Christina Bowman

ED 122
Dr. Alexander
November 5, 2019

Importance of Parental Involvement

Many people believe that education ends outside of school doors. However, children only

spend about seven hours in school each day. The remainder of that time is generally spent at

home with parents. Since this is the case, I would like to find out more about parental interest in

education. I believe parental support and interest are essential to student success and confidence,

but I would like to find out more. I will focus on parental interaction and involvement with their

child(ren) and their child(ren)’s education.

The best predictor for student success is how families try to encourage learning at home

and attempt to involve themselves in their child’s education (“How Parental Involvement Leads

to Student Success,” 2018). This is called parental involvement or engagement. This means

parents and teachers share the responsibility to help children learn and meet educational goals

(“How Parental Involvement Leads to Student Success,” 2018). While the importance is clear, a

study in 2016 showed a significant drop in parents who believe that intimate parent-teacher

communication is worthwhile. This happened because of online portals and other electronic

means of communication (“How Parental Involvement Leads to Student Success,” 2018). “While

digital tools can help families stay informed, students are missing out when parents don’t offer

their time and support” (“How Parental Involvement Leads to Student Success,” 2018). While it

seems clear that families should encourage learning at home and effectively communicate with

teachers, the importance remains unknown.

Besides teachers, parents and peers play exceedingly important roles in children’s

personal and social development (Kauchak & Eggen, 2011). “Experts estimate that children up
to age 18 spend 90 percent of their waking hours outside of school under the guidance of their

parents” (Kauchak & Eggen, 2011). Due to this, healthy parent to child relationships can help

provide personal development by helping kids develop a sense of autonomy, competence, and

belonging (Kauchak & Eggen, 2011). When parents are involved with their children’s schooling

a variety of positive factors occur. Students achieve more regardless of their socioeconomic

status, background, or parent level of education. Students often earn higher grades and test

scores, attend school regularly, and complete homework. Students have better attitudes and

behaviors. Students tend to avoid alcohol, drugs, violence and antisocial behaviors when

involvement is higher. And finally, educators generally hold higher expectations for students

with parents who work together with the teachers (Kauchak & Eggen, 2011). Parental

involvement is essential to student success.

According to “How Parental Involvement Improves Student Academic Performance”

(2014), when a parent or caregiver is involved in their child’s education, the child is much less

likely to have behavior problems and are much more likely to succeed in academics.

Furthermore, when a student has parents who talk to them regularly about school, they are more

likely to do things such as attend school more regularly, complete homework consistently,

develop better social skills, and graduate and attend college (“How Parental Involvement

Improves Student Academic Performance,” 2014). The importance of parental involvement is

shown academically and socially, so why is the level of involvement so low?

Williams et. al (2002), analyzed a survey of households with children between ages five

and sixteen that attended maintained schools. The survey was done by the Department of

Education and Skills. It was conducted to investigate the level of parental involvement in their

children’s education and general school life. Throughout the analysis, they found that one in
three parents felt very involved in their child’s school life, more likely if the child was in

elementary school. Also, more likely if the survey was completed by the mother (Williams et. al,

2002). More on this, three out of four parents agreed that they wanted more involvement in their

child’s lives. However, their work commitments, demands of other children, childcare

difficulties, and lack of time were barriers to becoming more involved (Williams et. al, 2002).

After reviewing the literature and finding the importance of parental involvement, I wanted to

reach out to local people and gather information on their take of parental involvement and the

importance.

Report of Process

In order to gain information based upon my investigation of parental involvement and the

impacts it has, I decided to create a survey, interview a child, parent, and teacher, and ask a

principal for a statement. I created a survey asking a variety of questions and ended up with over

40 responses. I asked participants if they identified as a student, educator, parent to a student,

parent to a prior student, or a prior student and their age. I asked participants to rate on a scale of

1-10 whether parent involvement is important for student success (10 being very important). I

asked participants to rate on a scale of 1-10 whether parent involvement is important for student

confidence (10 being very important). I asked if the participant felt they were/are

supported/supportive. I asked the participants what their experience of parental involvement was.

I asked if they think parental involvement has impacted their/their child’s education.

