Parent Involvement in Education
By Dr. Rebecca Deutscher, Special to the Daily Press
Parent involvement has positive influences on children's education. More schools are observing its importance and are encouraging families to become more involved. Because of this recent trend, it has become essential to understand what is meant by parent involvement and how it influences education. Research has indicated that family involvement improves facets of children's education such as daily attendance, student achievement, behavior, and motivation (Brooks, Bruno, & Burns, 1997; Cotton & Wikelund, 2001; Sheldon & Epstein, 2001; Simon, 2000; Van Voorhis, 2001).
The Lewis Center for Educational Research has been examining parent involvement. The Center was interested in looking at involvement both at home and at school. During the 2002-2003 school year, families filled out a survey on volunteering, parent classes, parent associations, political activities, working with children at home, talking to teachers or staff, reading newsletters, checking students progress online, educational activities outside of school, and school programs. In addition, parents and staff recorded the names of the parents who volunteered and in what ways these parents volunteered.
We were interested in finding out more information about our parent involvement. In addition, we examined the impact that various types of parent involvement had on children's achievement and motivation. We found that being involved at home is just as important as being involved at school. Parents who were more likely to do outside educational activities like museums or zoos or discussed school-related topics at home were more likely to have children who were more motivated and had higher achievement levels. This indicates that as parents it is not only important to volunteer, but it is essential to create a home environment that supports education.
We also found that most volunteers were in the elementary school classrooms. It is common for parents to volunteer less when their children start middle school, because they feel that their children do not need them as much. Even when children reach middle school, they still need their parents. Many of the middle school and high school teachers said they would like to have more parent volunteers in their classrooms as it benefits teachers, students and parents.
After talking to parents and staff, we found a few ways to make volunteering a more positive experience for everyone. It is important for parents to ask the teacher what they can do in the classroom and when would be a good time to volunteer. We found that in the classes, where there were many volunteers, the parents did not have much to do and often started talking to each other, which disturbed the classroom. Another issue is that some of the volunteers would tell the teacher in front of the class that they were doing something wrong. If a parent has an issue with a teacher, this should be discussed after class. It is also beneficial for parents to ask where they could be most helpful at the school. We discovered that our facilities or tutoring program needed extra parent help. Finally, it is important that schools acknowledge their volunteers with certificates, thank-you notes, etc. By acknowledging the good volunteers, the school is more likely to continue having parent involvement.
Being involved with our children's education is vital. As our research indicated, being involved at home and at school is equally important. It is important for us as a society to encourage and be involved with our children.
Dr. Rebecca Deutscher received her Ph.D. at Arizona State University in Educational Psychology in 1999. She has worked in the research department at the Lewis Center for 2 years examining various educational topics, such as parent involvement, hands-on approaches to learning, behavior, motivation, achievement, and many others.
Used with permission by Daily Press, Freedom Communication, 2004