An Examination of the Results of the Involvement of Parents in the Academics of Children

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The purpose of this paper is to examine the results of parental involvement in a child’s academics. Celebrated Doctor and Director, Dr. Joyce L. Epstein made massive contributions to the early childhood education field with her research on the six types of involvement. The six types of involvement that she supports and are later discussed in this paper are parenting, communication, volunteering, learning at home, decision making, and collaborating with the community. Each type of involvement has different practices which result in different outcomes for the students, parents, and teachers.

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Parental Involvement

Dr. Joyce L. Epstein has many titles; they include “Director of the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships and the National Network of Partnership Schools (NNPS), Principal Research Scientist, and Research Professor of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University” (Dr. Joyce L. Epstein, n.d.).

Dr. Epstein describes her groundbreaking research on the six types of involvement with a focus on helping “educators develop more comprehensive programs of school-family-community partnerships,” (Epstein, Coates, Salinas, Sanders, & Simon, 1997).

The six types of involvement that Dr. Epstein has researched and supports are parenting, communicating, volunteering, learning at home, decision making, and collaborating with the community (Epstein, 2009).

Parenting

Some basic responsibilities of families include ensuring supportive home conditions, proper health, nutrition, clothing, and safety (Parenting, 2006, para. 1). Schools are capable of helping families establish positive home environments that support children as students (Halgunseth, Peterson, Stark, Moodie, 2009, p. 5).

Administrators and educators can work together to organize and host educational classes for parents to participate in.

By providing workshops, video tapes, parent education courses, and trainings, parents can learn more about important parenting skills and child development at different ages and grade levels (Parenting, 2006, para. 2). If educators want a large attendance to such events it is encouraged that programs provide a welcoming environment to families who want to have participation in the program-family relationship (Halgunseth, 2009, p.8). When parents are supplied with this knowledge, it is likely that they will apply what they have learned and as a result, they may have many positive outcomes.

Parents who engage in these meaningful events and explore the resources the school supplies, they could make a difference in their child’s academic achievement because Quiocho and Daoud (2006) affirmed that parent participation helps influence the academic achievement and social development of their child.

Communicating

Baker and Manfredi-Petitt (2004) claimed that “communication is the basis for any strong relationship.” Communication happens between the student and their parents, the student and the teacher, and the parents and the teacher. It is crucial that programs use communication practices that are “sensitive to the diverse language and cultural backgrounds of the families they serve” (Halgunseth et al., 2009, p. 10).

Teachers are responsible for communicating with families about school programs and student progress through effective school-to-home and home-to-school communications (Epstein et al., 1997). The communication that occurs between these parties can influence the success of the student involved (Halgunseth et al., 2009, p. 14). Family members are viewed as important “sources of knowledge on their children’s development and learning styles” (Halgunseth et al., 2009, p. 13). By establishing a solid foundation of appropriate communication between the teacher and parent or parents, it should make it easier for teachers and parents to discuss the student’s academic standing and personal well-being.

According to Epstein and fellow researchers (1997), some sample communication practices include “conferences with every parent at least once a year with follow-ups as needed, language translators to assist families as needed, and folders of student work sent home weekly or monthly for parent review and comments.” Additionally, distributing newsletters to families once a week or once a month would ensure that they are informed of what lessons the teacher plans on addressing in the upcoming week or month or what the class has just completed (Communicating, 2006, para. 1). But there are challenges that will be met at this time. Language differences pose a threatening barrier between teachers and families. This is why teachers must make all “memos, notices, and other print and non-print communications clear and understandable for all families” (Communicating, 2006, para. 4).

Volunteering

There are various ways families can volunteer and become involved with their child’s school. Not all volunteering opportunities should require parental attendance at school sponsored events (Barbour, 2001). Various volunteering opportunities should be made available to parents who are interested in becoming involved. In addition to attending school events, fundraising activities, and chaperoning field trips (Rous, Hallam, Grove, Robinson, & Machara, 2003), parents can support schools by giving their time and resources in other ways such as, fixing playgrounds, cleaning, donating toys, art supplies, furniture, and more (Cochran, 2007). Constructing a survey every year to identify interests, talents, and availability of volunteers may enhance parental involvement (Volunteering, 2006, para. 2). Educators and administrators have to understand volunteers’ schedules and be flexible so that “all families know that their time and talents are welcomed and valued” (Volunteering, 2006, para. 3).

Availability may vary from family to family since families are different than one another and even if the majority of volunteers have similar availability, educators and administrators need to actively work together to create a schedule that is suitable for each person. There could be cultural accommodations that need to be made for individuals to be able to participate in an event, such as accommodations regarding the food, time or location, of the event, and/or the suggested or required dress to be worn during the event. Quiocho and Daoud (2006) stated that parent participation does more than just help influence their young child’s “academic achievement and social development, but it can also help to dispel teacher biases and help make families feel more comfortable within the program.”

Learning at Home

Since the parent’s role is to be the child’s primary caregiver, it results in them also being their primary teacher and, likewise, their home is the child’s first classroom (Barbour, 2001). The time a student spends at home is valuable learning time. Some examples of implementations that can be done include involving families “with their children on homework and other curricular-related activities and decisions” and including family members “as participants in school decisions, and develop parent leaders and representatives” (Epstein et al., 1997). When parents are provided resources and activities that relate to the lessons being taught in school, then families feel more connected to their child and to the program (Halgunseth et al., 2009, p. 13).

