Ways to Involve Parents
Parents may think volunteering to help in the classroom is the only way to be involved, well they are wrong. There are many ways parents can involve themselves in the school. Parents and family can be involved by reading to their children, checking homework, communicating with the teacher, and attending school functions; the list goes on and on. (NEA, 2003). No matter how parents contribute time towards their child’s education, it will be important. Parental involvement is important because it makes a difference in children’s lives. (NEA, 2003). This difference includes student achievement and success.
How Parental Involvement Improves Student Achievement in School
Involving parents in the education of their children directly effects student achievement in school. Research shows that involving parents in the education of their children helps increase the child’s achievement and self- esteem. (National PTA, 2003). Students’ grades improve and they like to go to school because of parental involvement. This is because parents make the students learning process fun and exciting so they participate more often. Reitz explains that when parents are involved in their child’s education the failing students extremely improve. (1990). “The greatest impact on student achievement comes from family participation in well-designed at-home activities” (Jones, 2001, p. 2). Actively organizing and monitoring a child’s time, helping with homework, and discussing school matters are three kinds of parental involvement done at home that are consistently associated with higher student achievement in school. (NEA, 2003). Parents are the first teachers and role models of their children. (National PTA, 200...
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This web page contains the results of a survey taken to find out teachers’ and parents’ views on parental involvement.
Ramsburg, D. (1998, February). Understanding parent involvement from a parent’s perspective. Parent News. Retrieved November 14, 2003 from http://npin.org/pnews/1998/pnew298/pnew298i.html.
This web page tells the reasons why parents involve themselves in their child’s school. It also explains under what circumstances these parents will participate.
Wilson, D. (2002). Parents involvement helps in child’s education. PageWise, Inc. Retrieved October 14, 2003 from http://nj.essortment.com/parentinvolvem_rhul.htm.
This web page explains how not only parents can contribute their time towards the schools.
Bishop, T. (2003, August 26). School invites parents to first day of classes. The Baltimore Sun, pp. B2.
Deplanty, Jennifer, Duchane, A Kim, Kern-Coulter Russell (2007). Perceptions of Parent Involvement in Academic Achievement. The Journal of Educational Research. Vol 100, No. 6, 361
...or parents to become actively involved in their child’s academics. Research supports that as a child ages parental involvement decreases, this is a vast problem that through communication, school activities, sending parent notices, and etc. could be fixed.
Much research has also been done on the impact that parental involvement has on an adolescent’s development and education. One study done viewed parental involvement as a multidimensional concept that includes school-based involvement, home-based involvement, and academic socialization. (Wang & Sheikh-Khalil, 2014). The researchers defined school-based involvement as communication between the parents and teacher, attending school events, and volunteering at the adolescent’s school. Home-based involvement was defined as setting up a structured time for homework and leisure, and monitoring the child’s progress. Academic socialization was defined as the parents communicating to their child their expectations and encouraging their children to form their own educational and career goals. (Wang & Sheikh-Khalil,
“Parental involvement shows to be an important factor that definitely has an impact on children’s education. Parental involvement refers to amount of participation a parent has when it comes to school and their child/children’s life. Some schools foster healthy parental involvement through events and volunteer opportunities but
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.
Izzo, C. V., & Weissberg, R. P. (2000). A Longitudinal Assessment of Teacher Perceptions of Parent Invovement in Children's Education and School Performance. American Journal of Community Psychology , 27 (6), 22.
Recent studies on parental involvement in education have found that there are many benefits for both the student and the adult when parents become involved in their children’s education. Without parent support, it is very difficult for a child to be motivated. From what I have seen growing up, only a small percentage of students are self-motivated, so it is absolutely vital that parents assist in the motivation process. I found this table to be particularly interesting and important.
Hickman, C. W., Greenwood, G. E., & Miller, M. D. (1995). High school parent involvement: Relationships with achievement, grade level, SES, and gender. Journal of Research and Development in Education, 28, 125-134.
Parent involvement affects all aspects of a child’s education. Parents must be involved as teachers, learners, supporters, and advocates of their child’s learning (Hopkings). Studies show that kids who know that their parents are involved and interested tend to take more responsibility for their own learning and behavior. Schoolwork and grades improve. Work habits improve. Less work is handed in late. Fewer referrals for behavior problems are made. Attendance increases, and fewer kids show up late for class (Hopkings). With all this information documented it shows the true importance of parent involvement in education. The more involved the parents are, the better off each child will be. So when you become a parent, get involved in your child’s education!
Parental involvement promotes the social growth of a child. Children whose parents are involved in their education have many advantages. They have better grades, test scores, long-term academic achievement, attitudes and behavior than those with disinterested mothers and fathers (Gestwicki, 2001). Parents becoming involved in their child's schooling creates extra sources of social constraint to influence the child's behavior (McNeal, 2001). For example, parents talking to their children and becoming involved in the school conveys a message to the child of education being important. Parents should be talking with your children's teacher and letting her know about your family. The more she knows about your child, the better she will be able to connect with your child.
Around twenty years ago the National Center for Education Statistics asked, “What are the Most Serious Problems in Schools”. I will link to every article referenced at the end of this newsletter. Parent involvement was a much larger issue in public schools. I think this shows it often is not the parent’s fault they are not more involved. Financial motives often can be cited by parents who don’t attend their students’ events. In Public Schools teachers said parent involvement was a serious problem: 25.5% overall, 20.6% in Elementary School, and 30.7% in High School. In contrast the Private School
A lot of children have two main educators in their life; their parents and their teachers. Parents are their first educators, the majority of what a child learns in the first few years of their life is taught by their parents. It is only when the child starts to attend an early years setting that they start to learn from another educator. Both parents and teachers continue being a major influence on their children's learning all throughout school and for the rest of their lives. The parents and the child's school both have important roles to play in the child's education and should therefore work together as a team. Parents can get involved in many different ways such as; getting involved with the school itself by helping in the classroom or supervising lunch and break times, or for those parents who work in the day and cannot find the time to help at the school they can get involved by; reading to their child at home, assisting with homework and other learning activities, teaching them songs or nursery rhymes and letting them help with everyday tasks like cooking, baking and chores. This can be categorised as: Involvement of parents in the school life or involvement of parents in supporting the individual child at home.
Parent involvement is one of the most influential aspects of student motivation. The parents are the initial teachers of the child before the child goes to school and encounters education through a teacher. If a parent is completely engaged in the learning process with a child, there can be growth between the child and the parent simultaneously. The parents set an example for the child, so that the child understands that help is in the classroom and at home. Alma Wright, a first and second grade teacher, believes that parents in the classroom are a good way to stimulate children. She says, “Their active participation is a positive influence. The school is open for parents to share their talents and motivate their children” (Drew, Olds, and Olds, 1974, p. 71).
Involving parents with school activities will benefit the school parent and the child. Teachers will have more help and will know the children closely if the parents are involved. Children feel happy and secure to see their parents around and it makes them confident too. We can start the involvement by inviting parents as volunteers for story reading and school outings. The importance of parental involvement is stressed in Lev Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory which states parents, caregivers, peers, and the culture at large were responsible for developing higher order functions. On the other hand, parents will also have a sense of inclusion in their child’s development process. Parents will share more family time and bonding with their young kids which supports the child’s psychological needs
Did you know that children spend over 1,000 hours a year in school? So, if they go to school for 13 years, that adds up to 13,000 hours when someone else teaches, influences, molds and cares for your children. But, if parents and schools work together, children can grow up as educated, competent and productive members of our society. So how can you help your children in school? One of the main ways is to get take an active role at home and at school.