Summary
of research on parent engagement
Benefits of parent engagement:
When their parents are involved, STUDENTS gain:
• Higher grades and test scores
• Better attendance and more homework done
• Fewer placements in special education
• More positive attitudes and behavior
• Higher graduation rates
• Greater enrollment in post-secondary education
If their low-income parents were involved in their preschool program,
students at age 19 are:
• 40 percent MORE likely to graduate from high school
• 35 percent MORE likely to be employed
• 55 percent LESS likely to be on welfare
• 40 percent LESS likely to have been arrested
Benefits of parent involvement for PARENTS:
• More confidence in the school
• Higher teacher expectations of their children
• Higher teacher opinions of them as parents
• More self-confidence
• More likely to continue their own education
Benefits of parent involvement for SCHOOLS:
• Improves teacher morale
• Higher ratings of teachers by parents
• More support from families
• Higher student achievement
• Better reputations in the community
Conditions that influence benefits:
Schools’ efforts to involve families are most effective when they are:
• COMPREHENSIVE: Reach out to all families, not just those who are always there, and involve them in all four ways, as teachers, supporters, advocates, and decision-makers.
• WELL-PLANNED: Have clear goals, communicate about what is expected of everyone, and training for both teachers and parents.
• LONG-LASTING: Have a commitment to the long-term, not just a short project or a “trail period.”
Parents are most likely to become involved if:
• Parents understand that they SHOULD be actively involved.
• Parents feel they are CAPABLE of making a useful contribution.
• Parents feel the school and their children WANT them to be involved.
The most effective parent involvement programs are guided by these ideas:
• All parents have strengths and know they are important.
• All parents can contribute to their children’s education and the school.
• All parents can learn how to help their children in school.
• All parents have useful ideas and insights about their children.
• Parents should be consulted in all decisions about how to involve parents.
• All parents really do care deeply about their children.
Families whose children do well in school often do these things:
• Establish a daily routine
• Monitor their children’s out-of school activities
• Model the value of learning, self-discipline, and hard work
• Express high expectations for their success
• Encourage their learning and progress in school, and stay in touch with their
teachers
• Read, write, and have frequent conversation
• Use community resources like libraries, recreation centers, after-school
programs, family resources centers, clinics, etc.
Reason parent involvement improves student achievement:
When parents are involved at school, children’s attitudes toward school improve:
• Kids who do well in school feel they have some control over their life.
• They feel that if they work hard, they will learn and do well, and that other
people will recognize and reward them. In Jesse Jackson’s words, they know
they are SOMEBODY.
• When families aren’t encouraged to come to school, and treated poorly if they
do come, they are the message that they are NOBODY. And so do their kids.
• Kids who feel that they’ll never get anywhere in life don’t work hard in
school, especially when the school doesn’t expect much of them.
Teachers’ expectations affect how well students do:
• When teachers get to know families, they have higher expectations or their children.
• When teachers get to know families, they also have higher expectations of the parents.
• This encourages parents to get more education and learn how to make the system work for them.
• The higher the family’s education level, the more likely the child is to do well in school, and the more skills parents have to help their children learn.
Source: A New Generation of Evidence: The Family is Critical to Student Achievement, edited by Anne T. Henderson and Nancy Berla, Center for Law and Education, Washington, D.C., 1994 (third printing, 1996)
©2002, Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence
