PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT IN CHILDRENS ACHIEVEMENT IN MATHEMATICS WITH FRENCH PUPILS Ana Lobo de Mesquita* & Nathalie Pasquet-Fortun **

Universit Paris Diderot (Laboratoire de Didactique Andr Revuz & IREM Paris)* Ecole Elmentaire Arago, Paris**

SUMMARY
The evidence is now beyond dispute: parent involvement improves student achievement (Henderson A., 1987) This assertion is mainly based on studies in education about literacy, about language. In mathematics education studies (centered often in minority cultural families), the situation is less clear. What could we say about parental involvement in mathematics, with culturally homogeneous families? In this preliminary study, we try to analyse the case of the parental involvement in students achievement when activities involving mathematics are used, in this kind of families. In this paper, we focus on French 2nd graders; our first data seem confirm that parental involvement improves student achievement in mathematicsi.

KEYWORDS: parental involvement, achievement, home-school, Mathematics, Mathematical Education

INTRODUCTION The studies in literacy in mother tongue conducted in many different contexts and countries have shown that the influence of the family behaviours appears to be strongly significant when those families help children to be aware of their cultural and linguistic backgrounds (Epstein, 1995, Henderson & Berla, 1994). Also, childrens knowledge and achievement have been improved by the cooperation between generations (Villas-Boas, 2005). The studies about mathematics, focusing often minority cultural groups, mitigate this optimistic result. For instance, in Abreu's studies (quoted by Mc Mullen & Abreu, p.1495), it was apparent that [] parents' own experience of mathematical learning in a different cultural setting, and their lack of direct exposure to current school mathematics, impact on their understanding of their children's mathematical learning, which difficultates the interaction between children and parents.

Based on the literacy studies, this paper pose the question whether the same results could be obtained with mathematics, in non-minority groups families1. In particular, two main questions were asked here: Is it possible to increase mathematics development by involving parents and children in cultural conversations about their common (urbain, linguistical, mathematical) grounds? How do these activities influence their own home environment?

To answer to these questions, we have planned an on-going study where the activities proposed to pupils involved also mathematics concepts, in a similar framework to some literacy studies (Davies, 1996; Villas-Boas, 2005). We focus on shared activities between parents and children, in everyday life situations context and also in a didactical setting (linked to school activities and concepts). We voluntary exclude the case of situations linked with homework, which seems to have specifics constraintsii.

Note that the literacy studies mentioned, and in our study, the context is near from the framework of Wenger concerning communities of practiceiii : Wenger (1998) introduces a learning theory grounded on the notion of Community of Practice in his book Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. This concept has the three dimensions of the relation by which practice is the source of coherence of a community (Wenger, 1998 p.72) as a key idea. These three dimensions are: mutual engagement, joint enterprise and shared repertoire, Diaz-Palomar &

Moratonas, p.1465). Some of the dimensions mentioned by Wenger have a main role in our approach, the mutual engagement (of the child and his/her parent) and the shared repertoire (where the writing of the booklet as a main role, see below). In both cases (2nd or 4th graders) two phases are planned: one class in the exploratory study, divided into two groups, the experimental and the control groups; a quasi-experimental design is planned, with two classes, the experimental and the control ones, in the second phase. In this paper, we will present some data concerning the exploratory phase and discuss the adaptations planned to the second phase of our study. METHODOLOGY We proposed to pupils some tasks similar to those proposed in a mother tongue study (Villas-Boas, 2005) where some mathematics concepts were progressively used. Note that initial tasks are specially linked with everyday life situations; mathematical concepts will appear in a second phase. We ask pupils to develop some activities, in partnership with a parent (mother, father, grandmother, brother, ) and to write a small text about the realization of this activity. The texts was compiled in a booklet untitled When my mother [or father, or other familiar] was a little child. The framework suggested was the following: 1) Parents were asked to talk (or, in some cases to realize) with the child about a specific subject of their infancy (for instance preferential trips, preferential plays and games, food and preferential receipts, with adaptations to the actuality or a different situation). In the case of the adaptations, mathematics task could be necessary, implicitely or explicitely (for instance, the adaptation of a receipt for a different number of persons). 2) Children wrote a text about it, at home; 3) The teacher helps the pupil to improve the text and write the text in their booklet. At the end of the period, each pupil of this group came out with his or her booklet.

