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Parents and Community

Parent involvement with their child’s education has many benefits. The more

years a parent is actively involved in their child’s education the higher the likelihood of

high school completion and more years of schooling completed (Barnard, 2004). Schools

that actively involve families in action teams and the planning of community involvement

activities have increased rates of student attendance (Sheldon, 2007). Becker and Epstein

(1982) identified five categories of teaching techniques that involve parents in at-home

learning activities: reading books; parent-child discussion; informal learning activities;

contracts in which parents agree to complete an activity; and techniques that develop a

parent’s role as teacher/tutor of their child.

These assignments exemplify at-home learning activities that involved parents

cooperating with their child. The graphic organizers presented were part of a larger unit

on multiculturalism and diversity in a first grade classroom. This project required parents

to participate in at-home learning activities that cultivated parent-child discussions about

their family and cultural traditions. Based on their discussion, students and parents

completed the graphic organizers that would then be used to create a book about the

student’s family history, culture and community. Epstein and Becker (1982) found that

parent involvement in at-home learning activities “may be the most educationally

significant” (p. 111) and have “greater potential for actively involving parents in

important exchanges with the teacher that may assist their own children’s progress in

school” (p. 113). These parent-teacher exchanges benefit both parties involved. Epstein

(1987) describes Mead’s (1934) theory of symbolic interactionism in which the concept

of self is the product of one’s interactions with others. Epstein expands on this theory in
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the context of the school environment: if a teacher avoids interaction with a parent, then

the teacher is unaware of a parent’s expectations for their child and the teacher. If a

parent does not interact with the teacher, then the parent does not know the school’s

expectations of students and of parents. When parents and teachers interact, they become

aware of the expectations one has for the other and for the child involved. This reciprocal

relationship between parents and teachers has a snowball effect in which Becker and

Epstein (1982) found that the more a teacher provided support for parents to be involved

in at-home activities, the more parents were active in school related activities and in-

classroom volunteerism. Additionally, parents respond more positively to teachers and

rate them more highly if teachers make an effort to involve parents in learning activities

and inform them of their teaching practices (Epstein, 1986). Parents of my students that

participated in the project responded positively to the experience. They appreciated the

communication with me and seemed to be as engaged in the process as their students

were. The project would not have been successful without the cooperation of parents as

co-learners with their students, and I was pleased with the result of their communication

both with me, and their students.

Parents and teachers have a shared interest in the development and growth of a

child. It is therefore in the interest of both that the two parties work and collaborate

together. The greater the overlap of the spheres of influence (school and family), the

greater the benefit is for parent, teacher and child (Epstein, 1987).
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References

Barnard, W. (2004). Parent involvement in elementary school and educational attainment.

Children and Youth Services Review, 26. 39-62.

Becker, H. & Epstein, J. (1982). Parent involvement: A survey of teacher practices. The

Elementary School Journal, 83 (2). 85-102.

Epstein, J. (1986). Parents’ reactions to teacher practices of parent involvement. The

Elementary School Journal, 86 (3), 277-294.

Epstein, J. (1987). Toward a theory of family—school connections: Teacher practices and

parent involvement. In K. Hurrelmann, F. Kaufmann, & F. Lösel (Eds.), Social

intervention: Potential and constraints (121-136). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.

Epstein, J. & Becker, H. (1982). Teachers’ reported practices of parent involvement:

Problems and possibilities. The Elementary School Journal, 83 (2). 103-113.

Mead, G.H. (1934). Mind, self and society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Sheldon, S. (2007). Improving student attendance with school, family and community

partnerships. The Journal of Educational Research, 100 (5). 267-275.