Shania Kenworthy

English Composition II 1201

Professor Sipes

11 March 2019

The Connection Between Parent Involvement and Children’s Academic Success

Ever since I can remember, I’ve wanted to be a teacher. I am majoring in Education, and

so academic success is very important for me to know more about to help me later. Being

prepared and knowing how to help every child that I can would be a big accomplishment for me.

More specifically, how does a parent’s involvement affect academic success especially in grades

K-8? When I was in school, it was made clear to me by my parents that school was my

responsibility and I was to be sure I got everything done. They were hands off. I am fortunate to

have been a good student growing up and now, but this subject makes me wonder how parents

can be more involved in their child’s schooling and how does their lack of involvement affect

their children. Anything academic related is usually something I feel strongly about. In my own

life, I work as a childcare teacher at a preschool. Parents communication is very important to me

because what happens at home can affect the child’s day, and I can relate more to the parent and

child. When the child feels comfortable so does the parent. I want more parents to understand

that even at an early age, their involvement is important. This is especially true when it comes to

the success of children. When parents aren’t involved or as involved as their kids and the

teachers need, that’s when it becomes a problem for everyone. I feel like this is an issue that

people may not think of as a big deal. I think that continuous parental involvement is crucial. I

believe that many children fall behind in school, but how can we help this? I know that there are
many children that would benefit from more help, and that should be continued at home. I don’t

believe some parents know how to be more involved or what teachers need from them at home.

Parental detachment from this topic can be harmful to a child. Parental Involvement can be made

a priority by helping parents understand how to get involved, having the teachers and students

working closely, and knowing that parental involvement plays a big role in academic success.

Parenting involves the activities that help families in issues such as creating a warm home

environment to increase school achievement of the student; and helping families in their

responsibilities such as health, nutrition and education. Communication means two-way

communication between home and school that enables the transfer of knowledge about the

curriculum and the child. According to this, teachers and administrators provide knowledge to

the parents about the progress of the student at school in a systematic way. Regular meetings at

schools, sending forms to the homes, and informing parents through the internet or telephone

could be counted among these activities. (“Parent Involvement in Education in Terms of Their

Socio-Economic Status.” 10) Parents can stay involved by communication, working with the

teachers, staying active in their child’s life, and continuing involvement at home.

Parental involvement has been a topic for many years and especially lately with programs

such as No Child Left Behind and preschools that make parent involvement mandatory. These

programs are recognizing the importance of having the parent be an active part in the child’s life

and why that affects the child(ren) later in life. If parents started their involvement strong from

an early age say, in daycare, then they can get the skills to be able to keep up with it as their child

goes through school. Parents that get involved can have a huge impact on their child. Juliette

Sivertsen, of the Washington Christian school website wrote the article “The Importance of

Parental involvement in Your Child’s Education” in September of 2015. In this article she states,
“Research indicates that two-thirds of teachers believe parental involvement in education results

in better performance.” (5). These children that have parents that want to be involved have a

better chance of success according to that article. Sivertsen goes on to say later in that same

article “As a result, children whose parents stay involved are more likely to have higher self-

esteem, be disciplined, have more self-motivation and tend to achieve better grades, regardless of

their ethnic, social or racial backgrounds.” (5). Being involved in the child’s schooling shows

you care about their academics, and in turn they will care more too. Showing your children by

example why its important for them to work hard and succeed., Eleftheria N. Gonida and.

Cortina S Kai, wrote the article “Parental Involvement in Homework: Relations with Parent and

Student Achievement-Related Motivational Beliefs and Achievement.”, for the British Journal of

Educational Psychology. Gonida is an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology and

Human Development at the Department of Developmental and School Psychology. Kai is an

Associate Professor Department of Psychology at Michigan University. They have studied

