2. Parent Involvement
How and why is parent involvement so important for a child’s achievement? Parent
involvement is an important strategy to create student achievement. Research states that
there are many benefits to student achievement when parents are involved in the learning,
participate in the education or play a role in supporting the education in the home.
In the classroom I have witnessed the difference between a family/parent who is involved in
the child’s education vs. a family/parent who is not actively involved. There are children in
the classroom eager to learn, we the educators work with them daily, we create opportunities
for them to learn more outside the classroom but parents need to be on board as well or the
motivation gets lost. The child will return to school and say “mommy said no” “mommy
didn’t want to read the book” or “no one wanted to help me” these are just a few responses
when we ask children where their take home books are, or if they practiced tracing their
names at home. Small things that we see would make a difference if someone in the home
took five minutes to help with. Parents who help their children come to school prepared,
their daily communication folders are returned daily, their parent notes removed and read
daily. Some parents don’t even read the notes in the communication folder.
3. Family Involvement in Education
(Source #1)
According to this article parent involvement helps to contribute to
the following. Study included 8,000 high school students.
• Better grades
• High scores on standardized test
• Better attendance
• Positive attitudes towards education
In the article it states “parents are the first and foremost influence
on their children’s development and school success.”
The article also concluded that the “strongest evidence” was when
parents where involved with helping their children at home or
outside of the classroom.
Article calls for policy makers to help create quality programs to
help encourage parent involvement. Higher funding, quality after-
school programs and importantly quality summer programs so that
children would not fall behind during the summer months.
One unique touch to the article was the information that they
showed each state and the policies that where placed to help
encourage parent involvement in their children’s education.
Bogenschneider, K., & Johnson, C. (2015). Family Involvement in Education: How
Important Is It? What Can Legislators Do? Retrieved May 14, 2018, from
https://www.purdue.edu/hhs/hdfs/fii/wp-
content/uploads/2015/06/fia_brchapter_20c02.pdf
4. Interview
Source #2
Interview scheduled with Mrs.
Martin later this week.
Question I will ask:
How important do you think parent involvement
is in your classroom?
Do you see a difference in students achievement
when they have active support from family in and
outside the classroom?
What do you suggest for parents/family that
have careers/jobs that prevent them from
coming to the school?
What opportunities do you create for parents to
be involved?
5. Parent Involvement Promotes Student Achievement
(Source #3)
Article discusses ways in which families or parents can become
involved in the education of their children. This article is presented
by the Delaware State Education Association
Parent involvement beginning in Preschool through high school is
said to have great impact on child’s education
Ways to be involved include the following:
• Check homework
• Ask your child simple questions
• Read with the child
• Getting involved in school elections
According to the article “reading aloud to children is most
important activity that parents can do”, this creates reading
success.
Academic performance is creased
Involvement helps to create confidence
Parental Involvement Improves Student Achievement. (n.d.). Retrieved May
14, 2018, from http://www.dsea.org/content/parental-involvement-
improves-student-achievement
6. Analysis
• In the sources that I read I could see that many included the many benefits that family/parent
involvement can have on a child’s achievement, regardless of their socio-economic backgrounds.
• The articles also listed ways in which parents can be involved and how educators want them to be
involved as well.
• Partnership between the two would help create a positive attitude from the child towards their
education and their academic futures.
• Both articles discussed adolescent academic success and one articles focused on high schoolers
specifically.
• The articles also mention how PARENTS are the number one influences in a child’s academic success.
7. Parent involvement and SOE-115
(Connections)
• One of the connections I found was with the articles when they discussed the most important thing parents
could do was read to create successful readers and Woolfolk whom states when discussing Foundations
that “…more families were involved with the school, the better their children’s literacy development”
(Woolfolk p190). This is a direct connection between families who are involved and the achievement in
literacy.
• Another connection is when Woolfolk discusses Fostering Resilience, the author discusses ways in which
they can help support the child at home, an example was by creating a designated space for the child to do
their homework. When parents do this they support the learning of the child and thus helping a child be
resilient, leading to better social skills. This also shows that despite backgrounds as the articles mentioned
children can still “thrive” and reach achievement.
• One very interesting connection was in when Woolfolk discussed Behavioral Approaches to Teaching and
Management. It was surprising that as a result of a study that was done where a “family centered
intervention that promoted family involvement in home reading and math activities” (Woolfolk p286). The
results stated that there was “positive but NOT significant effects…and a small effect on reading test
scores”(Woolfolk p286), based on articles I expected a higher difference or success rate in achievement
with the parent involvement group.
8. Communications
Parent questions about parent involvement I
would say…
“I encourage parents to come in the classroom to
sign-up to volunteer, read a story to the children
or we can find other ways for you to be involved
if work is a conflict.”
“There are also ways that you can help your child
succeed that you can do at home, like reading
every night. Practicing letters or numbers daily,
this will help when for when they get to
kindergarten”
“Create a space at home where your child can do
their work, read a book or have space to do
school work. The newsletter also includes topics
we are learning about, you can ask them
questions about the study when you pick them
up. Having simple discussions and conversations
is another important way to be involved with
anything going on in school”
9. Get Involved!
(Useful resources to help promote parent involvement)
• https://www.isbe.net/Documents/fe-guide.pdf
• https://www.isbe.net/Pages/Family-
Engagement.aspx
• http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational
-leadership/may04/vol61/num08/Partnering-
with-Families-and-Communities.aspx
• http://il-fss.org/framework/resources-links/
• http://cps.edu/Pages/GetInvolved.aspx
• https://www.gemsworldacademy-
chicago.com/page/parent-
community/parents-involvement
10. References
Bogenschneider, K., & Johnson, C. (2015). Family Involvement in Education: How Important Is
It? What Can Legislators Do? Retrieved May 14, 2018, from
https://www.purdue.edu/hhs/hdfs/fii/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/fia_brchapter_20c02.pdf
Parental Involvement Improves Student Achievement. (n.d.). Retrieved May 14, 2018, from
http://www.dsea.org/content/parental-involvement-improves-student-achievement
Woolfolk, A., Hughes, M., & Walkup, V. (2013). Psychology in education (12th ed.). Harlow:
Pearson.
Interview with Mrs. Martin (to be conducted)
