Parental Involvement: Essential to Student Success & Achievement - Essay Sample

Introduction

Parent engagement and involvement generally comprises of parent-teacher sharing of responsibility to assist the student in learning and achievement of educational objectives. It is an integration of commitment and active participation of parents in student's education. More imperatively, parental involvement leads to significant achievement in the student's education. When parents take part in the children's school lives, children get that parental support and the required knowledge not only for doing their assignments but also getting the positive attitude and obsession to education, thereby enhancing their school performance (Noel, Stark & Redford, 2013). Additionally, teachers who explore the approach of parent engagement experiences immense improvement in classwork among the students. Significantly, establishing a community based on parent-teacher relationships requires proper knowledge about parent engagement and its importance. However, many researchers have shown that many schools do not understand what it means by parent involvement. The study by Vandergrift and Greene demonstrates that the combination of commitment and parental participation leads to greater results (Muller & Kerbow, 2018). The paper seeks to analyze the solutions to the problems that parents face in an attempt to engage in the student's education.

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Solutions

There are a lot of things that can be implemented in the process to enhance parent engagement and involvement in the student's education. Many parents experience several problems while attempting to engage and participate in the student's education. One of the best solutions is the implementation of proper communication (Muller, 2018). Proper communication between parents and teachers is needed, and the type of communication is also important. For instance, a two-way communication which involves an informal exchange between teachers and parents is more effective than the use of one-way communication which only comes from the teachers. Also, there should be the creation of friendly contact with parents as from the start of the year before the occurrence of any bad event to enable teachers to contact the parent through that academic year (Park & Holloway, 2013). There are several methods that the school can explore to enhance proper communication. The first method is through sponsoring the student's fundraising event by the teacher (Muller & Kerbow, 2018). When the parent and the student work side by side and have the opportunity to talk on issues of education and performance at school, the school and the teacher can also get the same opportunity to contribute.

Another technique would be through parent-teacher organizations that can serve as an avenue for reaching parents. Parents should often attend a parents-teachers conference to comprehensively know their children's teachers (Muller, 2018). Also the concept of inviting parents to volunteer; through volunteering, the school is inviting the parents and give then confidence that they are wanted and welcome to school, as well as sharing their ideas with teachers any time (Noel et al., 2013). Most of the parents are usually willing to share their details with the teachers, for example, sharing about occupations and special skills would grant teachers the opportunity to understand the status of the parents and enhance their relationship which is a boost to the student's performance, and some parents are just waiting to be asked their details because they also want thoroughly analyze who teaches their children (Kingston et al., 2013). Alumni events and fundraising in school enhances both parental and communal engagement in school activities, and it is also a technique used to raise money for school projects.

Additionally, former students can think of giving back to their school in the form of contributions during fundraising, as well as individual offering in a way to appreciate their former teachers and the environment that shaped their future (Kingston et al., 2013). This is another greater opportunity for better communication and community involvement. Another common program which can boost communication is through parent classes that provide the parents with parenting concepts and the capacity to solve problems facing their children such as peer pressure, drugs, and problems of doing homework. Parent classes can immensely help all the stakeholders, including parents, teachers and students, and the entire school. Similarly, invitational events motivate parents to get involved in school matters. Grandparent day, which can be done annually or every term, is a perfect form of invitational events that have brought success (Muller & Kerbow, 2018). Open house programs can collect all the parents together in school, and it is always good to greet all parents on face-to-face. Sometimes it is better to know the language which all the parents speak and understand, and that will not isolate some parents who might not understand the language spoken at school (Fine, 2014). The utilization of parent advisory groups also boosts their confidence and feel genuinely wanted at school.

