Reading for Parents in Middle School
Parent Involvement
Overview
This is an inquiry project done to research different strategies to increase parent involvement and their benefits, as well as a look into some stereotypes that can have a negative effect on a child's educational jouney at home.
Introduction
Introduction
Parent involvement is something every school and educator should strive for. This does not always mean having an active PTA, but parents that are active in their child’s education. “There are several studies which show that parents can influence student achievement and social development.” (Becker, Epstein) In this module we explore different strategies that can and have been implemented in classrooms around the world, as well as different stereotypes that unfortunately fall onto parents and their ability to help their child achieve academic success.
Main Points
Parent Workshops
Reading With Students at Home
Contracts between Parents and Teachers
Educational Levels of Parents
Resources
Becker, H. J., & Epstein, J. L. (1982). Parent involvement: A survey of teacher practices. The Elementary School Journal, 83(2), 85–102. https://doi.org/10.1086/461297
Parent Workshops
Parents cannot be to blame for their child’s education, especially if they are not able to help with schoolwork at home. Whether this support looks like holding a meaningful conversation about the student’s needs, answering, or helping answer higher-level thinking questions, or helping with a set of math problems. More often you see “parent workshops” come into play in the school setting, to give parents more of the resources they need to help their student at home, so they are able to succeed in the classroom.
Parent workshops sound great in theory, but in reality, it is hard to get a bunch of parents and their already busy schedules to coincide with a schedule created by an educator, or office staff. Not to mention of those parents many will most likely believe “that all teaching of academic skills should be left to the teacher in the classroom.” It is important to stress the benefits of education and how it should not stop when a child walks out of the class. There are many strategies educators can use to “help parents teach.” Some examples of these strategies are:
- instruction for parents in techniques that can be used at home to further education outside of the classromm.
- including parents in classroom activities during class time so they have an idea of how their child is receiving instruction.
- requesting information from parents on how they have seen changes in their child.
This video is an excellent example of giving parents resources that they can use to continue education at home.
Other schools, like Peasley Middle School in Gloucester, Virginia, are implementing a parent workshop on a monthly basis, “as a way to help educate parents on practices to help their child at home, we decided that we could hold mini workshops once a month and feature specific strategies versus broad information.” Each month when the workshop takes place, a different subject is covered.
The logistics of a strategy like this is very dependent on an open-minded classroom, open to discussion and disagreements. Building a team, including parents, students and teachers can be daunting but very rewarding if done correctly. In order to make this work you must be available to many sessions in order to cater to everyone’s busy schedule, while also balancing a healthy work-life routine.
Resources
Becker, H. J., & Epstein, J. L. (1982). Parent involvement: A survey of teacher practices. The Elementary School Journal, 83(2), 85–102. https://doi.org/10.1086/461297
StPaulPublicSchools. (2019, December 9). New parent-teacher conference model gaining popularity. YouTube. Retrieved September 13, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13cWF7eYOVw&t=4s (video embedded)
Reading with Students at Home
One can never overestimate the importance of involving parents in their children’s education especially when it comes to reading. Reading is the basis of all subjects in education; math, science and history all involve some form of literacy. That is exactly why we all need to play our role in helping young minds develop their reading skills. It is never too early to begin reading to your child. When parents get involved in reading, it benefits students by increasing their interest and motivation. In fact, intrinsic motivation and parental involvement in literacy are two variables that are claimed to be key to children’s literary achievement as well as their self-efficacy. Children’s reading self-efficacy, how confident the student feels in their ability to read, is a great predictor of their future reading success. The article Parent Involvement: A Survey of Teacher Practices is a great resource to gain more information on the importance of involving parents in reading.
Social and emotional development
Social competence
Resilience
Self-control
Increased academic performance throughout academic life
Language comprehension
Reading confidence
Motivation to read
Higher vocabulary
For more detailed information on these benefits, you can visit this article.
