Parental Involvement and Student Academic Achievement

Introduction

As educationalists search for ways to improve the modern educational system and to eradicate its problems, it is essential for them to investigate the root causes of those shortcomings. It is apparent that the drawbacks do not originate entirely from within academic institutions themselves. As a result, it is clear that dynamic parental involvement in the education of children is a requirement for meaningful improvement.

In order for a student to achieve academic success, a relationship based on respect and mutual understanding among students, teachers, and parents is of the essence. Gaps anywhere in this relationship cause a student's academic achievements to collapse into failures. However, an intimate and reinforced connection can sustain immeasurable potential in a student's academic success (Brandt, 1979).

The involvement of parents in a child's education — their roles as teachers, friends, and parents at home, at school, and outdoors — is necessary for a child's academic achievements as a student. This paper highlights the history of parental involvement in students' academic achievements, discusses what is necessary for effective involvement, how it can be made to benefit all parties, its impact on students, and its accruing advantages for both parents and children.

History of Parental Involvement in Education

Before the 1900s, the system of public education was not widely practiced. Children were educated by their parents and other family members at home. The advent of the 1900s brought a sweeping revolution in the establishment of schools. As the schooling system expanded, it required skilled professionals rather than ordinary trainers to accomplish the task of educating children. Child education was thus elevated to the status of a professional discipline. This growth in the education of the general population raised awareness of the profession's significance. Additionally, as teachers became professional educationalists, many began to believe that specialists alone should be responsible for students' academic development (Stein & Thorkildsen, 1999).

With the passage of time, public awareness of the schooling system grew among parents, who in turn demonstrated concern regarding their children's education. It was a significant step for parents to transfer the responsibility of their children's education to a system whose effectiveness was not yet fully proven. However, as the profession came under the charge of skilled educationalists and produced noteworthy individuals who served society, the system gained goodwill and recognition. According to the needs of each era, educationalists developed educational systems, associations, and foundations — such as the Montessori system, the National Congress of Mothers, and the Parent Teacher Association — throughout the century (Stein & Thorkildsen, 1999). These developments created effective communication between educationalists and parents regarding students' academic progress. Gradually, trust and confidence in educational systems increased as bodies for the standard management of educational organizations were established.

In the last two decades of the twentieth century, effective programs were put into practice as parents grew keen to be actively involved in their children's academics. From 1991 to 1992, there was a considerable improvement in the percentage of principals who reported high levels of voluntary parental involvement in students' academics (ABT Associates). It was documented that 40% of parents volunteered at their child's academic institution (National Center for Educational Statistics).

The National Center for Educational Statistics reported in 1996 that 80% of school students' parents participated in meetings of one kind 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).

These research findings reveal genuine and active efforts by parents to be involved in their children's academics. Research and development aimed at evaluating the importance of parental involvement in education — and at encouraging such involvement — represent an ongoing process. As population figures and public awareness on the subject increase, these percentages are expected to continue rising, sustaining parents as an active element of the academic process.

Academic Development Through the Montessori System

The United States encountered the educational work of Maria Montessori, an Italian physician, at the beginning of the 20th century. Montessori described her educational philosophy in the following terms:

"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 or 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." (Montessori, 1936)

The Montessori approach to education was inspired by the parent's behavior of providing for a child's needs. With this in view, the main principles of Montessori learning concentrate on addressing a child's developmental needs through the manipulation of concrete materials. Just as a child learns to handle complex issues on the basis of simple solutions taught by parents, the Montessori educational system leads students from an understanding of manageable concrete materials to sequentially applying them for solving different correlated mechanisms — each step gradually leading the student toward comprehending abstract entities.

The Montessori philosophy expresses the idea that a 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 as 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 evaluate the piece only on its content. Those penmanship and spelling errors are then specifically addressed during dedicated penmanship and spelling exercises. As children move into the intermediate grades, they are expected to combine those skills into a finished product, ultimately producing work that reflects both technical proficiency and creative expression.

