The Importance of Parent Involvement

The
Importance of
Parent
Involvement
By Amanda Askwith

What is Parent Involvement?
Parent involvement is defined as:
 Being aware of and involved in
schoolwork
 Understanding the relationship
between parenting skills and
student success in schooling
 A commitment to consistent
communication with educators
about student progress.

What is Parent Involvement?
Parent involvement is important to the educational
success of a young adolescent and yet generally
declines when a child enters the middle grades
(Epstein, 2005; Jackson & Andrews, 2004; Jackson & Davis, 2000; NMSA, 2003).
The term "parents" refers to
biological parents, adoptive
& stepparents, and primary
Caregivers (e.g., grand-
mother, aunt, brother).

What is the Research on Parent
Involvement?
 The research on parent
involvement in the education of
young adolescents addresses
parents' activities in support of
learning at home, in school, and
in the community.
 As a result of this
research, Epstein and her
colleagues developed a
framework of six types of
involvement with associated
activities, challenges, and
expected results.
 Joyce Epstein, a leading
researcher in the field of parent
involvement, identified and
studied multiple measures of
parent involvement in the
middle grades (Epstein, 1995;
Epstein, Sanders, Simon, Salinas
, Jansorn, & Van Voorhis, 2002).

The following slides
will further explain
the how these are
used.

Type 1 - Parenting Activities
These activities are designed to:
 help families understand young adolescent
development
acquire developmentally appropriate parenting
skills
set home conditions to support learning at each
grade level
help schools obtain information about students.

Type 2 Communication
 Communicating activities focus on keeping
parents informed through such things as:
 conferences about student work
 memos
 report cards
 notices
 school functions
 phone mail
 web pages

Type 3 Volunteering
 Volunteering is a great way to get involved and
show just how important the child is to you.
 Volunteering for school related activities promotes
student success and will help the school to
accomplish goals they have set to further student
success.
 Opportunities include recruiting other
neighborhood volunteers, being a bilingual
liaison, helping with after school clubs.

Type 4 Learning at Home
Home is an extension of school in that the learning is
constant. Involve the family in activities that
coordination of schoolwork with work at home.
Possibilities are:
 interactive homework
like Study Island
 setting future goals
 organizing personal
belongings
 create a time and space
for reading like before bed
 encourage conversations about classes at school

Type 5 Decision Making
 Activities are designed to solicit the voice of
parents in decisions about school policies and
practices.
 An example of this is the PTA. An organization
made up of parents that participate in school
functions and help facilitate school needs.
 Schools also use councils, committees, and
other action teams to meet school and
community needs that utilize the support of
the parents.

Type 6 Collaboration
 Collaborating with the community
 Activities acknowledge and bring together all
community entities (e.g., with the community
businesses, religious organizations) with a
vested interest in the education of young
adolescents.

Importance of Parenting Styles
 Authoritarian, permissive, and authoritative are three styles of
parenting (Baumrind, 1991).
 Authoritative, identified as the preferred style, includes parental
warmth, inductive discipline, no punitive punishment practices, consistency
in child rearing, and a clear communication of interest in the day-to-day
lives of children (Rosenau, 1998).
 According to Rosenau, the authoritative parenting style has a strong
correlation with student behavior and classroom management. Van Voorhis
(2003) examined the effects of involving parents in interactive homework
assignments (family homework assignments rather than student-in-isolation
homework assignments) using the Interactive Homework program, a spin-
off of the Teachers Involving Parents in School (TIPS) program developed at
Johns Hopkins University.
 TIPS offers parents guidelines for collaborating with their children on
homework activities, as well as information about school curricula
(Epstein, Simon, & Salinas, 1997).
 In the evaluation study, in comparison to students engaged in traditional
homework assignments, students who participated in the TIPS Interactive
Homework program received better scores on homework and on report
cards, and parents were more involved with homework.

Fan and Chen examined multiple measures
of parent involvement
Using the methodology of meta-analysis (analyzing multiple
research studies), the researchers identified three constructs of
parent involvement:
(1) Communication
(2) supervision
(3) parental expectations and parenting style.
Communication refers to parents' frequent and systematic
discussions with their children about schoolwork.
Supervision includes monitoring when students return home from
school and what they do after school, overseeing time spent on
homework and the extent to which children watch television.
Parental expectations and parenting style were found to be the
most critical of the three. These include the manner and extent to
which parents communicate their academic aspirations to their
children.
Fan and Chen found that high expectations of parents and student
perceptions of those expectations are associated with enhanced
achievement.

What are the Outcomes of
Parent Involvement?
 Parent involvement leads to improved
educational performance
(Epstein et al., 2002; Fan & Chen, 2001; NMSA, 2003; Sheldon & Epstein, 2002; Van Voorhis, 2003).

Outcomes of Parent Involvement
 Parent involvement fosters better student
classroom behavior (Fan & Chen, 2001;
NMSA, 2003).
 Parents who participate in decision making
experience greater feelings of ownership and
are more committed to supporting the
school's mission (Jackson & Davis, 2000).
 Parent involvement improves school
attendance (Epstein et al., 2002).
 Parent involvement increases support of
schools (NMSA, 2003).

