The importantace of parent involvement for students at risk of educatonal failure

Effective Parenting

Maximizing the Impact of Parental Involvement in Fighting Education Failure of Students

20 November 2007 Abstract

This sought to examine the impact of parental involvement and the means to maximize its impact on students ' educational success in to reduce the possibility of educational failure . Six areas of parental involvement which included communication , parenting , supporting school learning at home , decision making , and collaborating with the community were shown to positively impact students ' likelihood to succeed in school . However , the results also indicated that there are still improvements

that needs to be done in to maximize these six areas and reduce educational failure among their children

Introduction

For many years , the problem of education failure among at risk students have been an integral part of the United States school system . Education failure which includes withdrawal from school and shown through truancy disruptive behavior , poor test scores and grades , suspension and even teenage pregnancy has been one of the prevailing issues in the United States today . According to the National Center for Education Statistics alternative education has been one of the prevailing means of delivering student services to students at risk for failing (Hoffman , 2001 . For instance , data on the school year 2000 for public elementary and high school students indicate that there is about 612 ,900 students or approximately 1 .3 who are considered to be at risk in education failure and are enrolled in public alternative schools (Hoffman , 2001

The enormity and complexity of education failure of students is one problem that even the government cannot solve alone . Thus , it has lauched programs ranging from the No Child Left Behind and the IDEA which also encourages the Individualized Education Programs (IEPs ) in to include parents in solving the problem of at risk students Scholars and researches have shown that parental involvement is directly related to the success or failure of students in school (Henderson and Mapp , 2002 Shumow and Lomax , 2001 Bird , 2006 Anderson , 2000 Battle-Bailey , 2004 Machen , Wilson and Notar , 2005 . These studies have shown that students who have high parental involvement in their studies are more likely to succeed than those students who have lower or non-existing parental involvement . Thus , the role of parents as catalysts in changing the course of education failure for students is seen as an opportunity by teachers , schools and the government as an arena that should be tapped in to reduce the rate of at risk for education failure

Indeed , school starts at home and the parents are the first teachers of their children . While this may seem cliche , this holds true even in this modern period where more and more children who are at risk in failing schools have been shown to have parents who have minimal or no parental involvement in their schools . Indeed , educational success being an important concept regardless of social strata is considered to be the catalyst for success and the surest way of having a better and more comfortable life . However...