Elementary Advanced Program Graduate Thesis Erin McAllister Letter grade Assignment Thesis grade: A Professor’s comments: Erin, You have some important and compelling findings in this thesis. I appreciate how much care you put into your analyses, looking for patterns and reasons behind the patterns that you saw. In this draft, there were definitely places where you took your analyses to a deeper level, and that shows. There could still be a more in-depth dialogue set up among the literature pieces that you used in the beginning. You did a very strong job in the conclusions weaving in the literature with your findings in order to really get at the implications of your research. I hope that you share these findings. It seems that it is clear how parental involvement can support students from your work, which will give you concrete information to share with families, colleagues, and your principal. I encourage you to find ways to make the impact of this research stretch beyond this year into your future work with children and families.

Parental Involvement in Children’s Reading Comprehension Background information: The reason I chose to do this study was because of the values my parents set for me as a child. Reading with my father and mother at night helped me to crack the code of reading long before my peers which set me up to be a stronger reader and be more successful in the classroom. Today in education, many children are not reading as much as they should be based on my observations as a teacher, and I thought parents should be more involved in their child’s reading. Erin McAllister

Data Collection & Research Methods Student’s pictures- 19 Draw where you read at night Draw everything and everyone in the room Sticky notes on pictures- 19 Clarity about what the students drew Surveys Parents- 19 sets Students- 19 I conducted this research at a school on the north shore in a fourth grade classroom. I was a long term substitute teacher from September to December 2012. I observed 19 students (11 girls and 8 boys) School setting is three classrooms per grade with about 10 special education teachers and specialists I got permission letters signed by the principal, the parents, and the students All surveys completed and sent back to me All pictures were complete I collected data to analyze in surveys, drawings, and sticky notes for clarity of what the students drew

Literature “The levels of student motivation (to read) might be related to the changes in parental involvement.” From home to school: The relationship among parental involvement, student motivation, and academic achievement by Britney Coleman “There is a direct and positive relationship between parental involvement and students’ academic achievement” Parental Involvement and Grade Four Students’ English Reading Achievement by Jessica and Sadiq Midra Substantial results from literature suggest that parental involvement in children’s reading comprehension is key to the success of the student Other studies showed parents and teachers working together for the common goal of success in reading I collected articles ranging in ages of the students in the study from young kindergarteners and first graders all the way through eighth grade so I could have a full range of support in multiple grades.

How do students describe their parent’s involvement in their reading? Research Questions How do parents and guardians describe parental involvement in their child’s reading for comprehension assignments? How do students describe their parent’s involvement in their reading? What can be learned about comprehension and reading achievement and parental involvement?

Categorizing Students Strong readers (10)- 85%-100% on comprehension tests Mediocre readers (3)- 70%- 84% on comprehension tests Struggling readers (6)-Below 70% on comprehension tests Besides just the comprehension scores, I also categorized them by observations made in the classroom and background knowledge I knew about the students

Categorizing Parents Involvement Highly Involved Ex: Girl scout troop leader, PTO president, cafeteria worker, photocopy helper Moderately Involved Ex: Field trip chaperone, volunteer Minimally Involved Cannot be involved at school due to job interference Highly involved parents also read more on their own time- newspapers, recipes, books, blogs, etc. Minimally involved parents may not be doing activities with/for their children at their school but will spend time with them at night furthering their education Minimally involved at school does not necessarily mean not involved at home because 3 out of the 7 sets of “minimally involved parents” were visible in their child’s picture

Findings Out of the five parents that were considered “highly involved”, four of their students are considered strong readers Half of the strong readers were reading in their bedrooms while the other half were in public places Based on the sticky notes, they all responded that they wanted a quiet area to read where they would not be distracted Strong readers read in bedroom because they did not want to be interrupted from reading, based on my sticky notes. 11 out of 19 read in private; 7 are strong/mediocre readers

Student Drawings The reason I chose this picture was because this student is a mediocre reader but uses good reading strategies such as not having the television on or having music on in the background. I wished he was in a room near his parents so he could ask clarifying questions. He does not like this location anymore, however, because he has the bottom bunk and his sister is in the room reading as well and he does not focus as much. In his words, he doesn’t like to be easily accessible which is why he asked me to draw a frowning face.

Student Samples The reason why I chose this picture to show is because this is a student whose mother said she is not highly involved because she is a nursing student with three other children and does not have time to volunteer at school events. This proves that it is not just being involved in school that counts, but at home mostly.

Findings All students read The majority of students are happy when reading Most students took responsibility for their own reading Out of the six struggling readers, only two of them were in a public space Only 2 out of 6 readers were in a public space- they are the ones who need the most help and should have the most amount of support at home

Conclusion “Whether construed as home-based behaviors, school based activities, or parent-teacher communication, parental involvement has been positively linked to indicators of student achievement, including teacher ratings of student competence, student grades, and achievement test scores.” (Hoover- Dempsey 205) After conducting this study, I believe that with some time and education, parents and teachers can come together to change the status quo that parents should only help younger students read at home to further their education. With the information that parents know, they can impart so much wisdom on their children through their background knowledge to bring a book or a new subject to life in their child. The studies showed that parents that help their children read even as old as eighth grade students have shown a substantial growth in their reading comprehension scores because their parents can give them a boost in higher order thinking when reading, not just the literal sense of reading I hope that this research and study can help teachers, parents, and principals to find better ways to open up communication between parents and the school. I believe that with more time and work between teachers and parents, clear gains can be made when parents are more defined in their child’s education. If parents can even read for ten minutes a night with their children, on top of what their children already accomplish in school, they can reach higher levels of thinking and understanding with the help of their original teachers, their parents.