Parental Involvement in Literacy Development

Literacy Research Summary

School-wide literacy program is established to help improve student achievement and enhance the rates of graduation at the school. Based on the survey on the school’s literacy program and infrastructure, the greatest area of need in the school’s literacy program is a comprehensive, coordinated framework for the involvement of various stakeholders in promoting student achievement. There is lack of collaboration between different stakeholders toward strengthening student literacy. Lewis-Spector & Jay (2011) states that shared leadership among stakeholders within and outside the school environment is critical towards strengthening student literacy. The school needs to create a framework with which teachers, administrators, parents, and community volunteers will actively engage in the literacy program. This paper provides an analysis of different studies conducted on this area of literacy need and measures that can be undertaken by the school to address it.
Review of Studies
The involvement of different stakeholders within and outside the school setting toward improving student literacy has been the subject of numerous studies that seek to promote student achievement. Cobb (2005) conducted a study that examined the establishment of literacy teams as part of a shared leadership approach toward strengthening student literacy and achievement. The research suggests that schools should create literacy teams that comprise of the principal, teachers, and others stakeholders like parents to help in enhancing student literacy and achievement. The researcher states that the principal should act as the leader of the literacy team and an instructional leader who provides teachers with necessary support. Literacy teams should be developed as systems of shared leadership in which teachers and school administrators share responsibilities for student learning. These teams have proven effective in enhancing student learning and literacy through facilitating the creation of a learning environment where teaching and learning is engaging, invigorating, and motivating.
Mansuetti (2009) examined whether parents with low literacy skills can enhance their children’s academic achievement. This study was conducted based on the idea that parents act as the first and most important teachers for their children. While many parents want their children to succeed in school, they become uncertain on how to continue being active and engaged in their children’s learning as they progress in school. Through this study, Mansuetti (2009) states that all parents can enhance their children’s literacy skills regardless of their own levels of literacy. To achieve this, parents should be trained by family literacy practitioners to assist in their children’s literacy development.
Hampden-Thompson, Guzman & Lippman (2013) conducted a cross-national evaluation of parental involvement and student literacy. The study sought to establish the impact of parental involvement in school-wide literacy programs on strengthening student literacy and enhancing their performance in school. The study found that there is a strong link between parental involvement and student literacy. In this case, parental involvement is associated with positive impacts and outcomes on student literacy and achievement. Through an analysis conducted across 21 countries, students’ literacy increases when parents are actively engaged in the school’s literacy development program. However, such improvement is only evident when there is increased social and cultural communication between parents and students. Therefore, a school-wide literacy program needs to incorporate social and cultural communication between parents and students in order to be effective in strengthening student literacy and achievement.
In a study that examined the role of parental involvement in children’s literacy development, Thomas (2016) supported the view that parental involvement has positive links to student literacy development. Parental engagement in literacy practices through the school-wide literacy program has been found to have positive associations with student literacy. However, despite these positive links, parents do not engage in school literacy programs and practices with their children. Therefore, Thomas (2016) suggests that a school-wide literacy program should incorporate a home-school partnership approach through which parents actively engage in their children’s literacy development. Home-school partnership improves the effectiveness of school-wide literacy programs through dealing with barriers that prevent parental involvement in student literacy development.
Similarly, Martorana (2015) argues that parental involvement in their children’s literacy development at home helps in enhancing the effectiveness of a school-wide literacy program in strengthening student literacy and achievement. Therefore, school-wide literacy programs should incorporate a framework for the development of a positive home-school relationship with respect to literacy development. In essence, teachers should ensure that the program includes measures for increased social and cultural communication between parents and their children as the foundation for parental engagement in their children’s literacy development.
Application of Measures to Resolve the Literacy Need
As shown in the review of studies conducted on student literacy, there are numerous strategies that can be employed to resolve the literacy need at the school. While the school’s literacy program is relatively effective, there is need for collaboration between different stakeholders, particularly parents, in the literacy program. Parental involvement is critical towards strengthening student literacy and achievement since parents are the first and most important teachers for their children. Based on a review of the strategies presented in the studies, there are two approaches that would resolve the area of literacy need at the school. These two strategies are the establishment of literacy teams and incorporating a framework for development of home-school relationship between parents and teachers in relation to literacy development.
The first step toward resolving this issue is conducting a meeting between the various stakeholders within and outside the school to discuss literacy development issues. This will be followed by creating literacy teams led by the school principal and comprising other stakeholders like parents, school administrators, and community workers. The principal will be mandated with the task of acting as an instructional leader and ensuring that teachers have necessary support and resources toward improving student literacy and achievement. Once these teams have been established, literacy practices that promote parental involvement in literacy development at home will be incorporated. In this regard, the literacy teams will identify suitable literacy practices that can be implemented by parents and community workers outside the school environment. Parents will be required to implement or engage in these literacy practices in order to develop and strengthen their children’s literacy and achievement. These literacy practices will be assessed and improved from time to time depending on the students’ literacy need and achievement as well as overall school performance.
In conclusion, the issue of parental involvement in their children’s literacy development has been the subject of numerous studies in recent years. A review of some of these studies have shown that parental involvement has positive associations with student literacy and achievement. However, parents are not usually actively engaged in literacy development because of some barriers or lack of proper strategies. Some of the strategies that can be employed to enhance parental involvement in literacy development include creating literacy teams, training of parents, and building home-school relationship. The literacy need at the school will be addressed through creation of literacy teams and development for home-school relationship in literacy practices.
References
Cobb, C. (2005, February). Literacy Teams: Sharing Leadership to Improve Student Learning. The Reading Teacher, 58(5), 472-474.
Hampden-Thompson, G., Guzman, L. & Lippman, L. (2013, August 28). A Cross-national Analysis of Parental Involvement and Student Literacy. International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 54(3), 246-266.
Mansuetti, S. (2009). Intentional Literacy-based Parenting Education: Can Parents with Low Literacy Skill Increase Academic Achievement of Their Children? PAACE Journal of Lifelong Learning, 18, 1-16.
Martorana, J.M. (2015). Parental Involvement and Literacy Achievement: A Case Study. Retrieved from The College at Brockport: State University of New York website: https://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1587&context=ehd_theses
Thomas, J. (2016). Presenting a United Front: Parental Involvement Facilitating Children’s Literacy Development. Journal of Initial Teacher Inquiry, 2, 17-20.