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Jessica Cassell Professor Dean Leonard English 1201.515 13 February 2014 Importance of Parental Involvement in a Childs Education Teaching a child at a young age is important because as they get older, teaching certain things can be almost impossible and can jeopardize a childs education. There have been numerous reports that show the affects that not learning things at a young age can have on someone. For example, one child who was unwillingly locked up in a room at a young age for years was struggling just to do simple things as a teenager when she was found and freed, such as walking. The teenager was struggling with walking because she was tied to a chair for so long that she never learned to walk like a normal toddler; therefore, attempting to do it years later was almost impossible. This situation alone shows that learning things at the right age is extremely important but what happens when a child does not receive the proper parental involvement in their education? Many children who do not have parental involvement in their education is just as jeopardized as the young child who was trapped in a room. Some people argue and say that the teachers alone are solely responsible for a childs education but there are many facts that show how important parental involvement is to a childs education and all the benefits that it has. Parental involvement can impact a childs education and better the child in many ways as there are numerous different strategies that a parent or guardian can be involved in with their childs education.

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In America today, there is only one subject in which America has not fallen behind in. That subject is in confidence. According to the movie Waiting for Superman out of thirty developing countries we rank twenty fifth in math and twenty first in science. We have fallen behind in almost all categories except one, confidence. America should feel ashamed for falling so far behind in education when we are a country founded off of entrepreneurship. Without education and knowledge, new inventions and new ideas are not possible. There truly are numerous ways to improve education, but one improvement that needs to be made is having an increase in parental involvement. There is a lot of argument out there where parents believe that education is all on the teachers and if their child is struggling, then the child doesnt have a good teacher. In a lot of cases, this is not true. For example, if a first grade teacher has a child in class who does not know how to tie their shoes, the teacher now has to make time in her day to teach the child how to do this, which is not something that can be taught in just one day. Something like tying their shoes should have been something the child should be able to do by the time they reach first grade. If the teacher takes time out of other lessons to teach this child something they should already know, then it takes a hurt on the childs education. The teacher should be focusing on age appropriate lessons for her first graders, but now the teacher has to step back and teach things that the child has not yet accomplished. Something as simple as tying shoes can be worked on at home with the childs parent and with that help, it could make a big difference in their education. This is just one example of how parental involvement could help a childs education. Other examples could be that the parents help teach the child how to follow directions which would make for a smoother day at school or even to teach the child respect which would help the child be able to stay in class all day instead of the principals office. Again, there great things that can

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come from parental involvement in a childs education and many ways that a parent can be involved. To start off with, there are some issues that can affect parental involvement and why it may not occur like it should. The parents involvement in their childs education can vary on the increasing diversity among students and demographics characteristics, such as socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and cultural backgrounds. For example, one suggestion on how parental involvement can make a difference is by increasing social capital, which means, parental school involvement increases parents skills and information, which makes them better equipped to assist their children in the school-related activities (Hill et al 162). Many parents are afraid to be involved in their childs education because they themselves do not feel educated enough to help their child. Parents then start to feel ashamed that they cannot be of any help and it just creates a bad relationship between the childs education and the parent. Some other issues that create the lack of parental involvement can include that parents lack a clear definition of parental involvement, parents dont know how to help a child academically, parents dont have any encouragement from the teachers, or that the only contact the parents get from the teachers is when their child has done something wrong. All of these issues are cause by bad communication between the parent and teacher, no communication at all between the parent and teacher, or the teacher gives bad treatment to the parent. These issues listed can easily be resolved but they need to be addressed first by the schools. One simple way to resolve these issues is that the schools could create a committee to help address any issues and be of any assistance to the parents so they can be involved in their childs education. Next, if parental involvement does exist in a childs education, there are many positive impacts that it can have on the child. For example, in a Chicago inner-city elementary school

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there was a research program that was implemented and evaluated for over two years on parental involvement. During this implementation process the program created an action team, obtained funds and other support, identified starting points, developed a three year plan, and continued planning and working on how to improve the program. They had also made a list of different ways the parents could be involved. Towards the end of the research, results were available such as third grade reading achievement improved by 4 months and reading grade equivalent mean scores increased from gain of 2 years, 7 months in 1995 to 3 years, 1 month in 1998 (Hara et al 225). At the end of this research program this school alone saw a great improvement in the childrens education. All that was needed was an organization to help implement parental involvement and communication with the parents on how they could help and things they could do. By the end of the program, test scores were improving and grades were increasing. Another positive impact of parental involvement is security and connection between the child and the parent. According to the article Defining Parental Involvement: Perception of School Administrators, parental involvement can boosts a childs perceived level of competence and autonomy [as well as offer a sense] of security and connectedness and help to internalize the value of an education and performance (Young et al 291). This article also states that parents who are involved with their childs education directly support learning while indirectly encouraging achievement (Young et al 291). If children are not only getting the support they need but also getting the encouragement for achievement without really knowing they are receiving it, it can lead the child into many positive directions. In contrast, if the child is not receiving parental involvement, it can cause many negative impacts. When parental involvement does not occur a childs education, it then puts the childs education risk. According to an article done by Ismat Jahan Siddiqui, a professor in education, a

