Parental Involvement, Poverty, and Student Achievement Essay Example for Free

Parental Involvement, Poverty, and Student exertion EssayCurrent education reform is intended to influence higher learner achievement. According to Hanushek (1997), the breeding of tame reform is largely motivated by economic issues. program line reform becomes a purposeful topic on the national agenda when the National Commission on Excellence in Education issued a extend, A Nation At Risk (1983). This report focused on the claim that a steady increase in mediocrity had overcome schools which impacted upon the economic competitiveness of the country.One congressman of this competitiveness was when the Soviet Union 1957 launched Sputnik. It was concluded that declines in educational performance were in large classify the result of inadequacies in the way the educational subprogram was conducted. The findings that follow, selected from a much more than extensive list, reflect four important aspects of the educational process content, expectations, time, and teaching. The United States government responded by beginning reform of how its educational system.As part of this process, all segments, including parent committees, were formed to give attention to the implementation of the recommendations of the report. The report just stated that reform should non only come from learners, instructors, school boards, colleges and universities, local, state, and federal officials, teachers and administrators organizations, but also from parents themselves with raise in and responsibility for educational significance begin with the parent.Moreover, you bear a responsibility to participate actively in your shavers education. You should throw prohibited more diligent study and discourage satisfaction with mediocrity and the attitude that says let it slide, monitor your childs study encourage good study habits encourage your child to strickle more demanding rather than slight demanding courses nurture your childs curiosity, creativity, and confidence a nd be an active participant in the stool of the schools. Above all, exhibit a commitment to continued information in your own life.Finally, help your children understand that excellence in education can non be achieved without intellectual and example integrity coupled with hard work and commitment (p. 26) Henderson and Berla (1994) did extensive research linking maternal(p) involvement to student achievement. There are a variety of parenting practices that pitch been associated with positive student outcomes. Despite this research, Desimone (2001) contends that there is unperturbed no clear understanding of how patterns and effects of agnatic involvement differ across ethnic and income groups. preceding studies have shown that parent involvement patterns vary according to parental social, racial-ethnic, and economic characteristics (Catsambis Garland, 1997), but the findings have been mixed. several(prenominal) studies have describe that low income nonage parents often ha ve different beliefs about parents role in school involvement are less involved in school activities than higher income, non-minority parents (Delgado-Gaitan, 1991 Chavkin Williams, 1993). Other studies, however, have demonstrated that the level of parent involvement by race-ethnicity (i. e., Asian, African-American, Hispanic, and white) differs for only a few types of involvement and that minority parents have higher levels of involvement in certain areas than do white parents (Catsambis Garland, 1997). Previous studies have describe that low-income minority parents often have different beliefs regarding parental roles in school involvement and are less involved (Chavkin Williams, 1993). Comer and Haynes (1991) have hypothesized that low income and inner city minority students may be more positively affected by certain types of parent involvement than other students.According to them, in frame for parental involvement programs to be supremacyful, they need to be focused upon a school improvement process that is designed to create positive relationships that support the total development of children and not the traditional bureaucratic or authoritative school environment which is a less collaborative structure. Other theorists (Devaney, Ellwood, and Love, 1997 Lewit, Terman, Behrman, 1997) suggests that parental involvement may not be as effective in improving student achievement for low income children as for children from middle class homes.Because the large number of risk factors that impact upon children living in poverty, including health, safety, and housing, the role of parental involvement in schools in explaining academic outcomes for those children may be significantly less than for their peers who do not experience as many negative environment influences. Desimone (2001) suggests that race-ethnicity and other background characteristics can be buckram mediators in the effects of various types of parental actions and the impact they have on s tudent achievement.While work in this area is limited, there is little information that compares the effects of multiple forms of parental involvement across several racial/ethnic and income groups. McNeals (2001) study investigated the relationships between parent involvement and socioeconomic status. Findings indicated that parental involvement was an important factor in explaining behavioral outcomes (such as truancy and dropping out) but not cognitive outcomes (such as science achievement), with the greatest support for parent child discussion and involvement in parent-teacher organizations.He contends that there have been inconsistencies with the findings linking parental involvement to academic achievement. The contradictions likely were related to one of the by-line weaknesses in research. The first condition was the use of scholarship measures by teachers rather than direct reports by students and/or parents. Another was a failure to fully conceptualize parent involvement into its constituent parts. The last was not fully assessing the extent to which parental involvement differently affects academic achievement by social class.The third shortcomings can be improved upon but parent involvement has little effect on student achievement because it is a cognitive outcome and parental involvement affects behavioral outcomes. Reginald Clarks research shares findings from a body of research on closing achievement gaps in urban school communities (Ferguson, Clark, Stewart, 2002). In Clark documents the greatness of five influential factors for improved students achievement, especially among disadvantages urban students.The first factor is described as the teachers expectations and actions in the schoolroom. The second is amount of students weekly participation in high-yield in and out of school activities. High-yield out of school activities include leisure reading, writing, studying, and participation in community and school clubs or programs, and perfo rming organised sports. High-yield in school activities include participating in classroom lessons as well as structured leisure activities. The third factor is the quality of students participation in and out of school activities.The after part factor is parental beliefs and expectations. The fifth factor is parent-teacher communication. Ferguson, Clark and Stewart, 2002 found that the type and amounts of constructive in school and out of school schooling activities contribute to a success-oriented lifestyle. More specifically, Clark found that high achieving activities. Some examples of actions in the classroom include reading, working alone on a lesson, listening to a lecture, solving a fuss with classmates, or asking questions.Ferguson, Clark and Stewart, 2002 found that high achievers spent more time during out of school high-yield learning activities than low achievers. Some activities include weekly time dialoguing with adults, hobby or volunteer activities, or organized sports. Regular study and homework routines, with adult monitoring or support, and reading and writing activities also were seen as practices in the home. Some less structured or unstructured activities include hanging out, playing image games, talking on the telephone, and watching television.Ferguson, Clark and Stewart 2002 found that the beliefs and attitudes of parents had a significant role in student success in becoming competent readers. The analysis of data from parents of 459 students about their expectations for their childs learning and their perception of whether they had been supported by their childs teacher showed that students benefit when parents set high standards for their childs performance in school and feel personally supported by partnerships they have formed with their childs teacher.Lastly, Clark indicates that parent beliefs are likely to be influenced by parent-teacher communication. In other words, parents may benefits from well-organized teacher-led com munications. When teachers take specific actions to cultivate instructional partnerships with parents, those parents are more likely to support their childrens learning at home. Clarks data showed that students scores were higher on the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment in reading when teachers reported more communication with parents.REFERENCES Bankston, C. L. , Caldas, S. J. (1998). Family structure, schoolmates, and racial inequalities in school achievement. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 60, 715-723. Braswell. J. S. , Lutkus,A. D. , Grigg,W. S. , Santapau, S. L. , Tay-Lim, B. , Johnson, M. (2001). Subgroup results for the nation and the states. In The nations report card Mathematics 2000 (pp. 53-181). Washington DC U. S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, National totality for Education Statistics.