Educational Psychology. In this article written for the British Journal of Educational Psychology,

they wrote about how parental involvement and showing motivation can help children with their

own academics. The authors explain “The limited evidence on parent goals has indicated that

when students perceive an emphasis on mastery by their parents, they are more likely to adopt

mastery goal orientation and, in turn, show adaptive learning outcomes such as engagement in

the classroom…”..(9). Students that understand that their parents’ value this as much as the child

does tend to do better in school. The parent taking an interest in the child’s schooling can show

the child that you care and can create that support system. The child will know that he/she is not

doing this on their own and that you are there to help them succeed and to be an active role in

their education. Adrianes Pinantoan wrote “The Effect of Parental Involvement on Academic
Achievement”. This article appeared on the TeachThoughtStaff website. Her article explains

how the parents have a big impact on the student’s success. Having a good support system is

key, as well as having two parents be involved. She found that having an involved father was an

important factor. The parent’s background education and socioeconomic status helped with the

achievement as well as building the confidence levels of the students. Pinantoan is a part of

InformED. This website, TeachThoughtStaff is dedicated to building up teachers and explaining

their values. In this article she stated, “Students with two parents operating in supportive roles

are 52% more likely to enjoy school and get straight A’s than students whose parents are

disengaged with what’s going on at school.” (7). This statement leads readers to believe that

parental involvement holds more stake than what some may think.

Having at least one parent is important but having two active parents is ideal. The

Parental Alienation Documentary focuses on how one parent having not involved can be harmful

to the child. In this documentary they explain “Children who have been alienated are more likely

to dropout of school, get involved with drugs and other illegal activities.” (8). There are too

many children falling behind in school and research shows that with ore parent involvement and

more parents being an active part in their child’s academics could help solve this problem. In

other countries look a little different. We live in an age where its easiest to blame to teacher for

the child not doing well, but as teachers and some parents already know, the motivation needs to

start at home. However, other countries have already learned this. For example, look at Ghana.

Anthony Kudjo Donkor has written several educational articles pertaining to parental

involvement. He studied at the University of Kentucky and published the study “Parental

Involvement in Education in Ghana: The Case of a Private Elementary School.” This was

published in the International Journal about Parents in Education in 2010. The purpose of this
study was for parents to understand the values that the school also thought was important in

order for a good parent teacher relationship. In this study Kudjo expresses his thoughts on the

parents. “Many parents in this community developed an interest in this to provide a quality

education for the children in the community”.(1). They executed this study because in Ghana

basic education had been introduced. Its purpose was to contribute to parents supporting the

education of the child in countries that hadn’t had access to basic education up until this point.

The conclusion of this study is found later in the authors research. They explored different family

structures in this country, a big reason why basic education had been delayed. “Their evidence

indicates that success in school among poor children of all family types is related to deliberate

efforts on the part of parents to inculcate discipline and good study habits in their children.” (1).

In Ghana, they have found and understood that f the parents aren’t involved at home, then they

won’t do as well as children who has active involved parents.

Parents have a variety of way that they can be involved, but the question is why aren’t

parents more involved? Many parents don’t know how to be involved. If they didn’t grow up

with involved parents, then they may have no idea where to start. This is a problem for teachers.

In a 2018 article on the Dinner Table MBA website, Sheena White, co-founder of Dinner Table

MBA, wrote about “The Importance of Parental Involvement in Education”. In this article she

strongly encourages parents to get involved. “More than 80% of new teachers feel that parental

support and involvement is the most challenging area they face; parents are either unwilling or

don’t have time to participate in their child’s education.”. (11). The author is expressing that

teachers want parents to be involved, but some still are unaware of how to do that. Many parents

don’t want to make the teacher uncomfortable by being in the classroom. Some parents have a

fear of being judged by teachers if the parent doesn’t have the time, Adults in general are busy,
and parents with one child have a hectic schedule, let alone multiple children. Many parents are

single parents and work multiple jobs. Others may simply not have the time. It is the job of the

parents and teachers to make their assumptions obsolete. Parents need more ways that they can

be involved and how they can fit it into their daily lives.

As stated before, many parents aren’t involved simply because they don’t know how. It

starts with simple things. Beginning at an early age such as daycare/ preschool age the parent can

start by talking to the teacher at pick up and drop off. As the child moves to

Elementary/Middle/High School age, this can get harder because many kids ride the bus and the

parents have those crazy schedules where they don’t see the teachers often enough to have daily

face to face communication. There are other ways that parents can get involved. There are six

types of parent involvement according to the Home, School, and Community Relations textbook.