And I asked participants how parental involvement has impacted their/their student’s success. I

decided I wanted more connected answers, so I conducted a series of interviews

I created interview questions to conduct interviews with a child, a parent, and a teacher.

For the child, I asked how it made them feel when their parents are interested in their
schoolwork. I asked them if their parents help them with homework. I also asked if it made them

happy, I asked if it made school easier and if they would like more help? For the parent, I asked

if they felt involved in their child’s education, and if so, how? I asked if they thought parental

involvement is important for a child’s education and how? Finally, for the teacher, I asked how

parental involvement drives student success. I asked how parental involvement impacts student

confidence. And I asked how they think parental involvement in education impacts a child’s later

life. Finally, I received a brief, informal statement from a principal of a school on parental

involvement.

Findings and Conclusions

The survey asked about parental involvement in education. It received over 40 responses

for most questions.

Figure 1. Type of respondents.

 Figure 2. Ages of respondents.

I asked a variety of people, as you can see from figure 1, and a variety of ages, which you

can see in figure 2. Out of 41 responses, each responder ranked parental interaction impacting

student confidence anywhere from 5 to 10 (on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the most important).

Also, out of 41 responses, each responder ranked parental interaction impacting student success

anywhere from 5 to 10 (on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the most important. Out of 40 responders,

97.5% of people said that parental involvement has impacted them, their children, or their

students. Through further analysis, I compared a response from an individual that said there was
a lack of parental involvement in their experience to someone that said they were supported as a

student. For the respondent that said there was a lack, they said they believe they could have

done better in school had they let their parents be more involved. On the other end, I looked at a

response that said they were supported by their parents and they believe they would not be where

they are today without the emotional and financial support that their parents provided.

I also asked an open response question asking respondents to explain their experience

with parental involvement. I received a variety of responses. One response was, “When I was in

high school, I didn’t want my parents to get too involved with what I was doing in school and

they respected that. I now wish I could have let them support me more as I might have succeeded

better.” Moreover, “I am very involved in the education of my children. I email teachers and

check in with my kids and monitor grades frequently. As a teacher though (I have taught all

grades k-8), there is not NEARLY enough parental support. In education, there should be a

"triangle of support" *teacher*student*parent. Students would be much more successful if that

were in place for every student.” Finally, “We have one parent-teacher conference per year. I

wish that we got more of those or more personal progress reports than just a benchmark test

reading.”

I asked another open-ended response question asking respondents to explain how parental

involvement has impacted their success. Again, I received a variety of responses. First, “I feel

like I could have been a lot more successful if I had just let my parents help and support me.”

And, “I think the lack of pride I've been shown, and how restricted I am from their help. I've lost

most motivation to do well. I try to impress them, but since their attention isn't on me, pride isn't

really something they consider towards my education.” Also, “I believe the involvement of my

parents gave me the confidence to reach for new goals in my educational journey. I do not feel
like I would have continued into college or graduate programs without their guidance and

support.” And finally, “When parents are engaged and supporting of your education it is much

easier to feel like there is an incentive to keep working hard and thus you are more likely to

continue being successful. In my own life having one parent very involved while the other was

out of the picture pushed me to work hard and be successful to prove things to both parents.”

To gain more information on the subject in a face-to-face manner, I decided to interview

a nine-year-old boy named Dakota. When I asked him how it made him feel when his parents are

interested in his schoolwork he responded with, “It makes me kind of happy. It makes me feel

like they care about my work.” When I asked him if they help with homework he said, “yes

sometimes, but sometimes they’re too busy and Daddy doesn’t get home until bedtime.” I asked

him if their help made him happy, if it made school easier, and if he would like more help. He

said, “them helping me is nice, but I don't always need the help. But they’re there when I need

them.” After hearing Dakota’s responses, I decided to interview his mother

For the parent interview, I interviewed Dakota’s mother, Marissa. I asked her if she felt

involved in her child’s education, and if so, how? She said, “I help with homework, I go to

sporting events, family days, conferences. I feel like I’m involved enough, but sometimes it is

hard to find the time.” I also asked her if she thought parental involvement is important for a

child’s education. She said, “yes, if your kids see you paying attention, they will too. At home

you basically need to reinforce concepts that are taught in school.” After this interview, I decided

to interview a teacher since they see all types of involvement.

