Parental Involvement in Early Education: A Review of the Literature

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Parental Involvement in Early Education: A Review of the Literature

Introduction

A child’s first teacher is his or her mother and father. As a parent, involvement in the education process in the early years includes engaging the child through age appropriate games, regular reading, and simply interacting on a daily basis. A child that is engaged in this way are set up to develop into students who succeed academically. Once that child attends school, parental involvement shows that the parent places value on education. Furthermore, “staying connected to the classroom gives you ideas of how to expand what she learns at school,” (Driscoll & Nagel, 2010) thus providing parents with additional tools to implement in the home to continue the teaching process even after the school day has ended.

It is very important that schools and other education programs support family engagement in the child’s learning process. This review will examine the literature surrounding parental involvement in early childhood education specifically those looking at all ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Family involvement today goes far beyond attending parent-teacher conferences, awards ceremonies, and chaperoning on school field trips. Educator’s expectations for parental involvement has changed, and there is a plethora of research that proves that involvement of parents in early childhood education is essential to the success of students. Research points to the following three points as the main reasons why parental involvement in early childhood education is important and beneficial:

1. Parents are the child’s first educators

2. Parents have the greatest effect on their child’s learning

3. When parents partner with educators, it’s...

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... Children's Academic and Social Development in Elementary School. US National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health, 988-1005.

Fan, X., & Chen, M. (1999). Parental Involvement and Students' Academic Achievement: A. Arlington: National Science Foundation, Arlington, VA.; National Center.

Hill, N. E., & Taylor, L. C. (2004). Parental School Involvement and Children's Academic Achievement Pragmatics and Issues. Current Directions in Psychology Science, 13-161.

Jeynes, W. H. (2005). A Meta-Analysis of the Relation of Parental Involvement in Urban Elementary Student Academic Achievement. Urban Education, 40; 237.

Snow, K. (2014, May 17). Research News You Can Use: Family Engagement and Early Childhood Education. Retrieved from National Association for the Education of Young Children: http://www.naeyc.org/content/research-news-family-engagement

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