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research was conducted by the Department for Education and Skills and its evidence clearly states that childrens progress can be hindered by lack of parental involvement (45). Siddiqui also states that if parental involvement does not exist, it can result in many common responses due to particular types of stress such as emotional responses, behavioral reactions, physiological functioning, cognitive, phobic disorders, and/or obsession disorder. All these negative responses will greatly affect the childs education and will put them on the wrong path. Now that we know there are positive impacts of parental involvement in the childs education, the next step is to start working on different strategies to stay involved in the childs education. There are many ways that parents can be involved in their childs education. According to Siddiqui, there are six types of involvement a parent can give, which consist of parenting, communicating, volunteering, learning at home, decision making, and collaborating with the community, which are all equally important (45). To be involved in a childs education though, first the parents needs to understand the definition of parental involvement. According to Mrs. Kimberly Schatzley, a fifth grade teacher at Union Elementary, parental involvement not only means being involved with [the childs] education but also being aware of [their] childs thoughts and feelings. Being aware of their thoughts and feelings means that you can help teach them to be responsible and how to react the appropriate way when certain feelings arise (personal information, March 5, 2014). Schatzley also states that students who have parental involvement in their education typically do much better in school because the child has someone to push them to do their very best. As Schatzley stated, parental involvement is more than just helping them with their school work but they also need help and encouragement when it comes to their emotional side.

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In addition to what parental development is, Mrs. Shelley Schaurer, a fourth grade teacher at Union Elementary, gives plenty of examples on what a parent can do to be involved. According to Schaurer, parental involvement means interacting with children, whether its watching appropriate television and discussing it, spending time together at home doing activities as simple as eating meals, playing games, making things with play-doh or learning how to cut paper with scissors, teaching them how to ride a bike, teaching them how to kick a ball, or spend time with them when you take them to places such as the parks or museums (personal information, March 7, 2014). Again, these activities do not directly state that the parent is sitting down with the child helping them with their homework but instead they are doing activities such as riding a bike can help a child in their education because it can teach them not to give up or teach them how to experiment and try things more than one way. Parental involvement is something that a child needs throughout their life, even as they get older and move on up to middle school or high school. Raising a child does not stop once they hit a certain age and neither does the parental involvement in their childs education. In the article Exploring Parental Involvement Strategies Utilized by Middle School Interdisciplinary Teams it discusses about having tremendous potential for more middle school parental involvement. In this article by Chris Robbins and Linda Searby, they stated that the parents responded to some of the issues by saying that the problem was not them but that the schools themselves. The parents most common response to help the childs education was to help make the schools and class sizes smaller (129). It seemed in the article that there was not really a concern by the parents that they needed to be involved more in their education as they were getting older. It is very common that many parents after elementary school stop being involved in their childs education and just start letting the child do their own thing. Parental involvement

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should continue throughout the childs educational career no matter their age because remember that involvement doesnt necessary mean sitting down and doing their homework with them but being emotionally there for them and teaching them other things that will benefit them in their educational. A childs education is important and parental involvement can impact a childs education in a positive way as there are countless strategies that a parent or guardian can do to be involved in with their childs education. Activities such as having meals with your children, teaching them how to ride a bike, or even playing with them can all benefit towards their education. When these activities occur, positive impacts on the childs education start to arise. Positive impacts of parental involvement can include increase in grades and tests, normal stress levels, and stronger relationships between the child and their parents. Once the impacts start occurring more and more, children then would be doing a lot better overall with their education. Better education means better test scores and America can rise back up on their scores and start being known for being number one in more than just our confidence.

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Works Cited Hara, Steven R., and Daniel J. Burke. Parent Involvement: The Key to Improved Student Achievement The School Community Journal 21.2 (2011): 219-228. PsycINFO. Web. 10 Mar. 2014. Hill, Nancy E., and Lorraine C. Taylor. Parental School Involvement and Childrens Academic Achievement: Pragmatics and Issues. Current Directions in Psychological Science 4 (2004): 161-164. JSTOR Life Science. Web. 10 Mar. 2014. Robbins, Chris, and Linda Searby. "Exploring Parental Involvement Strategies Utilized By Middle School Interdisciplinary Teams." School Community Journal 23.2 (2013): 113136. Education Research Complete. Web. 10 Mar. 2014. Schatzley, Kimberly. Personal Interview. 05 March 2014. Schaurer, Shelley. Personal Interview. 07 March 2014. Siddiqui, Ismat Jahan. Lack of Parental Involvement: Stress Prone Children. International Journal of Education & Allied Sciences 3.2 (2011): 43-48. Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Mar. 2014. Young, Clara Y., Sheila M. Austin, and Roslin Growe. Defining Parental Involvement: Perception of School Administrators. Education 133.3 (2013): 291-297. Sociological Collection. Web. 10 Mar. 2014. Waiting on Superman. Dir. Davis Guggenheim. Geoffrey Canada and Michelle Rhee. Paramount Vantage 2010. Film.