Examples of activities: Remembering a favorite trip of the parent. Visit the place with the parent. Make descriptions of the place and compare with the new situation. According to the parents description and the comparisons done, write a small text to the booklet about this trip.

The kitchen. A favorite plate of the parent. The objective is to speak about the plate, do it effectively, writing the receipt for six persons. In a second phase, write the receipt for 12 persons. The school. A description, by the parent, of the school, of the schoolyard, the class, focusing on subject-matters (favorite or not), games,

Description of the first study The first study had been conducted in the second semester of 2008 / 2009, in a class of 2nd graders (7 to 8 years-old), in a public school of the center of Paris, attended by middle-class pupils. A questionnaire of home environmental processes related to school achievement was proposed to the parents, adapted from M.A. Villas-Boas (2001) and Davies (1996). Our questionnaire have 13 items and a home activities rate, to scale the importance of different activities of pupils at home. The class was divided in two groups, an experimental one (involving pupils enrolled in the study) and the control one (concerning pupils which did not participate in the study, according to the parents wish in childs participation in this study). The sample was then constitued by 20 pupils, 8 in the experimental group and 12 in the control group. According to the teacher of the class, academic level of pupils were globally similar in the two groups. We evaluate the level of pupils knowledge using the following instruments: As a pre-test, the teacher of the class elaborates one questionnaire, similar to other questionnaires she used generally with her class. As a post-test, we had use the national evaluation test, which is done each year with 2nd graders, in the end of the school year. Concerning the parents, all of them answer to the home environmental questionnaire.

ANALYSIS OF DATA We receive 8 booklets of pupils, each one with three or four hand-written texts. Pupils. In our sample of 8 pupils, there are 5 girls and 3 boys. They all produce a booklet, with 3 or 4 texts, cooperating in general with the mother of the child; two children, a boy and a girl, cooperate with the father. Parents. The parents rank almost uniformly in the home environmental questionnaire (from 33 to 37, in our scale). In the home activities rate, 7 of the parents valued the most homework activities; the second place coming to 5 valued a sportive practice; lecture and musical activities share the

third place in our ranking; television scores are poor, in our sample (for 6 parents, it is the lower score). Some pupils make drawings as appropriate decorations to texts. The analysis of these (facultative) drawings, in many cases carefully realized, and in generally increasingly complex and coloured, suggests a growing involvement of pupils in their work.

Qualitative analysis of materials produced by pupils. Although statistical comparisons were not yet possible to realize, as mentioned above, the qualitative analysis of the booklet group, as well as the qualitative analysis of the progression of this group, suggests very important academic progresses of pupils, in mathematics but also in other subject-matters. The global analysis of the available material at this moment also suggests an important modification of pupils attitudes towards work: important progresses have been observed in pupils attitudes, which seem to valorise their school work, becoming more responsible, working more carefully, more correctly. In short, pupils attitudes are very positive, and a new value work of excellence seems appear. This first analysis encourage us to pursuit the study next year, with great interest, hoping to have a confirmation of such qualitative results, which seem to us of a general importance, depassing the framework of one subject-matter.

Discussion and perspectives Quantitave analysis of data, completely necessary, planned, will confirm, or not, the trends suggested by the qualitative analysis of the data. Adaptations for the second phase experimentation. In the exploratory study, mathematics appears in a progressive way, and the concepts utilized here were reduced. For the second phase, we are planning to respect the structure of interventions, with some modifications. One concerns the introduction of more mathematical concepts (see below some examples). A second one concerns the rythme, we plan to propose activities along all the year, with two activities monthly. A third modification concerns the methodology of work for the child with the parent. Note that in the case of mathematics, the last decades have seen numerous changings in the academic programmes, concerning contents and methods. Having this in mind, we propose mathematical activities with a specific methodology: mathematical activities are planned to be solved in a first

