Chapter I THE PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPE INTRODUCTION

What makes a perfect parent?" asks Chapter V of best-selling book Freakonomics" [Levitt & Dubner, 2005, p.147-176]. Parenting, as an art and science, has a number of attractive characteristics to an economist like Steve Levitt, who sees economics as a discipline with excellent tools for gaining answers but a serious shortage of interesting questions": people spend huge amounts of time and money seeking for advice on parenting, as reflected by the blooming media industry devoted to the subject. Today, parenting theories" are gaining influence into shaping childhood and education policies. Still, much of what is believed in this field rests on experts' opinions, and there is little solid evidence on the benefits of parental investments. Disappointingly, Levitt's answer to how much parents matter for a child's success is to quote Freakonomics [Levitt & Dubner, 2005, p. 175]: It isn't so much a matter of what you do as a parent; it's who you are. The reason is that much of what parents do can be traced back to who they are: parental attitudes are strongly shaped by their own background and environment. And in standard regression analysis, once background characteristics are factored in, a lot of the correlation of parental behavior with the childs outcomes disappears. A parent is a child's first and enduring teachers. They play a crucial role in helping their children learn. Children achieve more when schools and parents work

together; and parents understand what the school is trying to achieve and how they can help. A childs education begins at home, not in the classroom, and certainly the homes powerful influence does not end when school begins. It is a force to be reckoned with, for good or ill, throughout a youngsters school career (Weaver, 2005). Every parent known by these authors has wanted his or her child to succeed in school and in life. No parent ever said, I want my kid to fail. Just as no educator ever gets up in the morning and says, I want my students to fail today. Parents and educators want the same thing, for our children and students to succeed. When they do succeed, both parents and educators alike are filled with pride (Weaver, 2005). Parent involvement programs have been assumed to be important contributors to school children's educational success. These programs include direct parent involvement outside school hours, parent volunteer programs in the classroom, parent attendance, and participation in nonacademic activities (e.g., PTO, fund raising, etc.). At the most basic level, parents can begin encouraging the education of their children by showing that they truly value education themselves. Currently, many parents, school teachers and administrators in the United States define "academic parental involvement" as parents' active involvement in the school setting, via various behaviors such as attending PTA meetings, parentteacher meetings, or being involved in extracurricular events (Catterall, 1998; Lopez et al., 2001).` However, among Hispanic parents, academic parental involvement may involve activities that take place in the home, such as checking homework as well as other activities that are less traditionally associated with school involvement

such as "instilling cultural values, talking with their children, and sending them to school clean and rested" (Lopez et al., 2001; p.256). Thus, the nature of academic parental involvement may be very different among Hispanic parents and parents from other ethnic groups. It is important to examine these differences because many teachers and administrators in American schools may not understand the involvement of Hispanic parents. This lack of understanding could prevent the school system from working with parents on issues and problems confronting Hispanic adolescents. The degree of parental involvement can be judged by a childs attitude towards his school subjects, his academic desires and achievements. There is a direct relationship between academic achievements and the attitude towards school. Schunk in 1981 had the following idea of aspiration or academic desires: Level of aspiration is defined as ones subjective probability that he or she will reach a certain level of education.(Abu, H. & Maher, M). As a result, children who received adequate parental concern were found to be much more confident in their academic desires and achievements than those who could not get the right amount of parental concern. According to a recent report from the National Center for Educational Statistics (1997), compared to their counterparts, children with involved fathers are more likely to have participated in educational activities with their parents (e.g., to have visited a museum or a historical site with their parents in the past month), and are more likely to have access to multiple types of resources at home as well (as measured by the proportion of parents who belong to community or professional

organizations, or regularly volunteer in the community). (Flouri, E. And Buchanan, A, Pg.142) In the Philippines, the Department of Education is commissioned to attain quality education among school children and craft smart ways on how to arrive at this goal. This is always the battle cry of all the programs implemented before and until now and PTA isnt exempted for this realization. Parental involvement too has become one of DepEds major initiatives in enjoining local communities to respond to the needs of public schools and be part of a nationwide effort towards improving Philippine basic education. In Taligaman National High School, the parents are encouraged to indulge in activities that concern on their childrens performance and other school matters. The involvement of parents in Brigada Eskwela is a huge thing for children and serves as their motivation and that children see the real picture of having their parents actually involved in such activities.