Outcomes of Parent Involvement
 Parent involvement creates a better
understanding of roles and relationships
between and among the parent-student-
school triad (Epstein et al., 2002).
 Parent involvement improves student
emotional well-being (Epstein, 2005).
 Types of parent involvement and quality of
parent involvement affect results for
students, parents, and teachers
(Epstein, 1995).

Recommendations for Increasing
Parent Involvement
 Conduct a needs
assessment
identifying what the
concerns and issues
are surrounding
parent involvement
in the education of
their children.
 Develop, in
collaboration with
parents, shared
goals and missions
concerning young
adolescents' learning
and development
(Ruebel, 2001).

Parent Involvement
 Develop a repertoire of
strategies
o interactive homework
o student-led conferences
 These are designed to
increase parent
involvement at school
and at home.
 Establish and maintain
respectful and productive
relationships with
families "to support the
interaction of ideas and
experiences centered on
the learning of young
people" (Nesin &
Brazee, 2005, p. 42).

Parent Involvement
 Establish open and
two-way lines of
communication for
thoughtful and
reflective
conversation.
 Use a variety of
meeting spaces
(NMSA, 2003) for
equitable access and
non-threatening
environments.

Engage in Parent Professional
Development
 First, conduct a needs assessment to identify
focus areas for parent professional development.
Use this needs assessment to guide the
development of a balanced, comprehensive
program of partnership.
 For example, parent professional development
might include 1 or 2 hour free, weekly sessions held
at night, or as a series of mini-courses.
 The professional development could discuss specific
parent behaviors and be used as a vehicle to involve
parents in other aspects of the school

Resource Inventory
 Create a resource
inventory to identify
strengths, skills, and
cultural and
contextual
knowledge of both
parents and faculty
members.
 Identify a family-
school liaison who
actively works to
engage parents
(Comprehensive School
Reform Quality Center,
 2005).

Develop a long-range
parent involvement plan.
"Parental involvement may be implemented as
a stand-alone program or as a component in
comprehensive school-based programs"
(Comprehensive School Reform Quality Center, 2005, p. 37).

References
 Baumrind, D. (1991). Parenting styles and adolescent development. In J. Brooks-Gunn, R. Lerner &
A. C. Peterson (Eds.), The encyclopedia of adolescence (pp. 746–758). New York: Garland.
 Comprehensive School Reform Quality Center. (2005). Works in progress: A report on middle and
high school improvement programs. Washington, DC: Author.
 Epstein, J. L. (1995). School/family/community partnerships: Caring for the children we share. Phi
Delta Kappan, 76, 701–712.
 Epstein, J. L. (2005). School-initiated family and community partnerships. In T. Erb (Ed.), This we
believe in action: Implementing successful middle level schools (pp. 77–96). Westerville, OH:
National Middle School Association.
 Epstein, J. L., Sanders, M. G., Simon, B. S., Salinas, K. C., Jansorn, N. R., & Van Voorhis, F. L.
(2002). School, community, and community partnerships: Your handbook for action (2nd ed.).
Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press
 Epstein, J. L., Simon, B. S., & Salinas, K. C. (1997). Involving parents in homework in the middle
grades (Rep. No. 18). Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta Kappa Center for Evaluation, Development, and
Research.
 Fan, X. T., & Chen, M. (2001). Parental involvement and students' academic achievement: A meta-
analysis. Educational Psychology Review, 13, 1–22.
 Jackson, A.W. & Andrews, P. G. (with Holland, H., & Pardini, P.). (2004). Making the most of middle
school: A field guide for parents and others. New York: Teachers College Press.

 Jackson, A.W. & Andrews, P. G. (with Holland, H., & Pardini, P.). (2004). Making the most of middle
school: A field guide for parents and others. New York: Teachers College Press.
 Jackson, A., & Davis., P. G. (2000). Turning points 2000: Educating adolescents in the 21st century.
New York: Teachers College Press.
 Marzano, R. J. (2003). What works in schools: Translating research into action. Alexandria, VA:
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
 McEwin, C. K., & Smith, T. W. (2005). Accreditation and middle level teacher preparation programs.
In V. A. Anfara, Jr., G. Andrews, & S. B. Mertens (Eds.), The encyclopedia of middle grades
education (pp. 92–95). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.
 National Middle School Association. (2003). This we believe: Successful schools for young
adolescents. Westerville, OH: Author.
 Nesin, G., & Brazee, E. N. (2005). Creating developmentally responsive middle level schools. In V. A.
Anfara, Jr., G. Andrews, & S. B. Mertens (Eds.), The encyclopedia of middle grades education (pp.
35–44). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.
 Rosenau, J. S. (1998). Familial influences on academic risk in high school: A multi-ethnic study.
(Doctoral dissertation, Temple University, 1998). (UMI No. 9911056).
 Ruebel, K. (2001). Coming together to raise our children: Community and the reinvented middle
school. In T. S. Dickinson (Ed.), Reinventing the middle school (pp. 269–287). New York: Routledge
Palmer.
 Van Voorhis, F. L. (2003). Interactive homework in middle school: Effects on family involvement and
science achievement. The Journal of Education Research, 96, 323–338.

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