Parental involvement and student success in reading. Marquita Bailey Ed. 7201T Fall 2011

Table of Contents Introduction Statement of the problem Review of literature Statement of the Hypothesis References

Introduction Parental involvement is a major issue in education. It is an important variable that can have positive effects on students’ education. As children get older, parental involvement decreases. There are many reasons that may contribute to this issue such as lack of knowledge, time, money, and resources needed in order to help children succeed.

Statement of the problem According to Senechal and LeFevre (2002) some early reading skills are acquired at home through specific experiences. The Education of a child does begin in school and it does not end when the school bell rings. Instead it is an ongoing process that requires support from all parties involved. Teachers are responsible for what goes on during the school day, however, once students go home, it is up to parents to continue educating their children. Many students lack the parental involvement that they need in order to succeed for a number of reasons. With more help and support from parents, students are capable of doing better in school. The purpose of this study is to determine if there is a correlation between parental involvement via reading and homework help and reading skills of first grade students as measured by mCLASS Literacy assessment.

Statement of the problem (cont’d) “Parental involvement has been associated with stronger academic achievement by children and adolescents, as well as increases in student attributes conducive to academic success, including improved school attendance and behavior, more positive perceptions of classroom and school climate, stronger self-regulatory skills, stronger work orientation, and higher educational aspirations”. “Parents’ involvement activities influence students outcomes through modeling, reinforcement, and instruction…parents’ involvement activities have been positively related to student achievement and, perhaps even more importantly, to student attributes proximally related to achievement”. (Hoover-Dempsey et al.)

Review of literature Theorists: Walberg H “Deliberate, cooperative intervention efforts by parents and educators to modify academic conditions in the home have an outstanding record of success in promoting achievement”. J.R Campbell “Effective parenting makes important contributions to children’s education and achievement”. “A positive academic home climate generates curiosity and encourages the child to pursue their academic interests. It also generates positive behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, and values that lead to children having higher levels of achievement. This is especially true when the academic home climate is in sync with the school’s academic climate”.

Review of literature (con’d) Epstein “Educators are increasingly aware of the importance of involving parents in the education of their children. Research shows that parent involvement improves student achievement. When parents are involved, children do better in school. Parental encouragement and assistance contribute to students' higher achievement, report card grades, better attitudes, and higher aspirations”. “Active involvement is salient on the part of all involved in developing a community of learners”.

Review of literature (con’d) Epstein’s framework of six types of involvement Parenting- helping families establish home environments to support children as students. Communicating- designing communication between home and school about school programs and children's progress. Volunteering- recruit parents help and support. Learning at home- providing info. and ideas to families on how to help students at home with homework and other activities, decisions, and planning. Decision making- include parents in school decisions, developing parents leaders and representatives. Collaborating with community-identify and integrate resources and services from the community to strengthen school programs, family practices, and student learning and development.

Research Hypothesis Increased parental involvement via daily reading and homework help over a 4 week period to 20 first grade students in P.S.X of Brooklyn N.Y will increase students’ reading levels.

References Campbell, J.R., & Verna, M. (2007). Effective parental influence: academic home climate lined to children’s achievement. Educational Research and Evaluation, 13(6), Cottrell, S., & Shaughnessy, M. (2005). An interview with Joyce Epstein: about parental involvement. Retrieved from Ediger, M. (2008). Psychology of parental involvement in reading. Reading Improvement, 45(1), Hawes, C., & Plourde, L. (2005). Parental involvement and its influences in the reading achievement of 6th grade students. Reading Improvement, 42(1), Hoover-Dempsey, K., Walker J., Jones, K., Reed, R. (2002). Teachers involving parents (TIP): results of an in-service teacher education program for enhancing parental involvement. Teaching and Teacher Education, 18(2002) Hoover-Dempsey, K.V., Battiato, A.C., Walker, J.T., Reed, R.P., Delong, J.M., & Jones, K.P. (2001). Parental involvement in homework. Educational Psychologist, 36(3), Mccollough, C., & Ramirez, O. (2010). Connecting math and science to home, school and community through preservice teacher education. Academic Leadership, 8(2), Padak, N., & Rasinski, T. (2006). Home-school partnerships in literacy education: from rhetoric to reality. Reading Teacher, 60(3), Senechal, M., & Lefebvre, J. (2002). Parental involvement in the development of children’s reading skill: A five-year longitudinal study. Child Development, 73(2), Walberg, H. & Paik, S.J. (1997). Home environments for learning. Psychology and educational practice, Xu, M., Kushner Benson,S., Mudrey-Camino, R., & Steiner, R. (2010). The relationship between parental involvement, self-regulated learning, and reading achievement of fifth graders: a path analysis using the ECLS-K database. Social Psychology of Education, 13(2),