Because many parents are unaware of the benefits of reading at home, it is the job of teachers to provide support and information to parents. This means providing materials, strategies and activities to parents that they can use in their free-time to make reading an enjoyable experience for themselves and their children. Many teachers named two strategies that they use to get parents involved in their student’s literacy development:
Encourage parents to take their children to the library
Allow parents to borrow materials, such a books or activities, for short-term at home use
While reading to your child in general is beneficial, parents should also allow their child to read to them. The video linked below explains different practices that parents can use when reading with their children to help build their literacy skills. The video explains that using strategies, such as word solving and discussing what the book was about, are great ways to begin building your child’s literacy skills at home.
Resources
Becker, H. J., & Epstein, J. L. (1982). Parent involvement: A survey of teacher practices. The Elementary School Journal, 83(2), 85–102. https://doi.org/10.1086/461297
Why it is important to involve parents in their children’s literacy development - ed. (n.d.). Retrieved September 11, 2022, from
Contracts Between Parents and Teachers
A Parent, Teacher and Student contract is designed to be able to have a written agreement made between the three parties involved. These outlines are based upon specific objectives or goals the student is to uphold for the school year. These contracts are meant to provide teachers with a way to communicate to the parents and students the teachers expectations with regards to learning goals and in-school behavior for students, it also gives the parents insight on what their student will need for that teacher's classroom. There are two types of contracts teachers available for teachers:
Involved parent contracts
Uninvolved parent contracts
The involved parent contract requires them to supervise and assist during homework times or other projects that the teacher gives to their student. This does not always mean that the parents are required to provide instruction or clarification about their students' work but for parents to involve the structuring of the home environment to match the needs and responsibilities of the student.
The uninvolved parent contract is just a formal agreement stating that the child will conduct good behavior and complete all assignments or set activities for said class. The parent does not engage in any direct instructional activities in this contract, but assists the teacher in shaping productive school behavior.
There are important differences between the two contracts by teachers who teach different grade levels. The involved parent techniques are used mostly by teachers who teach the lower grade levels and the uninvolved parent techniques were used in the higher grade levels.
This video is not directly talking about parent/student/teacher contracts but it talks about how important it is to have a strong partnership between teachers, parents and students.
Having a strong partnership between parents and teachers helps students build better work habits and have a better attitude towards school. Students demonstrate better social skills, fewer behavioral problems and a greater ability to adapt to situations and get along; which parents and teachers benefit from too.
Resources
Becker, H. J., & Epstein, J. L. (1982). Parent involvement: A survey of teacher practices. The Elementary School Journal, 83(2), 85–102. https://doi.org/10.1086/461297
How to build a strong parent-teacher relationship. Andrea Loewen Nair. (2015, July 29). Retrieved September 13, 2022, from httpHow to build a strong parent-teacher relationship. Andrea Loewen Nair. (2015, July 29). Retrieved September 13, 2022, from http://www.andrealoewen.ca/how-to-build-a-strong-parent-teacher-relationship/
Williams, Aletha on November 7. (2019, September 26). Building parent-teacher relationships. Reading Rockets. Retrieved September 13, 2022, from https://www.readingrockets.org/article/building-parent-teacher-relationships
Educational Levels of Parents
Common stereotypes of students’ parents are described in three different ways:
upper middle-class parents are described as “pushy.”
Middle class parents are “helpful.”
“incapable” is described to be the lower-class parents.
With these comments, they appear to indicate that a parent's involvement in their student’s education is critical to what they can accomplish. Though, the main part of this section is the education levels of parents. For some families, it matters how much education the parents possess in order for their children to be more motivated in what they do in class. As I read some research about how students who tend to find motivation in school; they all go back to parents' involvement. Also, according to Responsive Classrooms article, “No matter (parents’) their income or background, students with involved parents are more likely to have higher grades and test scores, attend school regularly, have better social skills, show improved behavior, and adapt well to school.”
Figure 1 is a graph that shows the difference in education levels of parents and how that impacts their children’s performance in a school classroom.
