Correlation of Parental Involvement and Academic Achievement

Correlation of Parental Involvement and Academic Achievement

History of the Parents' Involvement

Growing Public Awareness

Research Findings on Procedural Progress

The Ongoing Effect

Development of Academics under the Perspective of Parental Involvement

The Montessori System

The Philosophy behind the Educational System

Linking Educational Materials to Practical Life Tools

The Environment and Students' Achievements in Subjects

Factors Affecting Parental Involvement

Importance of Parental Involvement

Effects of Parental Involvement

Benefits of the Effects

As educationalists search for ways to improve the modern educational system and to eradicate the problems in it, it is indispensable for them to investigate the causality of these problems and system's shortcomings. It is apparent that the drawbacks do not come into being completely from academics. As a result, it is obvious that a dynamic involvement of parents in the education of their children is a requisite.

In order for student to achieve success academically, a relationship based on respect and mutual understanding between students, teachers, and parents is of the essence. Loopholes at any place in this relationship cause the academic achievements of a student to collapse into failures. However, an intimate and reinforced closeness can sustain immeasurable potential in student's academic success (Brandt, Ronald S. (ED)).

The involvement of parents in a child's education, their varying reserved and relaxed character as teachers, friends and parents; at home, school and outdoors, is necessary for his academic achievements as a student (EBCSO). The paper highlights the history of parental involvement in students' academic achievements. It discusses what has been necessary for an effective involvement, how can it be made to benefit, its impact on students and its accruing advantages to parents as well as children being educated.

History of the Parents' Involvement

Background Overview

Before the 1900s, the system of public education was not in practice. Children were educated by their parents and other family members domestically. The advent of 1900s brought a pervasive revolution of schools establishment system. With expansion, the schooling system demanded skilled people, than ordinary trainers to accomplish the task of child education. Thus, child education impartment was elevated to be a professional ability. This growth in education of common people brought awareness of the occupation's significance. Additionally, as teachers became professional educationalists, most started to deem specialists must alone be in charge of academic qualifications for students (Stein and Thorkildsen).

Growing Public Awareness

With the passage of time, the awareness of pubic schooling system grew among parents who in turn demonstrated concern regarding the educational perspective. It was a risk for parents to transfer the responsibility of their children's education to a system's entrust whose effectiveness was not ensured. However, as the industry came under the charge of professional educationalists and produced noteworthy personalities that served the society, the system gained goodwill and recognition. According to the needs of every era, these educationalists developed educational systems, associations and foundations like the Montessori system, National Congress of Mothers, the Parent Teacher Association Foundation and numerous others throughout the century (Stein and Thorkildsen). This developed an effective communication between the educationalists and parents on updated information of students' academic achievements. Gradually, the trust and confidence of parents in the educational systems have increased as bodies for standard management of educational organizations have been instituted.

Research Findings on Procedural Progress

In the last two decades, effective agendas have been put into practice as parents have grown keen in being actively involved in the academics of their children. From 1991 to 1992, there had been a considerable improvement in the percentage of principals who stated high voluntary parental involvement in the academics of students (ABT Associates). It was documented that 40% of parents volunteered in the academic institution of their child (National Center for Educational Statistics).

The National Center of Educational Statistics reported in 1996 that 80% school students' parents participated in meeting, of one agenda or another, with their child's educator. Additionally, parents of 60% of school students attended at least one academic event (National Center for Educational Statistics).

The Ongoing Effect

The research findings reveal true and active efforts for involvement in students' academics from their parents. The research and development to evaluate the importance of parent involvement in education and to encourage parental involvement in students' academic achievements is an ongoing process that still continues. As the population figures and public awareness on the subject of parental involvement in students' academic achievements increase, these percentages are expected to ascend continually, sustaining parents as an active element of the academic process.

Development of Academics under the Perspective of Parental Involvement

The Montessori System

United States witnessed the works of Maria Montessori, an Italian physician, in the field of education at the beginning of the 20th century.

Education is not what the teacher gives: education is a natural process spontaneously carried out by the individual, and is acquired not by listening to words, but by experiences upon the environment. The task of the teacher becomes that of preparing a series of motives of cultural activity, spread over a specially prepared environment, and then refraining from obtrusive interference. Doing so, he/she will witness the unfolding of a new adult who will not be the victim of events, but will have clarity of vision to direct and shape the future of human society." (Maria Montessori)

The Montessori approach to education was inspired by the parent's behavior of providence to a child's needs. With the same in view, the main principles of Montessori Learning concentrate on catering to a child's developmental needs through the manipulation of concrete materials. Just as a child learns to handle complex issues on the basis of the simple solutions taught by parents on the same, Montessori education system leads the students' understanding of controllable concrete materials to sequentially applying them for solving different correlated mechanisms. Each one sequentially and gradually leads a student towards comprehending abstract entities.

The Philosophy behind the Educational System

The Montessori philosophy expresses the idea that the child's confidence and motivation are built upon success. The program values the practice of "isolating the difficulty" in presenting and evaluating any given activity. Just as the teacher presents skills such a penmanship, grammar, and spelling in isolation, a finished product is evaluated for its specific purpose. For example when a child creates an original piece of writing, the teacher may note spelling and penmanship errors, but will only evaluate the piece on its content. Later, those penmanship and spelling errors will be specifically addressed during the penmanship and spelling exercises. As the children move into the intermediate grades, they are expected to combine those skills into a finished product, rather than exposed to perfecting one skill at a time, eventually producing a perfect finished product, they are also free to express themselves creatively.

Linking Educational Materials to Practical Life Tools

Under the Montessori approach, the resources that were made available for children to manipulate were demonstrated in a predetermined environment, set so as to promote specific behavioral learning in different areas. At this young age of a student, this method of education teaches controlled mobility to the child, the same way as parents teach a child how to eat, drink, hold a pen, etc., so that he may be able to use his body in coordination with the work he is performing. The method promotes purposeful manipulation of tools and a child's ability to use them.

The educational materials used in the Montessori system are prearranged into dissimilar subjects such as language, mathematics, cultural sciences, and activities related to practical life and students' sensory abilities. In spite of this diversity, these themes are fashioned in an integral manner in order for the student to comprehend the physical and logical interrelationship(s) between them.

The same way as parents train their child in any skilled labor, the tools of practical use in everyday life assist in developing the students' aptitude to employ small apparatus like threads, needles and tweezers. On the other hand, the materials utilizing a student's sensory abilities are patterned to help in developing the observation and sensitivity of a student towards his surrounding environment. The materials primarily segregate and hone the senses of vision, audibility, taste, odor, and feel, and secondarily teach how to interrelate the observation of each sense for understanding the entity. The resources also provide the student specific familiarity for concept development in mathematics, language and cultural sciences, which serve as the foundations when a student is elder.

The Environment and Students' Achievements in Subjects

As children live together and interact with their siblings, under their parents' guidance at home, students in the Montessori system are taught to work as a team in coordination. The team is built in the form of a class that contains students of varying ages, from around three primary grade levels. This process develops the capability in students to gain knowledge from one another. They learn to respect each other's work and be considerate of the classroom milieu.

Additionally, they realize how they can work together for a common goal.

The teaching of language in a Montessori system is conducted in a preset environment where an approachable, non-authoritarian strategy is employed. With the same idea as children learn language from the parents in a normal routine way of everyday use, the method gives confidence to students for talking to each other, working collectively, and rehearsing skills of speech and comprehension in each and every sphere of language science. The course books used for language reading and spelling are utilized in line with guided lessons and particularized academic work.

The syllabus of cultural sciences embodies geography and history, along with physical and life sciences. The same way as parents tell real-life instances to children as stories, the history program commences with the knowledge of time and its description, further leading to the historical accounts of noteworthy instances. The students are made to realize the importance and usage of timelines as different contemporary and primitive cultures come under study. As students get to know of the origination and survival of life forms on the planet, they are simultaneously provided familiarization with how different lands and seas were formed on earth, and map workings. Linking every event in the cause and effect relationship, the entire history and geography curriculum is shaped into an interesting narration that the students automatically remember for is grasp. The program of life sciences starts from the basic grades, educating with the advancement and categorization of plants and animals. Like all the other programs of study, the lessons in the life science program are delivered in an interesting and striking fashion so as to create a sustained influence of the subject on the student.

Factors Affecting Parental Involvement

The involvement of parents is established to be successful in the academic achievements of a student. However, the efficiency of this parental involvement is in proportion with the family composition of the student. In 1996, The National Household Education Survey (NHES) proved that students having a dual parent family background in their homes are more tend to outshine in academic achievements and are more occupied by extra academic programs. Moreover, these students are less susceptible to suspensions or class level repetitions, in cases where one parent or another is interested in or involved with another person (Nord).

According to an educational statistic, parents from 38.5% of dual parent households keenly assist their children in their home assignments, more than three times in a week (National Center for Education Statistics).

The modern social change whereby the number of households with dual parents is decreasing can be a possible reason for the declining academic achievements of students in modern times. Such alarming facts necessitate the increase in parental involvement in students' academic achievements.

Importance of Parental Involvement

The impact of parental involvement and the benefits accruing from it are deeply-rooted and chained in a cause and effect relationship.

Effects of Parental Involvement

As children mature into their learning age as students, they get trained chiefly by observing and then putting observations to practice. Parents and teachers alike usually overlook the fact that the learning capacity of students is proportional to their cognitive maturity (Merrill). Along with improvement in students' academic achievements, parental involvement also considerably boosts the cognitive maturity of a child (Becher). Sustained involvement of parents in facilitating their children to gain knowledge of non-academic matters essentially upsurges the possibility that their children would attain a level of cognitive maturity that is well beyond their class grade level.

Not only has the parents' involvement facilitated cognitive development in students; it has also helped to accelerate the development of an adult intellect in children, establishing the basis for appropriate understanding of directives (Anderson). Consequently, the process improves the likelihood of attaining higher academic achievements for the student, as he grows above the average cognition and maturity level of the class.