Involved Parents = Better School Performance

 

Q. Why are educators so concerned about getting parents involved in school? Are they just passing the buck and trying to make their own jobs easier?

 

            Yes, and that's good. The research is clear. Students with involved parents:

 

            -- Earn higher grades and test scores, and enroll in higher-level programs

            -- Pass their classes

            -- Attend school regularly

            -- Have better social skills, show improved behavior and adapt well to school

            -- Graduate and go on to post-secondary education

 

So smart educators WILL get parents involved. And that's a good thing all the way around.

 

It's also clear from the research that white, middle- and upper-class parents are much more involved with their children's schooling than parents of color who are in low-income demographical groups. But that's not necessarily the fault of the parents; too often, the educational governance authorities, schools and teachers themselves are setting up barriers to parental involvement, whether they know it or not. This especially happens when overarching policies and procedures are in place that make it seem as though the powers-that-be know better than the parents what's best for the child. Clearly, that's not true.

 

Sociologists Brigitte and Peter L. Berger argue that parents -- rather than governmental agencies or "experts" -- make the best educational decisions because their children are their highest and most immediate concern. That goes for whether the parents are highly educated and successful in their careers and daily lives, or barely educated and struggling with all kinds of problems. In fact, lower-income parents are thought to be even more diligent and interested than their well-off peers because they are well aware of the disadvantages that their children will face if they don't get a good education for a good start in life.

 

So it's a great idea for educators to offer opportunities for high-income parents to "mentor" low-income parents and work together for the good of all of their pupils. In schools where the income levels are mixed, that's easy to do, and it's why educators bend over backwards to try to make inner-city and lower-income area schools more attractive to middle-class parents. They know that, if they leave, the school will fall apart. It's already happened in the inner cities, and it's happening right now in many of the country's rural schools, where the middle and upper classes are shifting into private education and the public schools are filling with low-income, non-English speaking and problem-beset children with parents who have no role models for involvement in schools.

 

This is why the national Parent-Teacher Association has a strong policy on building parental involvement: www.pta.org/ia_pta_positions_1116959239593.html

 

Also see the substantial online library of articles on fostering better parental involvement from the national Parent-Teacher Organization, http://www.ptotoday.com/magParent.html

 

The National Coalition for Parental Involvement in Education is a wealth of information on programs that work, including the benefits that occur when the larger community is involved and engaged in a school. See:

http://www.ncpie.org/WhatsHappening/researchJanuary2006.html

 

According to a research synthesis of more than 50 studies on parental involvement by the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, there are specific ways that schools in general and teachers in particular can foster parental engagement in school activities. See:

http://www.sedl.org/pubs/catalog/items/fam33.html

 

Homework: Two resources especially for educators who wish to build better parental involvement are from Dr. Steve Constantino, www.familyfriendlyschools.com, and the Family Involvement Network of Educators, www.finenetwork.org