Teachers should continue to foster these positive feelings by actively seeking further implementations. Additionally, Bradley, Corwyn, Burchinal, McAdoo, and Garcia Coll (2001) discovered that stimulation from home-learning and parental responsiveness were significantly related to the motor and social development, language competence, and achievement test scores. The results of this study were noticed across poverty levels and different ethnic groups for children birth to age 13 (Bradley et al., 2001). That means that what parents are teaching at home, regardless of their economic status, impacted the development and achievement of their child.

Decision Making

The Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships at Johns Hopkins University defines decision making as “a process of partnership to share views and take action toward shared goals for school improvement and student success, not a power struggle” (Decision Making, 2006, para. 4). Schools, parents, and educators all have a say in which practices will help students achieve important developmental goals. That is why including family members “as participants in school decisions, and develop parent leaders and representatives” (Epstein et al., 1997) should be emphasized by educators and their superiors. Families should be involved in making decisions related to both their own child’s education and the early childhood education program as a whole. Decisions regarding on going, collaborative goal-setting of children’s outcomes between teachers and families would be included in discussion with families (Halgunseth et al., 2009, p. 16). Family members play a significant role with assisting teachers by supplying them with knowledge about their children’s development and their learning styles (Halgunseth et al., 2009, p. 13).

Collaborating with the Community

Reaching out to the community and becoming involved is critical for success. It could be a challenging task at times because there are barriers people will face in the community. These barriers include communication barriers, cultural barriers, and/or biases. Luckily, it is possible for programs to limit these barriers by being involved in the community. By working together, families can create a partnership with schools (Collaborating with the Community, 2006, para. 4). Accommodations can be made, if needed. This could mean requesting a translator to assist with communication or learning basic words from other languages.

Actively working to learn more about the different cultural backgrounds of the children they serve and hiring staff with similar cultural and language backgrounds as the children in the program would be other implementable actions (Halgunseth et al., 2009, p.9). If the teachers are encouraged to interact in the community, there is a possibility of positive results (Halgunseth et al., 2009, p.9). A collaborative effort from all parties is needed during these times. If the community and the teachers are able to get together and connect, the connection will foster a positive future for students.

References
Baker, A. C., & Manfredi-Petitt, L. A. (2004) Relationships, the heart of quality care: Creating community among adults in early care settings. Washington, DC: NAEYC.
Barbour, C. (2001). Families, schools and communities: building partnerships for educating children. 2nd. ed. Upper Saddle River: NJ. Prentice Hall Inc.
Bradley, R. H., Corwyn, R. F., Burchinal, M., McAdoo, H. P., & Garcia Coll, C. (2001). The Home Environments of Children in the United States Part II: Relations with Behavioral Development through Age Thirteen. Child Development, 72(6), 1868.
Cochran, M. (2007). Finding our way: The future of American Early Care and Education. Washington, DC: Zero to Three. Retrieved from http://main.zerotothree.org/site/DocServer/Cochran_extract.pdf?docID=8589
Collaborating with the Community, (2006). The Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships at Johns Hopkins University. Retrieved from http://www.csos.jhu.edu/p2000/nnps_model/school/sixtypes/type6.htm
Communicating. (2006). The Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships at Johns Hopkins University. Retrieved from http://www.csos.jhu.edu/p2000/nnps_model/school/sixtypes/type2.htm
Decision Making. (2006). The Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships at Johns Hopkins University.
 Dr. Joyce L. Epstein. (n.d.). Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships. Johns Hopkins University. Retrieved from http://www.csos.jhu.edu/p2000/staff/joyce.htm
Epstein, J. L. (2009). School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action, Third Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.csos.jhu.edu/p2000/nnps_model/school/sixtypes.htm
Epstein, J.L., Coates, L., Salinas, K.C., Sanders, M.G., & Simon, B.S. (1997). School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Retrieved from http://www.csos.jhu.edu/p2000/sixtypes.htm
Halgunseth, L. C., Peterson, A., Stark, D. R., Moodie, S. (2009). Family Engagement, Diverse Families, and Early Childhood Education Programs: An Integrated Review of the Literature. Retrieved from https://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/research/FamEngage.pdf
Parenting. (2006). The Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships at Johns Hopkins University. Retrieved from http://www.csos.jhu.edu/p2000/nnps_model/school/sixtypes/type1.htm
Quiocho, A. M. L., & Daoud, A. M. (2006). Dispelling myths about Latino parent participation in schools. The Educational Forum, 70, 255-267.
Rous, B., Hallam, R., Grove, J., Robinson, S., & Machara, M. (2003). Parent involvement in early care and education programs: A review of the literature. Lexington, KY: Interdisciplinary Human Development Institute University of Kentucky
Volunteering. (2006). The Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships at Johns Hopkins University. Retrieved from http://www.csos.jhu.edu/p2000/nnps_model/school/sixtypes/type3.htm
Willie Hill
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