Written by Carol Gestwicki, this is a textbook used by colleges for education classes. This

textbook focuses on how to create, maintain, and build relationships between the educational

professionals and the families they serve. The textbook has the following six types of parental

involvement. Parenting, Communication, Volunteering, Learning at Home, Decision Making,

and Collaborating with the Community (2). The Parenting category relates to schools informing

parents with different tips and programs about child rearing. This also relates to the schools

focusing on the families. Communicating speaks of how to involve parents in effective two-way

communications. Volunteering is geared towards getting parents to volunteer within the school

for functions and programs. Learning at home means to involve families with the things such as

homework. Decision making is how schools get parents involved through the PTA, committees,

and other opportunities within the school. Lastly, collaborating with the community means to
gather services and resources with business groups, agencies and organizations important to the

families.

In addition to the previously states ways families could be involved, there are many more

ways. Checking homework, for instance. Homework help provides a one on one experience with

the adult and child. This goes back to earlier when the reader was made aware that when the

parent shows motivation then so does the child. Checking their homework every night shows the

child that the parent cares about what the child is learning and that it is important. For the parents

to be able to understand what is going on at school, they need to be made aware of different

communication options. Newsletters, phone calls, emails, a classroom app, filed trips,

conferences, electronic communications, notes sent home and suggestion boxes are just a few

ways that parents can keep up with their child’s classroom without having to physically be in the

classroom in case of scheduling conflicts. Meghan McQuiggan and Sarah Grady wrote “Parent

and Family Involvement in Education: Results from the National Household Education Surveys

Program”. This was an online book written with different statistics. There are tables and

percentages that explain different topics of K-12 students. It shows how parents can be involved

in different ways. These writers were featured in the Institute of Educational Sciences. One of

their finding were “In the 2015-16 school year, 89% of students in Kindergarten through grade

12 had parents who reported receiving newsletters, memos, email, or notices addressed to all

parents from their child’s school. 62% of students had parents who reported receiving notes or

emails from the school specifically about the child, and 42% of students had parents who

reported that the school contacted them by telephone.” (6). This information shows the

audience that schools are trying to have more communication opportunities for parents.
 Fig. 1 refers to the percentage of parents with educational background that were involved

in volunteering activities. (National Center for Education Statistics).

 Parents cannot effectively be involved in their child’s education if the schools and

teachers aren’t giving them opportunities to be able to do this. Teachers should encourage parent

visits whenever possible. Teachers have an important role in the teacher parent relationship and

if it works or not. They can work together to figure out a good tie that would match both

schedules. This way, the parents can see what the child is learning. Lunch time visits are another

great way. The child and parents can eat together without disrupting any learning time. Mother’s

Day tea, or Donuts with Dad are some events that some schools have implemented for the parent

to come to the school and spend time with their child in a different setting. The teacher can also

use this opportunity to talk and get to know the parents which is important for a working

relationship with families. Younger grade classes can invite parents to read to the class. Teachers

should take this time to be persistent, and to make it a priority that all the students are actively

participating in the student’s school life.

Understanding the benefits for the teacher, parent, and student is crucial for the child. The

parents being involved makes them able to understand what is happening at school. Knowing

what the child is learning gives them topics of conversation that the parent can ask them about

later. Having a strong relationship with the school and its educators opens the door to teacher

communication and makes the process easier. The Washington Christian blog titled The

Importance of Parental Involvement in your Child’s Education” states “Parental Involvement

creates ties and strengthens bonds with children and can boost your confidence in parenting and

any decision making when it comes to your child’s education.” Later in the article, the author

stated “. When children see a unified approach to their education between their parents and the

school, they are more likely to understand the importance of their studies.” (5). As for teachers,

the benefits aren’t just for parents. The teachers can gain parental support from having the
parents trust them and see how and what they are teaching the students. Parents make excellent

resources, and when the educators get to know the parents, the teacher can gain more resources

that he/she can use in the classroom. Lastly, the teacher can use the parent volunteering time as

an opportunity to observe parent-student relationships and how the teacher can help. The student

befits are also important. When the student knows that the teacher and their parent care, the

student knows they have people on their side. The student feels important when they are praised

for doing good work. This helps build their self-esteem which in turn makes them want to keep

