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Schools

Not All Parent Involvement is Equal When it Comes to Schools, Study Says

Programs that get students talking to their parents about homework best lead to improved academic achievement, experts say.

School districts that reach out to parents and help them get involved with participating with their children in homework get the best results when it comes to student learning, a study released Tuesday, Aug. 30, shows.

The National School Boards Association’s Center for Public Educationreleased a new report, "Back to School: How Parent Involvement Affects Student Achievement."

“When families are working in partnership with their child’s classroom teachers” the results are best, Patte Barth, director of the center, said in a teleconference call to the nation’s media. “Activities that promote learning at home promote the most student gains.”

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The national report examines ways parents get involved with schools and finds that something as simple as engaging families in their
children’s homework can be one of the best ways to advance their learning.

"Such involvement is fairly straightforward in elementary school, but it’s also possible later on," Barth said in a news release.  "At the middle and high school level, school outreach that supports the family’s own high expectations for their children can also improve attendance and encourage college going."

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Major findings of the national report include:

About nine in 10 parents report having attended a school or PTA or PTO meeting in the past year, while eight in 10 attended a parent-teacher conference. Family income is not a factor in parent involvement.

A Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL) synthesis of 51 studies shows that students with involved parents were more likely to: earn higher grades and scores; enroll in higher-level programs; be promoted; earn credits; have better attendance and social skills; graduate; and attend college.

Johns Hopkins researcher Joyce Epstein identifies six categories of parent involvement as: Parenting (schools help with parenting skills); communicating; volunteering; learning at home; decision making; and community collaboration.

Involving parents in their children’s homework does not have to be hard or require a lot of time. Teachers can be trained in making
assignments that involve parents.  Or training for parents can take place with workshops, Barth said.

Interactive homework assignments that bring together parents and their children includes an initiative designed by Epstein and her Johns Hopkins colleagues called TIPS.

At the elementary level, the parent describes their child’s work on the activities and whether the child understands a concept or needs more assistance.

At the high school level, the activities require specific parent involvement to complete, and parents answer whether the assignment helped them learn what their child is doing in class.

Barth said districts need to take a good look at themselves because the tendency is for them to say they have good parent involvement. But have they defined what that means in ways that can be measured, such as improved attendance or test scores?

Communication needs to be open. Parents need to feel welcome. And schools need to develop plans to work with parents for common
understanding, she said.

“Survey them to find out what they are thinking … what they want in the relationship,” Barth said.

Michael A. Resnick, NSBA's associate executive director
for Advocacy and Public Policy, added, "The start of the new school year is an opportune time for parents and school leaders to think about and commit themselves to how parent involvement can best help America's school children achieve.”

The report is available on the center’s website at: www.centerforpubliceducation.org.

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