The Importance Of Parental Involvement On Academic Success

Over the past years, most studies on the educational success of a child have focused on the factors that are within the control of the child. They are factors that are directly caused by the child himself such as the level of motivation, discipline level, hard work and the company he keeps. Only a few researchers have focused on the role parents play in the determination of the success that children have in academics. Despite their role being obscure in the scholarly work, it is evident that the involvement of parents in a child’s education plays a significant in determining whether a child will succeed or not. While most scholars argue that a child’s education success is dependent on the level of hard work he or she puts in class, recent studies by different scholars point that a parent’s involvement in school plays a significant part in the education success of their children.

One of the most controversial topics in education today is homework. This debate has been going on for decades, as teachers, administrators, and parents disagree on whether homework should be assigned, and if assigned, then what the right amount of homework should be. The time students spend on homework has increased over the years. “High school students get assigned up to 17.5 hours of homework per week, according to a survey of 1,000 teachers” (Bidwell). Recently, more fuel has been added in this debate because younger students in particular are receiving much more homework than before. Alfie Kohn, author of The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing, states that “The amount of homework that younger kids – ages 6 to 9 – have

Imagine having a full time job where you did not get paid, could not quit, and have at least a few hours of paperwork to complete each night. This is what students go through everyday with homework. Homework is assignments sent home from school for students of all ages to finish by a certain due date, for a grade. In the past decade, controversies over the amount of work kids and teens are given has lead many to study the benefits of homework to see if the work teachers assign is actually helping students academically and improving test scores. It has grown to an extreme amount, prevents kids and teens from getting the things they need in life, gets in the way of a good childhood, damages relationships, and has not proven to actually aid

“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.

This study determined parental involvement had no significant impact on the reading growth of students participating in a Reading Recovery program in rural North Carolina. The study utilized Reading Recovery entrance and exit scores as well as parental involvement percentage scores for each student. In order to determine if a significant impact existed at this location, the researcher grouped parental participation into high, medium, and low levels of involvement based on the overall percentage score and compared the growth levels of students among those parental groups.

Biscoglio and Langer believe ultimately that homework is getting in the way of created a balanced social life. They say, “If parents were no longer held captive by the demands of their children’s homework, they could develop their own priorities for family life” (157-158). In the next section of their journal, Biscoglio and Langer refer to No Child Left Behind and their standards, and how this effects how much homework is given out. They spell out the idea that in order to keep up with the standards and to stay competitive, teachers will give more homework on topics that have not been taught. They say that “Homework has displaced real teaching and real learning during school time” (158). Before getting to the main point of their article, Biscoglio and Langer explain what less homework might look like. They say that in addition to helping with the children’s health, “we could also be reducing children’s and parents’ stress levels and increasing positive mood levels…” (159). Lastly, Biscoglio and Langer end their article with their main argument that the help of grandparents with schoolwork will be overall most beneficial to the students and their families as a whole. They provide the reader with the idea proposed by Erik Erikson call generativity. Their definition states:

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 puts pressure on both kids and parents.” The things students learn on a regular bases parents did not learn back when they were in school and if they did it had a new method of doing it. The stress level of kids always studying and doing homework on a daily basis is making them overwhelming. “Homework takes away our personal time no student wants to come home and do more work on what they were already doing for the past 6 hours anyway.”

Parental involvement is vital in creating an environment for the student to thrive and succeed in. Parents are the primary caregivers and crucial assets in a child’s academic life. The parent- child relationship is very important because children tend to view their parents as being the most important role models in their lives. It is important to establish parent teacher collaboration because it allows the parent and teacher to connect in the best interest of the child. Based on the Longitudinal studies which focus on changes in behavior over time the findings of whether family involvement have a lasting impact on children’s academic achievements showed that the children in the study was more motivated, and academically did well across all grades. “The Longitudinal studies indicated that early family has potential to influence children’s academic achievement across grades.” ( Coleman 2013, p. 52). The first parent teacher conference of the school year my daughter received 2’s in english and math on her report card as well as 3’s in gym and music. When I sat down to talk to the teacher I was not so happy about her grades on her report card, so I asked the teacher what can I do to help her. As a parent you have to take a proactive measure in ensuring that

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.

It is a well known fact that students of various ages and schools are assigned homework, although the motive for giving said homework may vary depending on the teacher. However, the debate about whether homework is helping or hindering education is at a stalemate. Stated simply, homework is work assigned by teachers that students should complete at home or any other non-school setting. Just how effective is homework in the long run? Is it just adding unnecessary stress to students without truly adding enough positivity to make the homework worth it? Although homework can seem burdensome, it undoubtedly solidifies concepts learned in class and aids in the development of timeless skills such as time management and accountability.

student-teacher relationships. Education is important for both the student and the parent but it is

In today's education system, its teachers are held to a standard where they are supposed to give carrying amounts of homework to their students. While on paper this sounds like an obvious decision, recent studies have shown that while homework is helpful, the content that is on the homework can be unimportant or irrelevant. Often times homework is most important for students in high school and should be utilized more effectively. Therefore the amount of homework should remain the same, but at the same time be challenging and productive as well as relevant to the topic at hand.

Some students believe that the homework they get is unreasonable based on how long it takes them to do it. Also, homework causes stress, lack of sleep, and sometimes even lack of much-needed family time. Consequently, if this keeps up, will families become more distant? Eighth grade student who goes to school at FPMS Anna Lauber says, “Sometimes when I’m doing my homework after school, my mom or dad asks me if I want to do something with them, like sometimes my dad asks me if I want to help him clean our fish tank, and I have to say no because I have homework to do.” But this amount of homework is not just for Anna. A student from Oak Creek East Middle School Cali Eickhoff says, “In most classes, we get enough

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