doing better and better. Having involved parents gives the student a sense of security. The

student understands that everyone around them is rooting for them to succeed. Additionally,

watching their parents come to school events, communicate with their teachers, and help with

their homework, students learn the importance of education. They see the adults around them all

helping them get to their goals and so they understand the concept of success. Don Kauchak,

author of “Introduction to Teaching: Becoming a Professional” writes about many different

sections that teach you how to enhance parent involvement from a teacher standpoint, but also

how to help student succeed. The text says, “The more we expect of our students, the more we

get out of them.”(3). When students succeed, it can boost their mental health with all the

positivity that is going on around them with the important adults in their lives. Lastly, there are

benefits for families as well. The “Home, School and Community Relations” text states that

family benefits include increased student achievement, higher grades and test scores, more

positive behaviors, higher graduation rates, higher expectations from teachers and parents,

creates a home environment that encourages learning, and becoming involved in the

community.” (2).
 However, there are some opinions that don’t go with this controversial topic. Some

groups have stated that parental involvement doesn’t mean as much as people would like to

think. There has been a lot of media focus on groups such as No Child Left behind. Keith

Robinson and Angel L. Harris wrote “Parental Involvement Is Overrated.” It was featured in the

April 2014 edition of The New York Times. The main point of this journal was to explain that

parental involvement may not be as important as others have stressed it to be. This article

explains that helping in a child’s classroom, volunteering at their school, helping them with

homework, and contacting their school doesn’t always improve performance. They go on to say

that too much involvement could hurt academic success. There are many people that make

policies about academics that have stressed the importance of parental involvement, but don’t

always have the proof to back it up. Some cases have shown that less involved parents had

higher academic success levels. Lastly, homework help by parents doesn’t link to improved

grades.

Robinson is the assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Texas. Harris

is a Professor of Sociology and African American studies at Duke. Both authors actively wrote

“The Broken Compass: Parental Involvement with Children’s Education”. This article states

“After comparing the average achievement of children whose parents regularly engage in each

form of parental involvement to that of their counterparts whose parents do not, we found that

most forms of parental involvement yielded no benefit to children’s test scores or grades,

regardless of racial or ethnic background.” (4). While there may be evidence that doesn’t support

the main claim, there is plenty of evidence that does. Parent Involvement in schools is important.

That article goes on to say that being involved in school rather than just helping with homework

can help student success.

 In conclusion, parental involvement is key to having a successful academic career.

Children, parents, teachers and families can all benefit from parents being more available and

willing to be involved in the classroom and at home. Student success opens the doors to better

mental health, a better understanding of effective communication and the ability to feel better

about themselves. More effective parental involvement could open doors to more involved

students and better academic status.

 Bibliography

Donkor, Anthony Kudjo. “Parental Involvement in Education in Ghana: The Case of a

Private Elementary School.” 2010,

www.ernape.net/ejournal/index.php/IJPE/article/viewFile/98/66

This article is written by Anthony Kudjo Donkor. His article, “Parent

Involvement in Education of a Private Elementary School” appeared in the International Journal

about Parents in Education, copyright 2010. The main point of this article is to explain how

parental involvement can affect education in Africa. These parents are usually illiterate and low

income. This article is the summary of a study that was done about the parent involvement.

Donkor explained that the child’s success is related to their home life, the size of their family,

poverty level, the parent’s own educational status, and the parent’s priorities. The purpose of this

article is to show the results of the study and explain how the parents affect the education. After

doing some research, I found that this article was written by a credible source. Anthony Kudjo

Donkor has written several educational articles pertaining to parental involvement. He studied at

the University of Kentucky and after a simple online search, I can tell he is knowledgeable about

this subject. In addition, this study was published in the International Journal about Parents in

Education, so I believe it to be a credible source.

In my paper I plan to use this information in a variety of ways. The author talks

about the correlation of parental involvement to academic success, which is the point of my

paper. This study was done in another country, so I’ll be able to explain how another country has

the same concerns as we do in America. The socioeconomic status of the parents has a big

impact of the type of student the child will become, and having the example of another country

will help the outcome of my argument.