The use of technology is also another solution and a better strategy for parent involvement and engagement in the student's work. The contemporary world provides an opportunity for both students and parents to learn new things together (Kingston et al., 2013). The most important thing to consider while implementing the use of technology is to make sure that the program used is for the right grade level. There are several ways through which technology can be used in engaging parents. The use of video conferences such as Skype, Google Hangout, and Face Time can enable parental participation in-class activities (Park & Holloway, 2013). The reason for a video conference is because many parents are traveling away from the office, thereby having no time to take part in a face-to-face meeting with teachers. Therefore the use of video conferencing would enable parental participation. Another method of applying technology is through enjoying the opportunity provided by social media (Fine, 2014). Technology has done immense work and completely transforms communication making it easier through the use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, and Instagram. The working-class parents can feel isolated because they may lack time to volunteer frequently. With the use of Whatsapp or other platforms, such parents can have the opportunity to offer assistance at their convenience time.

Another way of using technology is through the use of data to demonstrate student progress. Conventionally, parents need to properly understand what is happening in the classroom for better assessment of their children (Fine, 2014). Teachers should utilize data tools to demonstrate the weaknesses and the strength of their students to their parents. The use of modern tools can help in conveying the information to the parents quickly than taking time until when the schools are closed down. When parents have information earlier, they can find time to work on what they can improve on their children before it is late. Despite the challenges that some parents lack the skills to access data tools and interpret what information it contained, the modern world of technology provides an opportunity for parents to learn and the majority of parents can today use a computer. Again the use of technology can involve allowing parents to design the communication tactics (Muller & Kerbow, 2018). At the beginning of the term, teachers should engage parents through online surveys and emails to come up with the best method to communicate and offer good advice to parents on how to engage parents and involve in the learning process of their children.

Technology can also remove barriers between families and schools. Many of the young parents are sometimes intimidated with conferences and may also lack time to attend the conference; therefore, teachers have found the strategy of digital connection is through the use of text messages. Regular and simple text messages to the parents make communication easier (Noel et al., 2013). Also widening the classroom communication toolbox through websites and E-newsletters allow parents to see their children's work at school (Muller, 2018). Therefore the idea also extends student's learning beyond school and classroom, but also provides parents with the opportunity for what they can perform at home with children. Finally, the digital environment can allow easy access to information with the use of the cloud. Teachers and students can save their work in the cloud. For instance, some students may develop digital portfolios which they use to access much information like a resume, essays, and application for scholarships (Muller, 2018). When such students become parents, they would also anticipate the schools to explore technology to connect with them. More imperatively, technology has reduced the distance between teachers and parents to make parent engagement and involvement easier than the traditional method of communication.

Conclusion

Parents always want to participate in school activities to ensure excellent performance for the children. They long to assist their children in achieving success, but they do not understand how to go about the process. Parents are faced with numerous challenges which deter their effort to help children perform in school. Teachers should execute the strategy of effective and efficient communication with parents through conferencing, volunteering, and fundraising events, among other methods. The modern technology has also provided the opportunity for parent engagement and involvement in children's education, the use of video conference, modern data, social media and cloud makes it easier for teachers to reach out to parents and engage them in classroom activities. The most important player is the student, and whatever the parent does only help improve the effort of the student. The focus should be on how to help parents, children, and school to corporate and give the student the best opportunity.

References

Fine, M. J. (2014). The second handbook on parent education: Contemporary perspectives. Elsevier.

Kingston, S., Huang, K. Y., Calzada, E., DawsonMcClure, S., & Brotman, L. (2013). Parent involvement in education as a moderator of family and neighborhood socioeconomic context on school readiness among young children. Journal of Community Psychology, 41(3), 265-276.

Muller, C. (2018). Parent involvement and academic achievement: An analysis of family resources available to the child. In Parents, their children, and schools (pp. 77-114). Routledge.

Muller, C., & Kerbow, D. (2018). Parent involvement in the home, school, and community. In Parents, their children, and schools (pp. 13-42). Routledge.

Noel, A., Stark, P., & Redford, J. (2013). Parent and Family Involvement in Education, from the National Household Education Surveys Program of 2012. First Look. NCES 2013-028. National Center for education statistics.

Park, S., & Holloway, S. D. (2013). No parent left behind: Predicting parental involvement in adolescents' education within a sociodemographically diverse population. The Journal of Educational Research, 106(2), 105-119.