For the teacher interview, I interviewed Turner Huston, middle school math and reading

teacher at Woolwich Central School. I asked Mr. Huston how parental involvement drives

student success. He said, “It shows responsibility for the student and parent, a parent is a teacher
at home that must reinforce the importance of education.” I then asked him how parental

involvement impacts student confidence. He said, “I think it impacts confidence both positively

and negatively. When parents do everything for their child, it gives them no confidence.

Helicopter parents are the worst for student confidence. But in a healthy way, it can be positive

by giving a connection to the real world.” I also asked him how he thinks parental involvement

in education impacts a child’s later life. He said, “by pushing them it increases the importance of

education and pushes them to do more.” The responses from the interviews were quite

consistent.

I got a brief statement from Todd Martin, a principal at Edna Drinkwater Elementary

school on parental involvement. He said “Parental involvement is crucial because as a principal,

you want parents to support what you do in a school. You want a child’s life at home to be a

continuation of learning. Unfortunately, you can't communicate enough with parents. Schools are

always needing more volunteers and having parents involved creates a community.”

All across the board, from the literature, the survey, and the interviews, it is clear that

parental involvement is essential to student success. From the survey, I was able to determine

that the majority of people do understand the importance of parental involvement and many

believe that parental involvement does impact student success. So even though digital tools may

decrease some parental involvement, according to the survey, students, parents, and educators do

realize the importance of it (“How Parent Involvement Leads to Student Success,” 2018). From

the open-ended questions, I can conclude that if a student allows interaction, it may help their

success. I also found that if there were a triangle of communication and support between the

teacher, parents, and student, students would be much more successful. Finally, I can conclude
that parents need more opportunities to get involved. For example, the parent that wishes there

were more individualized progress reports rather than just reading benchmarks.

From the last part of the survey, about how parental involvement has impacted their

success, I can conclude a few things. First, it is clear that people feel like if they had let their

parents be more involved then they would’ve been more successful. However, on the opposite

end, a responder said that because there is a lack of pride, they have no motivation to do well.

Finally, some responders feel as though they wouldn’t be where they are today without the

support their parents gave them.

From each of the three interviews, there were a few things that remained consistent. From

this, I can conclude that students feel happy and encouraged when parents are interested in and

care about their schoolwork. It is also consistent that parents have a hard time finding

opportunities to be involved. A big consistency between the teacher interview and the parent

interview is that parents and teachers need to work together to reinforce the importance of

education. From a principal’s perspective, parental involvement is also essential for a

continuation of learning at home, but it is challenging to communicate enough with parents.

Being involved in a healthy manner is important, as pointed out by the interview by

Turner Huston. Having too much control is a negative thing but having enough can seriously

improve student success. After all, according to Kauchak and Eggen (2011), schools are only

effective if parents are involved with their student’s education. To conclude, the findings from

the survey, interviews, and statements are consistent with the literature. Parental involvement in

general positively impacts student success. As future educators, it is our responsibility to

encourage and help increase the communication between parents, teachers, and students to

engage parents and students alike.

 Bibliography

Bowman, C. (2019, October 24). Personal interview with T. Martin.

Bowman, C. (2019, October 25). Personal interview with T. Huston.

Bowman, C. (2019, October 26). Personal interview with D. Winkler.

Bowman, C. (2019, October 26). Personal interview with M. Winkler.

How Parent Involvement Leads to Student Success. (2018, November 1). Retrieved from

https://www.waterford.org/education/how-parent-involvment-leads-to-student-success/.

How Parental Involvement Improves Student Academic Performance. (2014, April 8). Retrieved

from https://www.waterford.org/news/how-parental-involvement-improves-student-academic-

performance/.

Kauchak, D. P., & Eggen, P. D. (2011). Introduction to Teaching: Becoming a Professional (4th

ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Williams, B., Williams, J., & Ullman, A. (2002). Parental Involvement in Education. Parental

Involvement in Education. Queen's Printer.