Parental Involvement - Deal or No Deal?

The Research page at "I Care"-The Parental Involvement Place has, among other things, the following to say about parental involvement:


Most parents want to be involved in their children’s education. According to Epstein, “family requests for involvement are constant.” Studies show that the majority of parents “want to know how to help their children at home and what they can do to help their children succeed.” Research suggests that “the most effective forms of parental involvement are those which engage parents in working directly with their children in learning activities at home.” The earlier in a child’s education this process begins, the more effective it will be.


Learning at home requires every teacher to understand the important connections between what is taught and learned in school and what is encouraged, practiced, discussed, and celebrated at home (Epstein, 2001).


In another study, Epstein (1982) found that teacher leadership in parent involvement in learning activities at home contributes independently to positive changes in reading achievement from fall to spring, even after teacher quality, students’ initial achievement, parents’ education, parents’ improved understanding of the school program, and the quality of students’ homework were taken into account.

To the best of my understanding, school districts everywhere had been given a mandate by the federal government regarding parental involvement.  Each district, or school, could come up with their own plan on how they would increase parental involvement, but it had to be measurable.  Federal funding required this.

Under these circumstances, the education professionals understandably often decided that what was easily measureable was the number of names on a sign-up sheet for their open-house type meetings, SAC meetings, as well as the number of parent-teacher conferences that were held.

So this seems to have become what our school system means when talking about the importance of parental involvement.

I can attend all the meetings you want.  I can even bring my neighbors.  But not one meeting is going to help my child, or yours, understand the classroom materials any better - and THAT is what is really important, isn't it?

Each school receives a grade (It makes me smile to see the marquees outside schools proudly proclaiming "We're an A school!").  These grades are based, in part, by the percentage of students earning good marks in fundamentals such as reading and math.

Attending your meetings might meet your requirements for receiving funding but it does nothing to help my child when she seems to be floundering in math.

I will continue to attend your meetings.  I have not missed one yet.  In return, please accept that I am of the opinion that “the most effective forms of parental involvement are those which engage parents in working directly with their children in learning activities at home.” and simply make sure I am aware of what my child is to be working on for your class.

Deal?