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Allison Dixon

English 1201

Waggoner

21 March 2021

Parental Involvement Literature Review

As a child grows up, they learn everything they know about life from their parents, from

how to tie their shoes to how to walk. As a child reaches the age that is old enough to attend their

first school, each parent goes through a variety of different emotions. Some parents' main feeling

is that they are sad that their child is becoming less dependent on their support and instead

relying on their teachers and classmates to help them learn more. Other parents feel excited and

happy that their child is not as dependent on their advice anymore. Both emotions are normal and

most of the time there can be a mixture. However, the role of a parent does not stop as soon as

another support system comes into play. This is where a lot of parents go wrong and where my

question, “How does parental involvement play a role in a child’s life as they grow up?”, comes

into play.

Many parents, as the child goes through school, thinks that the responsibility of their

child’s education is in the hands of the teachers and the teachers only. This, however, is a

common mistake. Parental involvement in education is crucial, “No matter their income or

background, students with involved parents are more likely to have higher grades and test scores,

attend school regularly, have better social skills, show improved behavior, and adapt well to

school” (Brooks). This is very noticeable when you go into a nonprofit organization for after

school care for low-income families. These low-income parents spend most of their time at work

trying to make money to support their children and do not have time to sit down and help their
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child learn. Instead, the parents put all their trust into the educators at the school their child is

attending. Their lack of emotional and physical support with their child’s education can lower the

students class rankings in many different ways.

Although it is hard to say what part of parental involvement exactly benefits a child, it is

very easy to see in the statistics that the child is definitely better in school. When a parent is

involved and even does small things such as, asking engaging questions about the school day or

showing a positive attitude towards education in general, you see a rise in motivation and an

increase in confidence. El Nokali states, “parent involvement may also enhance children's

behavior at home and in the classroom as parents and teachers work together to enhance social

functioning and address problem behaviors. A growing literature has demonstrated benefits of

parent involvement for social functioning”. When a parent is involved in their child’s education

it helps the teacher know that the rules and expectations are being enforced throughout the day at

home as well so that the child does not take their schooling as a joke. This is more important in

younger children but there are different effects on high school students as well.

A typical high school student already does not have as much motivation as previous

years, but how a parent gets involved with their young adults education can help them achieve

higher goals than they would have reached otherwise. In research done by Alyssa Gonzalez she

states, “we found that relationships exist between parental involvement and such student

variables such as academic achievement, attitude, homework readiness, grades and educational

aspirations”. It is definitely harder for a parent to get involved with their child’s education as

they get into high school, but there are other ways that a parent can do to ensure that their child

can have the most successful high school experience. According to Gonzalez, “The parenting

practices that seemed to have the most impact on high school students' success were helping with
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their student’s homework, attending school programs, watching the student in sports or other

extracurricular activities, helping the student to select courses, and remaining informed about

student’s progress in school”. In the results from their studies, it seemed to show exactly what

they had predicted, that student’s with higher parental involvement had higher grade point

averages.

Some things that varied throughout the sources was that too much parental involvement

can also lead to detrimental effects as well. Some of the sources I read stated that there was no

such thing as too much parental involvement. However, in a source by Wendy Taylor she

disagrees, “Overbearing parents that micromanage, handhold, and make excuses on behalf of the

child can be as detrimental as the parents who are absent all together”. When parents are this

involved, it does not give the student enough room to grow and develop into their own person

who can stand up for themselves. This can also cause grade point averages to lower, due to not

being able to do anything on their own.

One of the worst parts about less parental involvement in education is that it can go past

education and into the personality of the child. The children with more behavioral issues and low

social skills are more likely to have little to no parental involvement (El Nokali). When the

child’s parents are not involved then it makes the child feel as if they are free to do whatever they

want without punishment at their house hold. In studies by Peters he states, “Therefore, students

whose parents are involved in their education tend to do better in school, exhibit positive and

low-risk behaviors, and associate with peers who hold similarly high standards for performance”.

This shows that parental involvement can create a whole personality for their child just through

being there for them and being involved in their life.

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There is still a lot to learn about the effects of parental involvement, but it is very clear

that when a parent is interacting with their child and encourages them to do their best it can do

nothing but benefit them in the long run. As the parental involvement dwindles, the detrimental

effects on the child get worse and worse. I need to look deeper into the things that parents can do

for their child to help them become more involved and to help the child create their own identity.
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Works Cited

Ansari, Arya, and Anna J. Markowitz. “Can Parents Do It All? Changes in Parent Involvement

from 1997 to 2009 among Head Start Families.” Children and Youth Services Review,

vol. 120, Jan. 2021. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105780.

Brooks, Ashley. “Experts Discuss the Importance of Positive Parental Involvement in

Education.” Rasmussen University, 18 Nov. 2019,

www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/education/blog/parental-involvement-in-education/.

El Nokali, Nermeen E, et al. “Parent Involvement and Children's Academic and Social

Development in Elementary School.” Child Development, U.S. National Library of

Medicine, 2010, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2973328/.

Peters, Thaddues J. “Parental Involvement: How Does It Relate to Student Behavior and

Academic Success?.” ProQuest LLC, ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway, P.O.

Box 1346, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Tel: 800-521-0600; Web Site:

Http://Www.proquest.com/En-US/Products/Dissertations/Individuals.shtml, 30 Nov.

2011, eric.ed.gov/?id=ED550004.
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Taylor, Wendy. “Parent Involvement: How Much Is Too Much?” Learning Essentials,

Wendy Taylor

Https://Learningessentialsedu.com/Wp-Content/Uploads/2018/07/Learning-Essenti

als-Header-logo2.Png, 13 Feb. 2016,

learningessentialsedu.com/parent-involvement-how-much-is-too-much/.