Pros And Cons Of Parental Involvement

A major component of school reform is parental involvement. Parental Involvement is critical in a child’s education. While any educator knows that education is something that is constantly changing, there are also things that stay the same, the need for parents to be involved in education because it is beneficial to increasing student achievement (Garcia, Thornton 2014). It is unfortunate, but parental involvement tends to decrease the older a child gets, with a noticeable difference once the child leaves the elementary school. While being involved in their child’s early education is important, research indicates that parents should be equally, if not more, involved during the middle school years as they are during the elementary years.

In the Mena Public School District, school employees are looking at ways to increase parental involvement throughout the school buildings and at all ages. Parental involvement has many faces. Parents can be involved without ever stepping foot at the school. This involvement is simply and investment of the parent’s time, this can include reading with their children or simply talking to their child; asking questions like ‘How was school today?’ or ‘What are you learning in class?” Another form of

These parental involvement ideas can be as engaging as planning a dance that involves the parents, to simply finding ways to increase the time spent with their children at home. Every event does not have to require funding from the ASIP fun, but could be something as simple as allowing the parents to come during the school day to volunteer in the science lab or read with their children. The only stipulation is that it has to be backed up with