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Parent Involvement Vital to
Children’s School Success
Ever wonder why there is so much emphasis on parent involvement today?
The reason is simple. Research shows parent involvement makes a big
difference in children’s school success.
Here are seven key findings from recent research about the
relationship of parent involvement to children’s school success:
- The family provides the child’s
primary educational environment.
- Involving parents in their
children’s formal education improves student achievement.
- Parent involvement is most effective
when it is comprehensive, long-lasting, and well-planned.
- The benefits of parent involvement
are not confined to early childhood or the elementary level. There
are strong positive effects from involving parents continuously
throughout high school.
- Involving parents in their own
children’s education at home is not enough. To ensure the
quality of schools as institutions serving the community, parents
must be involved at all levels in the school.
- Children from low-income and
minority families have the most to gain when schools involve
parents. Parents do not have to be well-educated to help.
- We cannot look at the school and the
home in isolation from one another. We must see how they
interconnect with each other and with the world at large.
Source: Henderson, A. (1994) A New
Generation of Evidence: The Family is Crucial to Student Achievement.
National Committee for Citizens in Education, Washington, DC.
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