Graduation Speech : Student Achievement

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Despite the benefits of PI, there continues to be a problem in determining which (PI) methods works best for student achievement in Title I middle schools. Anderson and Keith, 1997; Jodl, Michael, Malanchuk, Eccles, and Sameroff, 2001 cited in McLoyd, Hill, and Dodge (2005), suggest that “decreased parental school involvement in middle school may be due to the adolescent’s desire for autonomy and independence” (p. 236). Bhargava and Witherspoon (2015) further believe that when youth independence increases along with failing grades, parental involvement in education is vital. A study by Epstein and Dauber (1991) cited by Hornby (2011) revealed that during the times when parents were trying to adjust to the shifting type and complexity of parental involvement with their middle-school age children, PI programs are less informative. Schools and parents must realize that the impact of not having or less parental involvement in middle school could be crucial, especially for those students who are not self-sufficient. Elias, Bryan, Patrikakou, and Weissberg (n.d) believes that a partnership between school and parents is significant in like of the fact that middle school parents are falling behind as the primary sources of influence over their children during middle school years. During the 60’s, schools had very few parents who participated in their children 's education. The involvement between parents and teachers were moderately scarce (Browne and Haylock, 2004). However, in the last 25 years, parental involvement (PI) is now an important issue for schools, parents, and policymakers. There is a large amount of studies that support that PI has a great impact on student achievement (Hornby, 2011; Jeynes, 2010; Henderso... ... middle of paper ... ...esearch. 1. Which parental involvement method has the greatest impact on student achievement? 2. What do teachers perceive as the most effective parental involvement strategies? 3. What do parents perceive as the most effective parental involvement strategies? 4. What is the relationship between race and parental involvement levels? To answer question #1, parents’ participation data in the form of Dr. Epstein’s six types of parent involvement: volunteering, communicating, learning at home, parenting, decision making, and collaborating with community will be used for the different parental involvement methods. GPA, grades, student attendance, and standardized test will be used to measure student achievement. To answer question #2 and #3, data will be compiled from teachers and parents’ surveys. To answer question #4, students and parents’ race will be used.

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