Theoretical / Conceptual Framework

This study on the parental involvement and academic performance among first year students of Taligaman National High school will be supported by Epsteins Theory of Parental Involvement. Wherein in Epsteins opinion, schools and families share responsibilities for the socialization of the child. Concepts of family-like school are used to stress that the family needs to recognize that child is a learner to whom the importance of school, homework and learning in general needs to be pointed out, while the school is to make every child feel special, accepted and included as it is within the family. Similar principles go also for the community level and its interaction with both families and schools. Epstein and her colleagues (1996) have proposed a framework of parental involvement that includes six main types of activities that connect families, schools and communities: parenting, communicating, volunteering and learning at home, decision making and collaboration with the community. In this study, we present some of the factors contributing to ones performance, academically speaking, but the researcher give focus on parental involvement in the academic performance of first year students. The independent variable of this study is the parental involvement in Taligaman National High School. The dependent variable is the academic performance of first year students.

Schematic Diagram

Independent Variable

Dependent Variable

PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT

ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

Statement of the Problem This study would ascertain the extent of parental involvement and level of performance of first year students in Taligaman National High School. Specifically, this study seeks to answer the following questions; 1. What is the extent of parental involvement in Taligaman National High School in terms of: 1.1 PTA 1.2 Home Practices 1.3 Advices 2. What is the level of academic performance of first year students in Taligaman National High School in terms of: 2.1 Final Grades 3. Is there any relationship between the parental involvement and academic performance of the student?

Hypotheses
1. There is no significant difference in the extent of parental involvement in Taligaman National High School when analyzed according to gender, section and status. 2. There is no significant difference in the level of academic performance of first year students in Taligaman National High School when analyzed according to gender, section and status. 3. There is no significant relationship between parental involvement and academic performance among first year students in Taligaman National High School.

Significance of the Study

This study is conceptualized in order to know how parental involvement affects the students academic performance. The following people wou ld be benefited from this study: Administrators. They can find affinity in the implementation of the programs from the PTA. PTAs can help schools fulfill the parent involvement requirement of the No Child Left Behind Act.

Teachers. Help them go forward ton their plans and programs specifically in their classrooms and for the pupils. Homeroom PTAs play an important role in fundraising to provide building improvements, curriculum-based programs, and social events. Parents. Involving in PTA is the best way for them to know whats going on in school. They will understand the challenges schools face and become part of the solution. By developing a closer relationship with parents, student achievement improves, and the school develops a positive reputation in the community. Students. They are better encouraged and inspired to do well in school if their parents involvement in school is apparent and consistent. They will become more knowledgeable in many curricular areas as well as socially and ethically responsible.

Definition of Terms
This section presents the key terms which are defined clearly and operationally to facilitate easy understanding. Academic performance- refers to how students deal with their studies and how they cope with or accomplish different tasks given to them by their teachers. Parents-Teachers Association (PTA)-a voluntary organization that

addresses issues that are important to parents and public school administrators; fight for full funding, quality teachers, and capabilities for schools to thrive. Parental involvement - the act of sharing in the activities of the school. Pupils interest - A state of concern about or attention to school activities. Types of involvement parenting home information communicating volunteering in school teaching at home decision making providing housing, health, nutrition, safety parenting skills in parent-child interactions avenue/conditions to support study to help schools know child school-home/home-school communication help in classrooms/events help with homework, help with educational choices/options help decide in membership PTA/governors collaborating with contributions to school the community

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE This section indicates related readings associated with parental involvement and academic performance of students as groundwork in continuing this research work. Academic Performance Academic performance is used to label the observable manifestation of knowledge, skills and concepts and understanding of ideas. It is usually referred as a students performance in school, in the basis of their knowledge to certain subjects; this is usually measured to different evaluation techniques such quizzes and examinations. The acquisitions of particular grades examinations indicate students ability, mastery of the content and skills in applying learned knowledge to particular situations. A students success is generally judged on examination performance. Basically, academic performance depends on the students himself. However, there are many factors known to be contributing to a students academic performance.

Parental Involvement Parental involvement has been to be an important variable that positively influenced students education. It includes a wide range of behaviors but generally refers to parents and family members use and investment of resources in their childs schooling. These investments can take place in or outside of the school with the intention of improving students learning. More and more schools are observing

the importance and are encouraging families to become more involved. Because of this recent trend, the researchers are interested in understanding what is meant by parental involvement and in what way it has an influence on students education. Parents who demonstrate direct attention towards their children such as participating in school activities and providing them with their needs at school may motivate to perform better. The act of giving praise and rewards to their childrens school achievements notwithstanding the involvement that they show in school activities are motivating factors that will drive the students to perform better in their academic endeavors (Jenks, et al). The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB Act) reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), and is based on four principles that provide a framework through which families, educators, and communities can work together to improve teaching and learning. These principles are accountability for results, local control and flexibility, expanded parental choice, and effective and successful programs that reflect scientifically based research. The parental involvement provisions of the ESEA reflect these principles. Specifically, these provisions stress shared accountability between schools and parents for high student achievement, including expanded public school choice and supplemental educational services for eligible children in low-performing schools, local development of parental involvement plans with sufficient flexibility to address local needs, and building parents capacity for using effective practices to improve their own childrens academic achievement.

