The Importance Of Parental Involvement In Education

Amanda and Erica’s grades may differ for a variety of reasons. Studies show that the more academic activities a parent is involved in is significantly associated with their child having higher literacy achievement, lower rates of grade retention, and fewer years needing special education (Miedel & Reynolds, 2000). Amanda’s father’s income, education, and occupation also all correlate with her literacy abilities (Buckingham, Wheldall, & Beaman-Wheldall, 2013). Parental education has the strongest influence of the three (Buckingham, Wheldall, & Beaman-Wheldall, 2013).

This critique is on the evaluation program of Freedom School Partners Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools. This evaluation report was composed in October of 2013 by Dr. D. Bruce Taylor, Dr. Sandraluz Lara-Cinisomo, and Dr. Crystal Glover members of The Center for Adolescent Literacies at UNC Charlotte, North Carolina. This is the fifth evaluation of The Freedom School Partners Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools. The main purpose of this evaluation is to analyze the outcome of this summer program on a student’s reading accomplishments while attending a Freedom School Partners in Charlotte. Ten of the nineteen Freedom Schools were chosen for evaluation.

Students utilizing the Reading Recovery program receive a half-hour lesson each day of school for 12 to 20 weeks with a specially trained Reading Recovery teacher. As soon as students begin to meet-grade level expectations and demonstrate that they can continue to work independently in the classroom, the specific Reading Recovery instruction is discontinued. The professional development for teachers trained in Reading Recovery is intentional and an essential component of successful program implementation. The Reading Recovery professional development “utilizes a three-tiered approach that includes teachers, teacher leaders, and university trainers. Professional development for all Reading Recovery professionals begins with an academic year of graduate-level study and continues in subsequent years. With the support of the teacher leader, Reading Recovery teachers develop observational skills and a repertoire of intervention procedures tailored to meet the needs of at-risk students” (Cox, 254).

Recently in the field of education, a great emphasis has been put on equal access to education and academic success in the school setting. With laws like No Child Left Behind supporting this belief, there has been an increase in academic accountability and success, especially for minority students, in the areas of reading and mathematics. The population of students is increasingly diverse and according to Sun, Nam, and Vanderwood (2010), the population of English Language Learners (ELLs) has increased significantly, representing 5.1 million students or 10% of the total public school enrollment (p. 1). In this population of ELL students 76% of students are performing below grade level in English reading, which is concerning as foundational literacy is important to academic success (Sun, Nam, & Vanderwood, 2010, p. 1). With the increasing demands of accountability and performance and the significant growth of ELL students, Response to Intervention (RTI) has been implemented to support students learning needs. Response to Intervention is a multi-tier approach, which provides struggling learners with interventions to increase learning. In regards to Response to Intervention and ELLs, there is not as much research as is present for the

Impoverished parents tend to live in towns with underfunded school districts. They are unable to give their children the proper resources to exceed. Those children go on to struggle to a livable wage, some of them even turning to crime to make ends meet. The government attempting to shorten the gap of children growing up in poverty and those growing up in the middle class. Bargain (2012) describes a few ways the government can make a difference for spending on children. The government can give cash to parents to spend on kids, which has been shown to be ineffective as only a small portion goes to the kids. More effectively, the government can create subsidies for children’s products, which has been shown to increase spending on children. Cascio (2013) speaks about how to close the education gap. Creating cash incentives for schools to increase test scores through programs such as No Child Left Behind has been shown to have some effect on helping bridge the educational gap. However, not enough is being spent to make a large enough

Reading and writing is crucial for increasing achievement among people of all ethnicities. For many young kids, books are their primary source of learning how to read and write besides the parameter of the classroom. However, there is a significant decrease in the literacy rate found in African-American communities. There is a need for stronger literacy education for this particular group of the population. A huge problem associated with that can be attributed the failure of the public school system to effectively educate the youth. According to the 2009 NAEP data, only 33 percent of 4th graders and 32 percent of 8th graders in the U.S performed at or above proficiency in reading on national tests. These results are very discouraging, in the African-American community, but the results are even worse because only 16 percent of African American 4th graders and 14 percent of African American 8th graders performed at or above the grade proficiency level in 2009.

After this past week’s lesson in regards to “Addressing Inequality in the US: Upstream Prevention,” I have a new gained awareness of government funding, educating children and making sure parents are parenting better. I agree with James Heckman’s reasoning that we must focus more on providing aid, structure and discipline towards young children long before they enter high school. Educating the young is the most effective method of addressing inequality.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether socioeconomic status impedes the cognitive development of African American boys’ literacy in schools. This is a quantitative research study using an exploratory research design. This design will show how socioeconomic status correlates with poverty, lack of parental involvement, and environmental factors. The researcher will use snowball sampling to gain participants from a referral from an initial participant from this survey. The survey will be given to 20 participants at the City View Apartments in the West Blvd neighborhood community; that will have closed ended questions for desired results of this research. All responses will be confidential and used solely for the purpose of this study.