 Gonida, Eleftheria N., and Kai S. Cortina. “Parental Involvement in Homework:

Relations with Parent and Student Achievement-Related Motivational Beliefs and

Achievement.” British Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. 84, no. 3, Sept. 2014, pp. 376–

396. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/bjep.12039.

Eleftheria N. Gonida and. Cortina S Kai, wrote the article “Parental Involvement in

Homework: Relations with Parent and Student Achievement-Related Motivational Beliefs and

Achievement.”, for the British Journal of Educational Psychology. Gonida is an Associate

Professor of Educational Psychology and Human Development at the Department of

Developmental and School Psychology. Kai is an Associate Professor Department of Psychology

at Michigan University. They have studied Educational Psychology. In this article written for the

British Journal of Educational Psychology, they wrote about how parental involvement and

showing motivation can help children with their own academics

Gestwicki, Carol. Home, School, and Community Relations: A Guide to Working with

Parents. Delmar Publishers, 1996.

Carol Gestwicki wrote the book “Home, School, and Community Relations: A Guide to

Working with Parents” and was published in 1996. This is a textbook that I use in other

educational classes. The author has proven to be credible by having this book published and

assisting in writing other educational books. This textbook has many different sections that

discuss parent involvement, it discusses what is appropriate, what isn’t and how the parents can

help. This textbook provides statistics and information about how success and parent
involvement are linked. I plan to use this source as a scholarly way to improve my argument for

my paper.

KAUCHAK, DON. INTRODUCTION TO TEACHING: Becoming a Professional.

PRENTICE HALL, 2018

Don Kauchak wrote this edition of “Introduction to Teaching: Becoming a Professional”

in 2018. This is another textbook that I currently use in my introduction to Education class. This

book also has many different sections that tech you how to enhance parent involvement from a

teacher standpoint, but al so how to help student succeed. I plan to use this source in my

argument by taking these real-life situations the book provides and the data in the book to my

advantage.

Keith Robinson and Angel L. Harris. “Parental Involvement Is Overrated.” The New

York Times, The New York Times, 12 Apr. 2014,

opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/12/parental-involvement-is-overrated/.

Keith Robinson and Angel L. Harris wrote the article, “Parental Involvement is

Overrated” in 2014. It was published on the online version of the New York Times. The main

point of this source was to explain that parental involvement may not be as important as others

have stressed it to be. This article explains that helping in a child’s classroom, volunteering at

their school, helping them with homework, and contacting their school doesn’t always improve

performance. They go on to say that too much involvement could hurt academic success. There

are many people that make policies about academics that have stressed the importance of

parental involvement, but don’t always have the proof to back it up. Some cases have shown that
 less involved parents had higher academic success levels. Lastly, homework help by parents

doesn’t link to improved grades.

Keith Robinson and Angel L. Harris are credible sources because of their

educational backgrounds. Robinson is the assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of

Texas. Harris is a Professor of Sociology and African American studies at Duke. Both authors

actively wrote “The Broken Compass: Parental Involvement with Children’s Education”. In my

article, I will be using this as the opposite argument. This article argues that parental

involvement is not as important and isn’t linked the the student’s success. While this goes against

what my paper will be about, I think it will make a good counterpoint in the paper. It can help

articulate my position by showing that while some people don’t believe in the success of parental

involvement (such as these authors) my other sources can withstand that argument.

Sivertsen, Juliette. “The Importance of Parental Involvement in Your Child's Education.”

The Importance of Parental Involvement in Your Child's Education, 22 Sept. 2015,

www.washingtonchristian.org/blog/the-importance-of-parental-involvement-in-your-childs-

education.

Juliette Sivertsen published this online article, “The Importance of Parental

Involvement in Your Child's Education”, in September 2015. It appeared on the Washington

Christian Academy’s online page. The main point of this article is to prove that parental

involvement is important. According to this article, parent involvement has more than just

academic benefits. The benefits of the children having involved parents include higher self

esteem and better grades. This is without thinking of the child’s home life and background. As
 for the parents, they have benefits as well. The parents can be more confident in their parenting

and help their child have a good support system. Being involved in your child’s academics shows

you as a parent care about them and boosts metal health of the child.