Much of the research that examines the relationships between parent involvement and childrens education assesses parent involvement by utilizing one particular measure, such as counting the number of parents that volunteer, coming to meetings, or coming to parent-teacher conferences (Baker & Soden, 1997). Other studies utilize measures that consist of a few closed ended questions that target a particular aspect of parent involvement and often focus on the number of times parents participate in particular events (Goldring & Shapira, 1993). According to Baker & Soden (1997), this type of measure does not allow for a rich picture of parent involvement, nor generate new ideas. Traditionally, parental involvement in education included contribution to their childrens home-based activities (helping with home-work, encouraging children to read, and promoting school attendance) and school-based activities (attending Parent-Teachers Association meetings, parent-teacher conferences, and

participating in fund raising activities). Hixson (2006) explained that involvement of parents and families is often cited as one of the most important ways to improve public schools. Parental involvement makes an enormous impact on the students attitude, attendance, and academic achievement and it promotes better cooperation between parents and school. It also allows parents and teachers to combine efforts to help the children succeed in school. Parental involvement and interest in school were combined to significantly predict students academic achievement in science. These two independent variables also have significant relative influence on science achievement, which implies that students parental involvement and interest in school are important

predictors of science achievement. Parents are in the position to help, counsel, and support their children socially, academically, and emotionally to achieve better grades in science. This view corroborates the findings from many studies (Hixon, 2006; Epstein, 1995) which reported that parental involvement could help improve students achievement in school. Baker and Soden (1998) enumerated areas where parents could be involved in their childrens academic activities: provision of stimulating literacy materials at home, supervision of homework, monitoring of television viewing, and participation in joint learning activities at home. Available and accessible research evidence have indicated that students with parents who are involved in their education tend to have fewer behavioral problems and better academic performance and are less likely to drop out of school than students whose parents are not involved in their school (Grotruck, et al, 1987). Corroborating the above findings, Reynolds (1994) demonstrated that a significant relationship existed between parental involvement and academic achievement. It is widely recognized that if pupils are to maximize their potential from schooling they will need the full support of their parents. Attempts to enhance parental involvement in education occupy governments, administrators, educators and parents organizations across North America, Australasia, continental Europe, Scandinavia and the UK. It is anticipated that parents should play a role not only in the promotion of their own childrens achievements but more broadly in school improvement and the democratization of school governance. The European Commission, for example, holds that the degree of parental participation is a significant indicator of the quality of schooling. In England, the Governments

strategy for securing parental involvement was first set out in the 1997 White Paper, Excellence in Schools. The strategy described their included three elements (a) providing parents within formation, (b) giving parents a voice and (c) encouraging parental partnerships with schools. This strategy has since been played out through a wide range of activities including the enhancement of parent governor roles, involvement in inspection processes, provision of annual reports and prospectuses, the requirement for home-school agreements, the provision of increasing amounts of information about the curriculum and school performance. Regardless of government policies, some parents have always been actively involved in enhancing their childrens development and educational progress. This spontaneous activity has taken a number of forms including good parenting in the home pre-school (which provides a good foundation of skills, values, attitudes and self concept); visits to school to gather relevant information and establish good relationships; discussions with teachers to keep abreast of the childs progress or to discuss emergent problems; and assisting more broadly in the practical activities and governance of the school. Lack of the necessary parental care and attention is the main factor for the subsequent rise in the percentage of juvenile delinquency (crime among children). The absence of parental instructions causes children to develop irreversible behavioral and emotional problems. They in order to seek attention, resort to crimes thinking that in this way they could fulfill their wishes. They may revert to uncontrolled violence if not kept an eye upon. Such criminal activities cannot be brought to a halt until their distressing symptoms of low self-esteem, depression,