Standard three mentions that educational leaders should promote equity among all students regardless of race, ability, socioeconomic status. Per the school improvement plan (SIP), the D accountability rating, and the STAR Reading results, I collaborated with colleagues, including the administrator, all reading teachers, and the interventionist to determine school-wide weaknesses and strengths. There had not been in depth data released for schools to analyze and identify the deficit areas at this point. However, the strengths and weaknesses were provided through another set of data called STAR Reading. STAR Reading is used as the baseline and universal screener for the district and the school to determine where students’ instructional levels are with each component of reading. It gives suggested starting points for teachers to utilize to develop activities and supports to increase student achievement

Through this week learning resources, I have learned that there are evidences that demonstrate that when a child has limited experiences he or she is more likely to have difficult comprehending what is read. It is why early childhood professionals affirm that oral language is the foundation for literacy development. Everything that children learn about speaking and listening they use for writing and reading and what they learn from writing and reading they use in listening and speaking. In other words, oral language and literacy develop simultaneously. When parents provide rich language and literacy reinforcement at home, children do better in school than those who do not. It is also known for early childhood professionals that for a child with limited experiences is more difficult comprehending what is read. For example, a child who has being exposed to many environments like a farm or like a museum will have more mentally engagement in classrooms activities about things he or she already know that children who have not had experience in those environments. Many researches showed that children that have not have a literacy development or an oral language development years before formal schooling, are less likely to be successful beginning readers, opening an achievement lag that might last through the primary grades. Some of the reasons why parents are not actively involved into their children’s educations are their socioeconomic or legal status. For example, in an immigrant family sometimes both parents have to work and sometimes they have to work two shifts. I have known families where children are the whole day in school and with nannies. Those children do not develop any skills that help them to succeed at the time of attending forming school.

More recently, the United States Department of Education, by submitting the 1996 proposal for National Education Goals, addressed the issue of parental involvement. The official U.S. government stood by the research of three decades that “parental participation in schooling improves student learning,” (U.S. Department of Education). Based on government research, family involvement programs don’t always need additional money to be successful, but leaders should stretch their own creativity to expand the programs that encourage community and family support. Parental involvement is found to be beneficial through high school, not stopping after elementary school, and parents that evolve as leaders should be encouraged to continue their role in their child’s education. The most successful parent leaders are found to play four roles in their child’s education: those roles are teacher, supporter, advocate and decision maker. The teacher-role supplements the child’s education at home, the supporter contributes his/her skills to the school, the advocate helps children receive fair treatment at home, and the decision maker participates in joint problem-solving with

Parental involvement in education is necessary in order for children to be successful when learning how to read. Children who lack support from their parents and guardians often have difficulty advancing in school, and those who do have parental support and positive home literacy experiences often find academic success at an early age. Children are expected to become fluent readers, and a foundation for reading must be established at an early age with the support of a child’s parents or guardians. Reading activities at home and the influence a parent has on their child is beneficial for young children in so many ways, and at home, parents can reinforce what is being taught at school with their children in order to create a better understanding of learned curriculum and reading skills. Strong parental support in education is an important aspect of a child’s reading development because print rich

There are several strategies that can be employed to assist those who suffer disadvantage. Early interventions, (the earlier the better), are recommended to target deficit skills through reading recovery or acceleration programs (Sparks, 1999:13-16, Cunha & Heckman, 2007:1-5). The most successful projects appear to be those that also target families, either by providing resources or through family literacy projects. Parents can thus become upskilled themselves, becoming better equipped in the process to support their children’s progress. ‘The remediation efforts that appear to be most effective are those that supplement family environments for disadvantaged

The Department of Education and Training and TISC have produced research that has indicated that children from low socio economic areas on average have far fewer students that enter university. The reason for this is that these parents have no previous experience with higher education and often don’t value this education in the same way parents from affluent areas do, hence the children do not have the role models to follow. Many of these families also do not have the finances to access school of choice and provide resources within the home that may enhance their development. Many of these parents also lack their own educational knowledge that allows them an understanding of how a child’s development processes. A simple example of this may be the fact that these parents may not understand the value of early intervention with developmental processes such as reading (How Kids Develop, 2008) i.e. simply reading to them each night.

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.