As the graph indicates, there was a very strong relationship between more parent education and more parent involvement with school. Those with graduate or professional degrees attended general school meetings at an approximately twenty percent higher rate than parents who didn’t graduate from high school. In addition, of those two groups, the parents with the most education volunteered in school at forty three percent higher rate than the parents with the least education. This information comes from the article “What Part Does a Parent's Level of Education Play in Parental Involvement in Children’s Education?” The article also explains that parental involvement has been shown to be a strong indicator of student success at school. Understanding more about the characteristics of involved parents could help the teachers get more parents involved and help more students succeed. Once again below, a great example of this topic is shown as how it takes all three parts of a child’s education to be successful.
Parents’ level of education becomes a leading factor in a child’s education. it can be the reason why a child is experiencing difficulties in school, even, in daily life. Usually there are two reasons that affect this theory. For one, a parent can be very highly educated or can possess some sort of education level. Two, parents can be zero to none on education levels. A lot of times this issue is noticed in schools with students that end up needing more time in subject lessons due to lack of help they get from home. while for others, they seem to be skyrocketing in the grade books due to a lot of assistance they receive from home. For instance, I myself come from a situation where both of my parents are very poorly educated. This meant that I had to be more serious about my education and make better choices in life. Due to my parents being migrants from Africa, adapting to the American school system was hard. One solution was me deciding to stay for after school programs where they helped with lessons I could not get in class. It was hard putting myself in the same shoes as my classmates. Home assignments that were given by teachers to do at home that involved parents were the most difficult.. Though I worked hard, I found a solution to help myself stay on the same level as my classmates; and I did that by going through early morning tutorials and after school.
A great example of how parents' education levels impact a child's education can be seen in the video below.
Another article that helps me with more information on this topic is “Emigration and Educational Attainment in Mexico.” There are, of course, other reasons why parental education may help predict schooling outcomes for children. For some parents, education may be a consumption good, as well as an investment good. “More educated parents may be individuals who place a high consumption value on education and who are willing to invest more heavily in educating their children.” From the article. Parents transmit values to their children regarding important life choices, including education. More educated parents may be positive role models in the educational choices of their children. As for the low educated, a student might still be having trouble being motivated because of home difficulties.
Resources
Becker, H. J., & Epstein, J. L. (n.d.). Parent Involvement: A Survey of Teacher Practices. The Elementary School Journal, Vol. 83, No. 2 (Nov., 1982), pp. 85-102. Retrieved February 11, 2015, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1001098
CNN: Why parents matter in education - youtube. (n.d.). Retrieved September 12, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK-yIIOg5wo
Emigration and educational attainment in Mexico. (n.d.). Retrieved September 12, 2022, from https://economics.ucr.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/03-05-04Gordon-Hanson.pdf
Title-I parental involvement news! – Federal & State Programs – Ben Bolt-Palito Blanco ISD. (n.d.). Retrieved September 11, 2022, from https://www.bbpbschools.net/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=345909&type=d&pREC_ID=754303
What part does a parent's level of education play in parental involvement in children's education. The Wing Institute. (n.d.). Retrieved September 11, 2022, from https://www.winginstitute.org/what-part-does-parents
Final Conclusion
Parent involvement in their child’s education has been researched extensively, and the results are unanimous. Children who have parents who care and are involved in their educational journey in and out of the classroom tend to have more confidence in their abilities in the classroom. Asking parents to be involved can be hard to do, but if a parent is willing to put in the effort there are many strategies that can be implemented. In this module went into depth about how parents can help, and also why they may be reluctant to. Especially in section ‘Level of parents’ education. Teaching is a partnership between parents, students and educators. It is important to always be open to suggestions and to always be understanding of parents and their different beliefs, but to also hold your ground when it comes to your classroom management and teaching strategies, anytime you are implementing a strategy be sure you are able to back up the reasoning. That is how students can be more engaged in schools and how parents end up being satisfied by our roles as educators. With this, parents that also lack education can be more motivated to try to help their children in any way. “Communication and involvement from parents to teachers leads to success from teachers to students.”
Resources
Becker, H. J., & Epstein, J. L. (n.d.). Parent Involvement: A Survey of Teacher Practices. The Elementary School Journal, Vol. 83, No. 2 (Nov., 1982), pp. 85-102. Retrieved February 11, 2015, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1001098