This author is linked to the Washington Christian Academy, which is a college. In

this article thy talk more about the mental and emotional benefits that parent involvement has

rather than just focuses on academics. I plan to use this article to help support my argument.

Instead of just sticking to facts about academic success, I can use this article to explain the

emotional benefits that parent involvement has for the child and for the parent as well.

Kuru Cetin, Saadet, and Pelin Taskin. “Parent Involvement in Education in Terms of

Their Socio-Economic Status.” Eurasian Journal of Educational Research, no. 66, Jan. 2016, pp.

105–122. EBSCOhost,

sinclair.ohionet.org:80/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&

AN=EJ1149044&site=eds-live.

This is a study and scholoarly source that explains the importance of parental

involvement an dhow parents can understand what that looks like. They look at their students’s

home life and how it relates to how well they do in school. The focus on getting the points of

view from teachers, administrators, parents and look at the socioecnimics backgrounds. I plan to

use this study to enhance my argument about why parnetal involvement is so important in my

first few pages.

 McQuiggam, M & Megra, M. (2017). Parent and family involvement in education:

National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved from https://nces.gov/pubs2017/2017102.pdf

Accsessed April 2, 2019

McQuiggan, Meghan, and Sarah Grady. Parent and Family Involvement in Education:

Results from the National Household Education Surveys Program of 20. Sept. 2017,

nces.ed.gov/pubs2017/2017102.pdf.

Meghan McQuiggan and Sarah Grady wrote “Parent and Family Involvement in

Education: Results from the National Household Education Surveys Program”. This was an

online book written with different statistics. There are tables and percentages that explain

different topics of K-12 students. It shows how parents can be involved in different ways. These

writers were featured in the Institute of Educational Sciences. I plan to use this in my paper for

the statistics. I can defend my argument using the data and information I will gather from this

source.

Pinantoan, Adrianes. TeachThoughtStaff. “The Effect of Parental Involvement On

Academic Achievement.” TeachThoughtStaff, 23 June 2016,

www.teachthought.com/learning/the-effect-of-parental-involvement-on-academic-achievement/.

Adrianes Pinantoan wrote “The Effect of Parental Involvement on Academic

Achievement” in 2016. This article appeared on the TeachThoughtStaff website. Her article

explains how the parents have a big impact on the student’s success. Having a good support

system is key, as well as having two parents be involved. She found that having an involved

father was an important factor. The parent’s background education and socioeconomic status
helped with the achievement as well as building the confidence levels of the students. Pinantoan

is a part of InformED. This website, TeachThoughtStaff is dedicated to building up teachers and

explaining their values. I plan to use these points that she made in my argument because she

gives a little more than just academics and studies. She hits on the family life and how having

supportive two parent homes are important, an argument I hadn’t thought of making yet.

Themenscente, director. Parental Involvement Documentary (Full Film). 27 May 2015,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYV8GBrJv9k.

This documentary, Parental Involvement Documentary (Full Film) was directed/uploaded

by Themenscente in May 2015. This is a short film about parent alienation. The film talks about

how the effects of not involving the other parent can be harmful to the child. They also discuss

how you should speak to your child and certain things you shouldn’t say. Lastly, they try to get

the audience to understand how to deal with this behavior. This may not seem like an obvious

choice to use for mt paper, but I plan to use it. I will use this as a backing for my argument that

in order to be involved in your child’s schooling, you need to be involved in their life. Having an

active support system is important and that cant happen if you’re alienating another parent.

White, Sheena. “Importance of Parental Involvement in Education.” Dinner Table MBA,

20 July 2018, dinnertablemba.com

In this article she strongly encourages parents to get involved. “More than 80% of new

teachers feel that parental support and involvement is the most challenging area they face;

parents are either unwilling or don’t have time to participate in their child’s education.”. She is
the co-founder of Dinner Table MBA. The author is expressing that teachers want parents to be

involved, but some still are unaware of how to do that. Many parents don’t want to make the

teacher uncomfortable by being in the classroom. Some parents have a fear of being judged by

teachers if the parent doesn’t have the time, Adults in general are busy, and parents with one

child have a hectic schedule, let alone multiple children. Many parents are single parents and

work multiple jobs. Others may simply not have the time.