Parent Involvement in Education

Children learn first at home with the support and encouragement from their parents. When your child becomes a student, as a parent you still need to be involved inside and outside the classroom. Attending school sponsored functions, working in the classroom as a volunteer, monitoring homework and communicating with your child about their day are features that will express to your child the need for them to succeed. But why is parent involvement important in education? The answer to this research question will be sought out by using different internet sources. Articles will include general information about parent involvement, not looking at specific states or countries. I have been in a classroom since childhood. With my experiences in college I have seen parents who are involved and those who are not. As a coach in a neighboring district from my hometown I have been able to compare and contrast the amount of parent involvement between districts. Introduction As parents, children learn and grow from the encouragement and guidance that is given to them along the way. The definition of parent involvement is extensive and includes different aspects of education and how parents participate in their children’s lives in and outside of school. The research paper will attempt to explain the importance of parent involvement in education through research done using different internet sources. Throughout the research report readers will see that parent involvement in directly related with student achievement. The level of achievement is apparent due to the amount of time and effort that parent put into being present in their child’s education inside and outside the classroom. When presenting the information the positive outcome will be apparent but the obstacles that hinder the benefits need to be address. These issues include the current rising number of single parents that have to work two to three jobs in order to support their family and the amount of effort that teachers and schools put into providing opportunities for parents to become involved at school. Research included in the report will include information provided by the Michigan Department of Education. The information includes Joyce Epstein of John Hopkins University six types of parent involvement that benefits your child and the National PTA’s six types and created six national standards for parent involvement that branched from Epstein’s. Epstein’s six types include parenting, communicating, volunteering, learning at homes, decision making and collaborating with community. The National PTA’s standards include communicating, parenting, student learning, volunteering, school decision making and advocacy and collaborating with community. Parent involvement is an issue that all are concerned will affect the future of world. President Obama recently proposed to improve our education system. His speech to teachers, parents and students included an address of parent involvement. Proposed Program Research will begin with collecting information from different internet sources. Information retrieved from sources will be reviewed. Four questions will be evaluated when determining appropriate information. * What are the types of parent involvement? How does parent involvement effect student achievement? * How can teachers/schools help encourage parent involvement? * What are obstacles of parent involvement? The information gathered will be the fundamental information to apply to the research report. Due to school being out of session and time constraints, observation of students’ achievement due to parent involvement is not suitable. Qualifications and Experience Growing up with a mother as a teacher, a lot of my life has been spent inside a classroom. Volunteering in the classroom and at school sponsored event I have seen the decline of parent involvement. Within the past five years the amount of parents and/or family members that bring students to events has dropped drastically. I have seen children bring their book bags to school with the previous days notes still inside, untouched. Witnessing my mother touch lives of children has led me into the same profession. My college education courses have given me the opportunity to observe students at Freeland Middle School and Willie E. Thompson Middle School. Parent involvement showed through the amount of homework turned in by students. Patterns developed with students’ overtime. Attending a district for thirteen years and now coaching in the neighboring district I have seen differentiation in parent involvement numbers. My district is multi-cultural and predominantly poor to middle class. The district I coach in is mostly Caucasians and middle class. When these two schools play each other in sporting events the amount of parent, family and community support is evident.