dysphonic mood, tension and worries, and other disturbances are relieved. And the importance of parents role in this regard cannot be over-emphasized. In an effort to describe parental involvement, many researchers use a term Transition(Lombardi, Joan). Transition is used to describe the time period in which children move from home to school, from school to after school activities, from one activity to another within a pre-school, or from pre-school to kindergarten. The untiring endeavors of teachers in the phenomenon of transition cannot be ignored. They prepared the children and their parents to face the problems of adjusting to elementary school programs that had different psychology, teaching styles and structure than the programs offered at the kindergarten level. In the elementary level schools the teachers had to face serious challenges in motivating the parents to take interest in their childrens activities. The teachers adopted different methods to involve the parents in day-to-day classroom and home activities. They used to send notes, invitation of parent-teacher meetings, invitation of parental guidance sessions and training sessions, continuously directing the parents attention towards their children. Patricia Brown Clark suggests that it is very important to keep the line of communication between teachers and parents open, so that the parents can interact with the teachers and get up to date information of their childrens school activities. One way to involve parents is to schedule school events and arranging classroom activities such as volunteering for libraries, acting as classroom aides or efficiently organizing lunch breaks. The teachers also opt for making phone calls at the childrens houses to keep in touch with the parents and getting to know the extent to which they are contributing towards the welfare of their children.

Apart from the above activities, the teachers also assign home activities for both the parents and their children so that the parents remain indulged in their children and the children get to study at home. However, it was a bad and disappointing experience for the teachers when many of the parents failed to respond as expected. Many of the parents were so overwhelmed with their official work that they could hardly take out some time for their beloved children.

Motivation The importance of motivation in whatever a person does cannot be underestimated. When it comes to making choices, motivation is of considerable importance. As pointed out by Dewey (1930), motivation is a two-dimensional construct which involves identification and absorption. Deweys conceptualization is very important in educational enterprise as the relationship between identification, absorption and self-initiated activities offer a straight-forward way to analyze school activities. Schiefelle (1991) defined motivation from the point of specification of content domain. Empirically, motivation in schooling has been found out to contribute significantly to the student achievement of students. For instance, Odinko and Adeyemo (1999) found that motivation in schooling together with other sociopsychological factors were good predictors of students learning outcomes. Another project had examined the role that parent involvement has on childrens motivation. Various types of parent involvement were assessed, including volunteering, home involvement, attending parent classes, school political

involvement, talking to staff, talking to teachers, etc. Motivation was measured by a student self-report questionnaire. Approximately 400 students in 7th through 11th grade were included. Parents who more often volunteered, took parent classes, or talked to teachers were more likely to have a student who was more motivated to go to museums or zoos outside of school. In addition, parents who talked to teachers, checked their students progress on the internet, or did educational activities outside of class had students who would more likely find out information about a topic beyond what is learned in class. The key context for parental impact on school outputs is in the home. Depending on the age or developmental level of the child parents can and do provide for the acquisition of skills (e.g. the foundations of literacy and numeric through playing word and number games). This skills component might endure for children with special needs. Throughout the age range however, parental involvement seems to have its major impact on children through the modeling of values and expectations, through encouragement and through interest in and respect for the child-as-learner. It seems that pupils internalize aspects of parental values and expectations as they form an image of themselves as a learner their so-called educational self schema. These influences are played out through discussions about and beyond schooling. All aspects of these exchanges can be enhanced through learning. In the last analysis, it is the pupil who must do the learning and achieving. Across the age range, support for schooling must be support for independent learning. Idealized parental/child exchanges change under mutually interacting influence as the child gets older.

Status The problem of poor quality of education in the country can be attributed to several factors in the teaching and learning process. These include the pupils and their families support, the teachers, the curriculum, instructional materials and the school management. (Samonte, 2008). Majority of the pupils in the public schools belong to the poor families. Children of the low income group are susceptible to frequent absenteeism due to lack of food and clothing. The distance of the residence from the school is also contributory to poor attendance. Study shows that parents support of the participation in the childs education affects the pupils performance in school. Generally, the performance of pupils from a large and low income family with parents having limited education is inferior to that of a small one with a higher income and well-educated parents. Oftentimes, parents from poor families cannot afford to supplement the education of their children in terms of additional school needs such as school supplies, workbooks and supplemental reading materials (Pingul, 2006). Sacker et al (2002) set out to examine how inequalities in educational achievement and adjustment come about. It has been well known for decades that pupils educational achievement is related to parents social class yet the mechanisms that form this relationship are not well understood. The present interest in this model is the presumed role for parental involvement. Involvement is assumed to be a working link between social class and pupil achievement and adjustment. In this process, involvement is assumed to be influenced by material deprivation and

parental aspiration. The poorer are peoples circumstances the more difficult it is assumed to be to support a childs educational developm ent. The latter, parental aspiration is in turn influenced by the childs evident achievement. The more the child achieves, the greater is the parental expectation. The arrows in the diagram indicate presumed directions of influence, showing the anticipated direction of causes to effects. It is assumed here that social class has its influence through the four intervening variables (parental involvement, material deprivation, parental aspiration and school composition). Additionally, it is assumed that social class influences achievement and adjustment in ways not specified in the model, hence the direct arrows from class to achievement and adjustment.

