, throughout the 20th century people’s views have continued to flip back and forth for various reasons. Some of the reasons listed in the article is that homework puts too much stress on the child, they need to practice and exercise their brain, and needing to keep up with the Japanese (Walker). However, the actual amount of homework that students get has changed very little. For example, elementary

Homework has been an area of discussion for teachers, students, and even psychologists. It’s been a practice which has been used throughout the United States to help students learn material, reinforce their day’s lesson, or just as busy work to improve a student’s work ethic. Several people view homework as useless, or just plainly unhelpful; this view has been demonstrated ever since the early twentieth century, where many authors and politicians were vehemently against homework, going as far as to write whole books and draft legislation (legislation which had passed the Californian government and had been law) against homework. This opposition has ever since faded, but is now seeing a new movement around America, and there are reasons as to why that is. In an article from CNN, they quote a study from another article published by The American Journal of Family Therapy which states that: “students in the early elementary school years are getting significantly more homework than is recommended by education leaders, in some cases nearly three times as much homework as is recommended”, and, as such, students are raised within a state of stress from the first grade. Several other studies also find that homework is very hurtful; the Journal of Experimental Education published an article which had made a study that found that the average amount of time students spend on homework each night had been 3.1 hours from a sample of high-performing schools in California, when the recommended time on homework is, at most, one hour each night. Homework has been mandated work for students all around the country, and several others, and the workload seems to only be increasing, and so, how might this workload affect a student’s ability to live a healthy life, a teacher’s work plan, and a psychologist’s view of an enormous workload on a student?

The debate that is currently happening throughout America is whether children should or should not be forced to have homework, a standard part of education that has been in existence since at least early 1900’s. Homework began generations ago, and “has generally been viewed as a positive practice and accepted without question as part of the student routine;” however, “over the years, homework in U.S. schools has evolved from the once simple tasks of memorizing math facts or writing spelling words to complex projects” (Vatterott). Not only recently but even at the end of the 19th century was homework getting in the way of family life. Children normally always have house roles that they are expected to complete and around the 19th century “many families could not afford to have their children continue schooling, given the requisite two to three hours of homework each night” (Vatterott). Not just in current situations, but also the 19th and 20th centuries, the children play as helpers and workers in the

Complete the following information. Be specific in your responses. You must present a rationale for ALL items. No yes or no responses are accepted. It is unacceptable for you to copy and paste information from the study. This is to be your own interpretation of the study critiqued and synthesis of research content.

On average, American high school teachers assign approximately 3.5 hours of homework each week, meaning that teens with multiple classes spend around 17.5 hours a week working on these assignments. In only 13 years, the percentage of teens that claim they spend an hour on homework each day has increased to 45%, from the 39% in 1994 (Bidwell). Parents and students across the country are beginning to spot the flaws in these homework methods, however, claiming that academics are merely being memorized instead of thoroughly taught. Is homework truly helping America’s students? To the majority of high schoolers, the answer is clear: homework is unnecessary for academic development.

This survey will be attached to the student email using a link to the online survey engine SurveyMonkey. After clicking on the link, the consent for participating in the survey will be shown. Once the survey is accepted, the participant will give full access to the results anonymously through SurveyMonkey. The survey will be set up so that the participant can only take the survey one time. The survey will be available online for two weeks. The survey consists of 26 questions and will take between five to ten minutes to

Source A makes a point that children should use homework time to be with their families. Home life is an important factor when it comes to a child doing well in school, but children spend just as much time with their families as they do in school, not including weekends. Some people may not have as much time to do homework, but there should be at least an hour they can spare to do homework and improve their education. It should be no different than parents having to bring home paperwork from the office. That time could be spent on family too, but it’s seen as more important because it’s adult work. Children will learn that there are going to be times when sacrifices have to be made and they have to be responsible. If children stop getting homework and putting time and effort into it, then the real world will seem like a greater challenge to them because they won’t be prepared for actual work. Source B makes more neutral arguments by saying that homework is needed, but that it needs adjustments and changes in terms of what it entails, and how the student will benefit from the time they

Homework has never been a super popular thing to do after school, but some principals started noticing that it maybe taking up the time they usually use for activities they love to do. “... If we believe in developing kids' passions, we need to give them time." said Kirsten Walker, principal at Acacia(Moore). Kirsten Walker a principal for Acacia Elementary schools wanted to help kids grow their passions more by giving them the time they would usually use for homework to do so. Reading is a skill that will help any kid easily excel in their school work. If their ability to practice it is taken away They could end up even worse than where they started. “New York City’s P.S. 116 elementary school made news last year when its principal Jane Hsu abolished homework and asked families to read instead”(Schumaker). New york city realized that homework was taking away from kid’s after school activities and even extra reading time that they were losing when they have excessive amounts of homework. Homework takes up time in kids everyday lives which they could be using to get outside and have fun. “At the start of the 2013-14 school year, the Fentress County School District in Tennessee announced that it would enforce a district-wide ban on graded homework assignments because of the large amount of time it takes up”(Graham). After the realization that most kids do not have the time at

A longitudinal analysis of NAEP data by the Brookings Institution’s Tom Loveless in 2014 found that more 9-year-olds were regularly doing homework than their parents' generation: In 1984, 35% of students reported no homework the previous night. By 2012, that had shrunk to 22%. But the share of 9-year-olds reporting an hour or more of homework was also down by two percentage points in that same period, from 19% to 17%. The percentage reporting less than an hour of homework had risen from 41% to 57%. Loveless also found that 27% of 17-year-olds reported having no homework. And the share of 17-year-olds who spent more than two hours a night on homework remained unchanged at 13%. This shows that a lot of students are having homework. Kirkwood High School was trying an experiment for the sake of student and teacher mental health. Some schools across the country have already tried discarding homework, and many reports success and positive feedback from students and

Homework provides the opportunity to bridge the gap between home and school. It is a means of communication. Students are able to engage their family members in current classroom content, often leaning on parents for assistance to complete homework in the younger grades. According to V. Tam and R. Chan, it is important to “consider the home-school communication role of homework which includes designing assignments that explicitly involve parents, as in parent-child projects” (2016, p. 40). Through this, homework can help increase the opportunity for high quality family time opening up the doors for collaboration amongst family members and further enhancing the home school bond.

Homework is the first involvement step these parents can take. Parents must first support learning at home. Involving themselves in their child’s homework gives parents the chance to understand the curriculum their child is being taught (Heffer). Home based involvement was found to have a significant and positive relationship with achievement (Hickman). Parents monitoring their child’s homework, or help editing reports, appear to have a direct impact on student’s attitudes, behavior, and learning. Homework is presented as a school requirement for successful child learning. Parents could create school-like structures to support homework success. Examples of this would be to establish schedules for time use (EBSCO-hw). Parents should try to find a way to fit homework into the flow of family life. Focus on homework effort, completion and accuracy is also very important. Parents could take specific approaches in reinforcing desired behavior such as praise, reference to family standards, and extrinsic rewards (EBSCO-hw). Parental involvement in homework appears to influence student outcomes because