Understanding Underinvolvement: The Educational Decisions of Motivated, Low-SES Parents

Embed Doc
Copy Link
Readcast
Collections

CommentGo Back

Download

Understanding Under-Involvement:The Educational Involvement Decisions of Motivated, Low-SES ParentsDepartment:Submitted January 19, 2007

This research was made possible in part by support from the Undergraduate ResearchOpportunity Program, Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, College of Arts and Letters,and the University of Notre Dame.

1Understanding Under-Involvement:The Educational Involvement Decisions of Motivated Low-SES Parents Numerous studies have found that parents’ involvement in their children’s education is animportant component of student achievement (e.g., Compton-Lilly, 2003; Lareau, 2000; Shields,Gordon, & Dupree, 1983; Walker, Wilkins, Dallaire, Sandler & Hoover-Dempsey, 2005).Specifically, Greenwood and Hickman (1991) found that parental involvement enhances achild’s attitude, sense of well-being, and educational aspirations while also improving grades andreadiness for school. In addition, Anderson (2000) observed that parental involvement decreasesthe likelihood that students will be placed in special education, repeat a grade, and or drop out.Other studies have found that parental involvement increases student motivation (Gonzales-Haas, Willems & Doan Holbein, 2005) and decreases instances of behavioral problems (Domina,2005).Policymakers also understand the importance of parental involvement. In 1987, the USDepartment of Education released

What Works: Research about Teaching and Learning.

Thisguide to effective educational methods regards parents as “children’s first and most influentialteachers” (p. 5), and advocates that parents read to their children frequently and incorporateliteracy

and numerical skills into home activities. More recently, the US Department of Education (2004) stated that parental involvement is a key factor in creating successful schoolsand increasing student achievement. Additionally, in a 2002

USA Today

article entitled “SchoolsCan’t Improve Without Help of Parents,” then Secretary of Education Rod Paige called energeticand enthusiastic involvement from

all

parents “the most important help of all” in achievingeffectiveness for the No Child Left Behind Act.

2Despite researchers’ and policymakers’ vehement endorsement of parental involvement,school structures continue to be most conducive to the involvement of middle-class parents(Goodwin & King, 2002), ironically shutting out the low-income parents whose children areoften most in need of support. Other research (Englund, et al., 2004; Lareau, 2000) confirms that parents of low-socioeconomic status (SES) tend to be less involved in their children’s educationthan higher-SES parents, as measured by traditional forms of involvement such as classroomvolunteerism and working with children at home. In particular, Lareau found that low-SES parents are less likely to supplement curriculum with closely related work at home, to challengeteachers’ expertise, and to communicate with other parents about their children’s education.However, other studies have demonstrated that low-SES parents are just as eager to helptheir children succeed in school as their higher-SES counterparts (e.g., Handel, 1999; Lareau,2000). For instance, Handel writes about students in her developmental reading class for adults.While her students, many of whom were low-SES parents, seemed disengaged with coursematerial, they would eagerly crowd around her desk after class to ask questions about reading totheir children. Furthermore, Lareau found that low-SES parents value education as much asmiddle/high-SES parents. Similarly, Compton-Lilly’s work (2003) challenges mainstreamdiscourse that says urban, low-SES parents do not care about education. She explains that these parents attempt to support their children academically from within their difficult social context.As a result, their methods of involvement are often different from the mainstream, causing their dedication to be mistaken for apathy or inability. The somewhat conflicting findings summarized above beg the question of why low-SES parents are less involved in their children’s education despite being highly motivated. In order toanswer this question, it is necessary to understand the factors contributing to parents’

of 00

Leave a Comment