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY This chapter presents the research methodology and procedures used in the study. It includes the research design, research locale, respondents of the study, data gathering and the statistical treatment of the data.

Research Design This study employs descriptive design of research. It is characterized with fact-finding activity in which adequate and accurate interpretation of the findings will be done. It will also examine circumstances that will serve to help the development of the performance of students in Taligaman National High School.

Research Locale The study was conducted at Taligaman National High School, a public school located at Taligaman, Butuan City

The number of student serves as the strata in the population.

Taligaman Map

This is the map of Barangay Taligaman where the said school is to be found. It is one of the Barangays of Butuan City. The distance of Taligaman from Butuan is 14.4 kilometres (8.93 miles). From the national high way, going to Bayugan or Davao, there is a crossing street in the right side. It is a street that heads you to Taligaman High School if you are from Butuan, Ampayon or Antongalon. The distance of it is 50 meters from the national road of the barangay. You can ride utility jeepneys (R- 7: Taligaman, Basag, De Oro trip) or Bayugan/ San Franz as choices of transportation.

LEGEND: House Store Rice dryer

Covered Court

School

Road

Adels Carenderia

Boarding House Chapel

Rice and Corn Mill

Road

The Population and Respondents The study used an evaluative research method since the data obtained from respondents were aroused and evaluated and described using statistical measure population and respondents. The data of the respondents of this research was conducted at Taligaman National High School, particularly at the First Year students of I ESEP section. The Engineering and Science Education Program (ESEP) is a science and mathematics-oriented curriculum devised for high schools in the Philippines. The ESEP program is offered by specialized high schools, whether public or private, supervised by the Department of Education.

Table: The Population of Respondents I ESEP Class Respondent Boys Girls Total There are ________ boys and ________ girls were given questionnaires in the samplings. Frequency Percent (%) Sample Percent (%)

Research Instrument The study utilized the following research instruments in getting the data of the respondents as follows: Parent Involvement Questionnaire a questionnaire used to measure: o the involvement of parent/s to the students activity or programs in school o the involvement or the support given by the parent/s to the student in terms of moral or financial aspect o the relationship of the parent/s to the administrator and to the adviser of the student and alike Performance Sheet a sheet used in gathering the grades of the students in Second Grading Period

Data Gathering Procedure The researcher first asked advises, opinions, previews and or alike in choosing her research title from the Research Subject Instructor, Dr. Eduardo N. Andit. After the selection, the researcher submitted the title and was approved. After that, since the researcher is working at Taligaman National High School, she decided to conduct the study to her workplace for easier access because her time is limited. Then, she asked permission from the principal of the said school for the conduct of the study. After the approval, she approached the class adviser and

asked assistance in giving instructions and by giving explanations about the questionnaires given. The teacher also helped her in retrieving back the samplings given for analysis. For the grades of the respondents, the researcher asked the teacher to have the Form 137 A for referral. The latter with all the willingness, helped her writing the data on the form. With all the gratitude, the researcher thanked the teacher for all the help and assistance given to her. The drafts of the research were submitted to Dr. Andit for correction. The corrected work was being finalized and reviewed ready for encoding.

Sampling Design The study used random sampling design in which the researcher preferred to get _________% of the total population of the respondents. From _______ number of respondents, the researcher get only ________

Quantification of Data The data gathered was quantified and analyzed using statistical tool. The following variables quantified were: Parent Involvement Quantifier Table

Scale

Verbal Description Always Oftentimes Sometimes Seldom Never

Mean Ranges

Interpretation

5 4 3 2 1

4.5 5.00 3.5 4.9 2.7 3.49 1.9 2.69 1.0 1.89

Very High High Moderately High Low Very Low

Academic Performance Table Academic Performance 96 100 90 95 85 89 80 84 75 79 Level 1 2 3 4 5 Verbal Description Outsanding Very Satisfactory Satisfactory Fair Poor

74 below

Very Poor

Statistical Treatment This study used: The frequency count, percent, the mean, correlation and t test of relationship. The data gathered were subjected to statistical analysis. The Weighted Mean was used to determine the extent of parental involvement and academic performance of students in Taligaman National High School for the said study. The frequency count was used to determine the number of respondent, who belong to the different levels in the parent involvement and student academic performance. T test and correlation was used to test the relationship between the parental involvement and performance of students in Taligaman National High School.