moment by the child and the parent, in a separate way; in a second moment, we plan a discussion between them and a comparison of their solutions. The child has the responsibility of writing a text describing all the situation (from statement of the problem to both resolutions). Examples of activities The mathematics class. Example, given by the parent, of an activity of his or her schooltime, which could be solved by the pupil. The objective is to solve it in a separate way, and to compare the solutions. A mathematical problem: the tesselation of a square, based on a task described in Mesquita & Padilla, 1990. You have a square and you want to make a tesselation of this square, using only squares. Could it be possible with 4 squares? With 6 squares? With a different number ? If possible, propose your own tesselation, with a number of your own. About home environmental questionnaire. It seems that the utilisation of our questionnaire it not enough to determine the effective home environment of the families. For the next phase, we plan to adapt it, specially its second part, giving more importance to home activities rate. Another possibility would be to introduce interviews to parents, using an appropriate methodology. Placebo effect? This study lasted for a short period, but the achievement of the pupils of the experimental group suggests a very positive progression. Could these progresses be only an effect of participations in an experimentation? Or with the cooperative work with a parent, in any subject, could produce such progresses? The second phase of this study will confirm, or not, the trend observed here A second type of questions for us concerns the evaluation. One focus on this study was to appreciate the differences of pupils achievement in mathematics. But the qualitive appreciation of the progresses of these pupils suggests that differences are observed in mathematics, but also in reading and writing. So we wonder if in the second phase of this study, we should consider mathematics evaluation only, or should be useful consider both evaluations in mathematics and also in mother tongue? In this very exploratory phase of this on-going study, wee should be tempted by both evaluations The trends which seem to appear with these data encourage us to share these impressions with you.

A presentation of the first part of this study was been made in a Symposium at the 7th

International Conference of the European Research Network About Parents in Education, at Malmo University, Sweden, in 2009, organized by Maria Adelina Villas-Boas, University of Lisbon, Portugal, untitled On Reducing the Intergenerational Gap through the Interaction with Common Cultural Grounds in Different European Countries.

REFERENCES
Davies D. (1996) Partnerships for school success, Center on Families Boston, Communities, School &Childrens Learning, Boston, MA Dez-Palomar J. & Moratonas M.P. (2010) Discussing a case study of family training in terms of communities of practice and adult education, in J. Trgalova (Ed.), Proceedings of the sixth Congress of European Research in Mathematics Education (CERME6), Lyon (France) : INRP, pp. 1462-1471. Epstein J. (1995) School/Family/Community partnerships: Caring for the children we share, Phi Delta Kappa, May, 701- 712. Henderson A. (1987) The evidence continues to grow : Parent involvement improves student achievement, National Committee for Citizens in Education, Columbia, MD. Henderson A. & Berla N. (1994) A new generation of evidence: The family is critical to student achievement, National Committee for Citizens in Education, Columbia, MD. Lobo de Mesquita A. & Padilla V. (1990) Point d'ancrage en gomtrie, L'ouvert (Journal de l'APMEP d'Alsace et de lIREM de Strasbourg), 58, 30-35. McMullen R. & Abreu, G. de (2010) Parents experiences as mediators of their chidrens learning:The impact of being a parent-teacher, in J. Trgalova (Ed.), Proceedings of the sixth Congress of European Research in Mathematics Education (CERME6), Lyon (France): INRP, pp. 1494-1505. Symeou, L. (2009) Parental involvement in schools: The perspectives of Cypriot principals, International Journal of Educational Administration and Policy Studies Vol. 1 (2), 028035. Villas-Boas M. A. (2001) Escola e Famlia. Uma relao produtiva de aprendizagem em sociedades multiculturais, Lisboa: Escola Superior de Educao Joo de Deus. Villas-Boas M. A. (2005) The mismatch between results on parental involvement and teachers attitudes: is convergence ahead?, Aula Abierta Revista del ICE, Universidad de Oviedo, 85, 205-224. Villas-Boas, M. A. (2008) A parceria entre a escola, a famlia e a comunidade: Trabalhos de casa para desenvolvimento da literacia, Lisboa: Ministrio da Educao, Departamento de Avaliao Prospectiva e Planeamento.

NOTES
1

A presentation of the first part of this study was been made in a Symposium at the 7th International Conference of the European Research Network About Parents in Education, at Malmo University, Sweden, in 2009, organized by Maria Adelina Villas-Boas, University of Lisbon, Portugal, untitled On Reducing the Intergenerational Gap through the Interaction with Common Cultural Grounds in Different European Countries.
i

We use here this term only to precise that our focus is not centered on the cultural differences between groups but the activities that are proposed to children and parents.
ii

Note the many studies suggest the specificity of homework tasks. For instance, Mc Mullen & Abreu (2010, p.1494) mention the existence of barriers to successful interaction may be particularly evident when parents and children work together over mathematics homework. However, the concept proposed by Lave and Wenger (1991) and developed by Wenger (1998) [] is a notion precisely used by Wenger in a particular context (the business), (Diaz-Palomar & Moratonas, 2010, p.1465).
iii