Discussions continue about improving the U.S. public education system. One question which is frequently overlooked is: What is the role of parents in education?
There are a variety of thoughtful and interesting conversations about everything from resource allocation, to the impact of race on educational achievement, to the most effective uses of technology, to redefining education to meet the needs of the 21st century – topical and relevant discussions that never seem to include parents. Parents aren’t completely ignored, but more often than not, the role they play isn’t a substantive part of the discussion. Their involvement becomes a less than critical part of any proposed solution. I believe we can make the argument that a significant part of the solution to the educational challenges we face requires meaningful parent involvement, not just lip service.
In all fairness, however, meaningful parent involvement can be tough. Schools are faced with federal regulations that require it (Title I, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act); there is solid evidence that when parents are involved there is a strong, lasting connection to academic achievement, and particularly for children at high risk. Many of these children have parents who themselves were unsuccessful in school; for these children, parent engagement is a real challenge.
For parents, it is generally easier when children are younger; content is easier, and schools (and children) seem a bit more welcoming to parents being involved. As children grow, however, the content becomes more difficult, schools and children are much less welcoming to parent involvement, and parents are left with just asking questions: “How was school today?” and/or “Did you do your homework?” Of course, all this doesn’t even consider the issue of parents working multiple jobs who struggle with finding time for involvement in their child’s education.
More regulations and legal structures are not necessarily the answer either. There is a subset of children, those with disabilities, who have federal protections mandating significant parental involvement. Unfortunately, those regulations often create a contentious, rather than cooperative, relationship between parents and teachers and school administrators.
When it comes to parental involvement, most people agree with the “why”; it’s the “how” that poses the challenge. The vast majority of parents want to be involved, but face significant barriers in doing so. The vast majority of schools welcome parent involvement, but with short parent meetings (for which both sides struggle to find time), it’s hard to know exactly what to do.
Although our school system is in need of change, the film did not consider the part parental involvement plays in education, a drawback of the film. Education spending in our country has more than doubled in recent decades, but children in most states have proficiency rates of only 20 or 30 percent in math and reading (Weber 6). One must wonder if, with all of this extra spending and consistently low test scores, the problem goes beyond the school system and into American families. After all, even with small class sizes, the amount of one-on-one attention is limited for each student. Isn’t it up to parents to push their children to succeed? Amy Chua, author of the book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother uses an almost militant form of parenting which – though highly controversial – demands nothing short of excellence from her children. While other children were allowed to ride their bikes or play video games with their friends, Chua demanded that her seven-year-old daughter practice t...
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
One of the primary causes of a failing education system is the insufficient amount of support from parents to improve education. For instance, majority of parents who send their children to impoverished schools are not playing an active role in their children’s education. Consequently, there are many factors that keep parents away from supporting their children’s educational needs. Parents may be working more than one job to maintain a roof...
...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.
Cheung, C., & Pomerantz, E. M. (2011). Parents' involvement in children's learning in the United
“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
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:
Parent and community involvement does not occur overnight, it takes time and work to build a trusting, visionary driven environment. When people walk into a school, they can immediately get a sense of the school
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.
Parent involvement is a major topic of concern among policy makers, educators, and researchers (Brooks-Gunn, Duncan, & Maritato, 1997; Rouse & Barrow, 2006; Young, Austin, & Growe, 2013) for more than 20 years. School districts, educational leaders, and researchers all agree with the premise that strong school-family partnerships improve children’s learning and outcomes. Parents and schools, separately or together, represent noteworthy influences on the essential sources of support for children’s learning and development. Children develop within multiple contexts, and development and learning are optimal when effective networks and permanencies among these systems are created. Semke and Sheridan (2012) affirm methods
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.
Research shows that children do better in school when parents talk often with teachers and become involved. Kids whose parents interact with teachers usually get higher grades and test scores, develop positive attitudes about school, and are better behaved. Parents and teachers need to communicate on a regular basis, not just at parent/teacher conferences. But sometimes, a parent doesn’t know just how to go about getting involved or how to make that positive connection with the teacher and/or school.
This website magazine article informs the viewer on why parent involvement in schools are important, and what parents and teachers can do to become involved in the schools.