Session Information
14 SES 08 A, Parental Involvement, School Choice and Parents' Perceptions
Paper Session
Contribution
Numerous studies reveal the positive, significant contribution of parental involvement in improving students' learning achievements (Dumont, Trautwein, Lüdtke, Neumann, Niggli, & Schnyder, 2012; Hong, Yoo, You, & Wu, 2010). It was found that parents who perceive the school as supportive with open communication were more involved in their child’s studies (Holloway, Yamamoto, Suzuki, & Mindnich, 2008). Moreover, additional studies found that students who perceived their parents' involvement as important, were high achievers (Cripps, & Zyromski, 2009; Rogers, Theule, Ryan, Adams, & Keating, 2009).
Nevertheless, many teachers view parental involvement with reservations, and avoid initiating parental involvement in the school (Hornby & Lafaele, 2011). A possible explanation is that teachers’ professional work has become observable and subject to greater public influence, and thus exposed to more external pressures and demands than at traditional bureaucratic schools (Addi-Raccah & Ainhoren, 2009). In this context, previous findings indicate that teachers perceive that parental involvement decreases their own wellbeing, introduces uncertainty into their work, and raises questions about their professional discretion (e.g., De-Caravalho, 2001). Thus, parents' activities may be regarded as intervention.
Ferlazzo (2011) noted that teachers could interpret involvement as a one-way interaction, while they only tell parents how they can help according to the teacher’s goal setting; or they could interpret involvement as engagement andby doing so, they can listen to parents’ dreams, needs and worries, embracing them as partners toward shared goals. Furthermore, Knopf and Swick (2007) concluded that parent-teacher communication can be a key factor that encourages or suppresses parental involvement. Therefore, differences in teachers’, students’ and parents’ perceptions of parental involvement can be a major barrier to successful parental involvement (Hill & Taylor, 2004). In addition, it was found that although principals', teachers', students' and parents' perceptions of parental involvement have been found to be weakly interrelated, they all have a significant relationship with students' achievements (Hill & Taylor, 2004).
Another barrier to parental involvement is the parent’s level of education. Parents may feel embarrassed about their educational level; they may misperceive whether or not they are able to make a difference in their child’s school activity and performance (Sheldon, 2002). Dauber and Epstein (1993) found that many parents are willing to spend additional time assisting their children if teachers show them how to do so. Tavani and Losh (2003) stated that there is a positive relationship between parents' educational level and their emphasis and involvement in academic matters. Parents who are unfamiliar with the education system or who struggle to communicate in the school’s main language may avoid contact with teachers (Daniel-White, 2002). Furthermore, parents with lower educational levels generally have a lower SES (socioeconomic status), and as a result can provide less resources, such as tutors or computers (Sandefur, Meier, & Campbell, 2006).
Based on the data gathered from the TIMSS study (2011), the goal of this study was to investigate students', teachers' and principals' perceptions regarding parental involvement in the school, and how these perceptions are related to students' mathematics achievements.
More specifically, in this study we tried to answer the following questions:
1. Is there a positive relationship between students' perceptions of parental involvement and those of teachers and principals?
2. Is there a positive relationship between principals', teachers' and students' perceptions of parents' involvement and math achievements?
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Addi-Raccah, A., & Ainhoren, R. (2009). School governance and teachers' attitudes to parents' involvement in schools. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25(6), 805-813. Chen, W. B., & Gregory, A. (2009). Parental involvement as a protective factor during the transition to high school. The Journal of Educational Research, 103(1), 53-62. Cripps, K., & Zyromski, B. (2009). Adolescents ’ psychological well-being and perceived parental involvement : Implications for parental involvement in middle schools. Research in Middle Level Education Online, 33(4), 1–13. Daniel-White, K. (2002). Reassessing PI, Involving Language Minority Parent in School Work at Home.pdf. Working Papers in Educational Linguistics, 18(1), 29–49. Dauber, S. L., & Epstein, J. L. (1993). Parents’ attitudes and practices of involvement in inner-city elementary and middle schools. Families and schools in a pluralistic society, 53-71. De-Caravalho, M. E. P. (2001). Rethinking family–school relations: A critique of parental involvement in schooling. New Jersey/London: Erlbaum. Dumont, H., Trautwein, U., Lüdtke, O., Neumann, M., Niggli, A., & Schnyder, I. (2012). Does parental homework involvement mediate the relationship between family background and educational outcomes?. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 37(1), 55-69. Ferlazzo, L. (2011). Involvement or engagement. Educational leadership, 68(8), 10-14. Holloway, S. D., Yamamoto, Y., Suzuki, S., & Mindnich, J. D. (2008). Determinants of Parental Involvement in Early Schooling: Evidence from Japan. Early Childhood Research & Practice, 10(1), 4-5. Hong, S., Yoo, S. K., You, S., & Wu, C. C. (2010). The reciprocal relationship between parental involvement and mathematics achievement: Autoregressive cross-lagged modeling. The Journal of Experimental Education, 78(4), 419-439. Hornby, G., & Lafaele, R. (2011). Barriers to parental involvement in education: An explanatory model. Educational Review, 63(1), 37-52. Knopf, H. T., & Swick, K. J. (2007). How parents feel about their child’s teacher/school: Implications for early childhood professionals. Early Childhood Education Journal, 34(4), 291-296. Rogers, M. A., Theule, J., Ryan, B. A., Adams, G. R., & Keating, L. (2009). Parental Involvement and Children's School Achievement Evidence for Mediating Processes. Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 24(1), 34-57. Sandefur, G. D., Meier, A. M., & Campbell, M. E. (2006). Family resources, social capital, and college attendance. Social Science Research, 35(2), 525-553. Sheldon, S. B. (2002). Parents' social networks and beliefs as predictors of parent involvement. The elementary school journal, 301-316. Tavani, C. M., & Losh, S. C. (2003). Motivation, self-confidence, and expectations as predictors of the academic performances among our high school students. Child study journal, 33(3), 141-152.
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