Parental+Involvement

=**​The Importance of Parental Involvement in Urban Students' Education**=

**Introduction: ** What is parental involvement? Parental involvement is when a student’s parent is associated, involved, and interested in their life within a school environment. For example, a study done by a University of Michigan student included two schools, Cass Tech and Lane Tech both located in Detroit. The involved parents at Cass Tech had monthly meetings containing workshops and presentations presented by the district’s superintendent at their disposal. The parents of Lane Tech students had computer classes and the opportunity to serve on the school council at their reach. Both schools showed students had better academic, behavioral, and cognitive skills when parents were highly involved. They didn’t fail to mention that in urban schools and mainly African-American districts the case of parental involvement was the opposite.

Why is parental involvement in urban districts so scarce? · Factors contributing to this problem are socioeconomic status, the parents' work schedules, the parents' lack of education, expectations of administrators and teachers within the schools and other factors. · Many parents choose not to participate and be involved because they feel teachers are biased and disvalue their children because of their race. · Low income families feel they are outside the school system and the teacher and administrators should do the informing.

What happens when parents do become involved in urban schools?

· An entire building's psychological atmosphere and the students’ academic abilities can improve.

**An in-depth look at Parental Involvement:**

There are many factors that contribute to a child’s success in education. One extremely important aspect of a thriving education is encouragement and support. It can be debated that some of the most influential people in a child’s life, especially through developing years, are their parents/guardians. The support and involvement of these figures can solely decide a child’s academic future. As found in multiple research studies, there are many small elements in a parent’s involvement that can contribute to student achievement. Some of these include: parent expectations, when to get involved, the impact and factors of parental involvement, and reasons as to why some parents may be more involved than others.

Parental expectations set the framework for their child’s aspirations. When a parent remains positive and supportive, often encouraging success in a child’s academic progress, then that child learns the importance of working hard in school. Conversely, when a parent is absent from their child’s education and proposes that education and school are unimportant to them, the child reflects off of this idea, making it an annoyance in their life; seeing education as an annoyance rather than an important necessity.

When to get involved is something that shouldn’t vary throughout a child’s education when it comes to parental involvement. If embraced early enough, a child can grasp the importance of education as early as kindergarten and carry it with them throughout college. If a parent remains involved in a child’s life, academically, social, or emotionally, the child will indefinitely prosper. Studies show that Parents are most likely to attend school meetings and events or to volunteer in their child’s school when their children are in primary school. “//For example, in 2003, a little over 90 percent of students in kindergarten through fifth grade had parents who attended a meeting with their teachers, while 75 percent of middle school students,// //59 percent of ninth through tenth grades students, and 53 percent of eleventh through twelfth grade students had parents who had done so //.” – (Childs Trends Data Bank, 2003)

“//**The most effective forms of parent involvement are those, which engage parents in working directly with their children on learning activities at home**//” (Michigan Department of Educaton, 2002)

From the research found, there are 3 major factors of parental involvement:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Three major factors of parental involvement in the education of their children: 1. Parents’ beliefs about what is important, necessary and permissible for them to do with and on behalf of their children; 2. The extent to which parents believe that they can have a positive influence on their children’s education; and 3. Parents’ perceptions that their children and school want them to be involved. These factors greatly contribute to the impact that involvement has a child’s future.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">__Major Factors of Parent Involvement__ **

Many people are aware that the lack of parental involvement is the biggest problem facing schools today. Infact **86%** of the general public believes that support from parents is the most important way to improve schools (Michigan Department of Educaton, 2002).

Differences in parental involvement also can be traced back to race & ethnicity. In a study from 1993-2003 done by Childs Trends Data Bank, it was found that Hispanic and non- Hispanic Black students were **//less//** likely to have parents who attended school events or who volunteered their time compared with non-Hispanic white students. Statistics show that 61% of Hispanic students and 63 % of non-Hispanic black students had parents who attended school events, while **74%** of non-Hispanic white students had parents who had done so. 28% of Hispanic students and 32% of non-Hispanic black students had parents who __volunteered__ their time, compared with 48% of non-Hispanic white students. (Childs Trends Data Bank, 2003)

Along with ethnicity, education plays apart as well. Parents with higher levels of education and income are more likely to be involved in their children’s school. For example, in 2003, 80 % of students whose parents had a Bachelor’s degree or above had parents who attended a school event, compared with 42 % for students whose parents had less than a high school education. (Childs Trends Data Bank, 2003)

These are just a few examples of research that are able to relay information on the topic of parental involvement. Although this research investigates only a few factors, there are a plethora of underlying issues that can be related to this subject.


 * Solving the Problem**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Extensive research is being done on how to reverse this struggle within urban education. In order to reform urban education, in relation to parental involvement, teachers must educate themselves as well as the students. Before anything can be done to solve this problem, teachers must be cultured and willing to work towards forming closer ties with the parents. The most prominent proposed solution, teachers taking the time and effort to better understand their students' backgrounds, is suggested to help them to develop better methods of communication. Through this communication with the students, teachers are more likely to and successful at building bonds with parents and encouraging them to stay active in their child's education.

Students are proven to work more diligently and perform better academically when teachers share a common communication style with the students. Literacy is key in this aspect of urban education. If the teacher's conversation style or even accent does not coincide with that of the students, communication is even more hindered, leaving students uninterested and parents dissatisfied. When teachers take the time to educate themselves on the culture they are teaching in, students are more involved and comfortable in the classroom, making an educator's job much easier.

Without face-to-face conversations and better methods of informing families of their children’s progress and upcoming events, the problem of low parent involvement in urban schools will continue to grow and affect the education system negatively. School boards in urban areas around the country are welcoming parents by encouraging them to attend after-school programs and workshops, as well as school activities and sports games.

By taking these small steps alone, schools are seeing more active parents and better academic performance among the students. From culture to literacy to ideals and beliefs, communication barriers must be broken down in order for these efforts geared towards improving urban education to be successful.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">** __Video Clips__ **

[|Parental Involvement at School] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[|President Barack Obama on Parents and School] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[|Parental Involvement in Education] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[|The How-to's of Parental Involvement]
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What is parental involvement in reference to school?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">How can I become involved at my child's school?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What is a "room mother" or "room father"?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What school-based organizations are available for parents to join?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">How can I be involved at my child's school if i don't have much time?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">President Obama explains is point of view on parental involvement.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Depth of Parental Involvement in school.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Tips on how to become an involved parent.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sources: <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;">Childs Trends Data Bank, Initials. (2003). //Parent involvement in schools//. Retrieved from http://www.childtrendsdatabank.org/pdf/39_PDF.pdf Michigan Department of Educaton, Initials. (2002, March). //What Research says about parent involvement in children's education//. Retrieved from http://www.michigan.gov/documents/Final_Parent_Involvement_Fact_Shee Parental involvement in learning: statistics. (2006). //National Institute for Literacy//, Retrieved from http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Parental_Involvement/