Under the Montessori approach, the resources made available for children to manipulate were demonstrated in a predetermined environment designed to promote specific behavioral learning across different areas. At this early stage of a student's development, this method teaches controlled mobility — the same way parents teach a child how to eat, drink, and hold a pen — so that the child may use his or her body in coordination with the work being performed. The method promotes purposeful manipulation of tools and the development of a child's ability to use them effectively.

The educational materials used in the Montessori system are organized into distinct subjects such as language, mathematics, cultural sciences, and activities related to practical life and students' sensory abilities. Despite this diversity, these themes are structured in an integrated manner so that students can comprehend the physical and logical interrelationships among them.

Just as parents train a child in any skilled activity, tools of practical everyday use help develop students' aptitude for employing small implements such as threads, needles, and tweezers. Materials that engage students' sensory abilities are designed to develop observation and sensitivity toward the surrounding environment. They primarily isolate and refine the senses of vision, hearing, taste, smell, and touch, and secondarily teach students how to interrelate observations from each sense in understanding an entity. These resources also provide students with specific foundational knowledge in mathematics, language, and cultural sciences that serves as a basis for learning in later years.

Just as children live together and interact with siblings under their parents' guidance at home, students in the Montessori system are taught to work as a team. The class is composed of students from approximately three primary grade levels, a structure that develops the capacity to learn from one another. Students learn to respect each other's work and to be considerate of the classroom environment. They also come to realize how they can work together toward a common goal.

Language instruction in a Montessori setting takes place in a prepared environment where an approachable, non-authoritarian approach is employed. Just as children learn language from parents through the normal routines of everyday life, the method encourages students to speak with one another, work collectively, and practice skills of speech and comprehension across every sphere of language study. Course books used for reading and spelling are utilized alongside guided lessons and individualized academic work.

The cultural sciences curriculum encompasses geography and history, along with physical and life sciences. Just as parents share real-life stories with children, the history program begins with an understanding of time and its description, then proceeds to the historical accounts of significant events. Students come to appreciate the importance and use of timelines as both contemporary and ancient cultures come under study. As students learn about the origins and survival of life on the planet, they are simultaneously introduced to how different landforms and bodies of water were shaped, as well as to basic map skills. By connecting every event in a cause-and-effect relationship, the entire history and geography curriculum is shaped into an engaging narrative that students naturally retain. The life sciences program begins in the early grades with the study of the development and classification of plants and animals. Like all other programs of study, life science lessons are delivered in an engaging and vivid manner so as to create a lasting impression on the student.

The involvement of parents is well established as beneficial to a student's academic achievements. However, the effectiveness of parental involvement is proportional to the family composition of the student. In 1996, the National Household Education Survey (NHES) demonstrated that students from two-parent households tend to outperform peers academically and participate more in extracurricular programs. Moreover, these students are less susceptible to suspensions or grade repetitions (Nord, 1998).

According to educational statistics, parents from 38.5% of two-parent households actively assist their children with homework more than three times per week (National Center for Education Statistics).

Conclusion

Furthermore, students who have experienced active parental involvement in their academic lives are 19% more likely to earn a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree than students whose parents have not been involved in their academic achievements (Eagle, 1989).

Modern times and technological advancements offer parents the option of being involved in their children's academics even when they are unable to be physically present. Pagers, cellular phones, web cameras, email, and other audio and video communication technologies all enable this kind of participation. Through these advances in communication, it has become easier than ever for parents, students, and teachers to exchange progress reports, class work, and homework assignments in order to sustain a participative and well-informed role in a student's academic life (Raskin, 2000). Considering these options, there is little justification for a lack of communication between parents and their children's schools.

It is evident that the advantages of parental participation in a student's academics are far-reaching. Communication plays a vital role in this process, with communication gaps being bridged by both personal closeness and technology. As research findings continue to provide evidence supporting the role of parental involvement in students' academic achievements, and as new initiatives continue to promote that involvement, the possibilities for improvement in students' academics are boundless. From all perspectives, parental involvement is a practice rich in appreciable qualities.