PROPOSAL REPORT

TITLE
PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT IN CHILDREN'S EDUCATION

BY
NURUL NADIRAH BINTI RAMLI
BACHELOR OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
MANAGEMENT SCINCE UNIVERSITY

Introduction
THIS STUDY BACKGROUND
There are some views in relation to a child's development and behavior. Every child has a
different development and behavior. This is influenced by the environment associated
with the attachment, autonomy, initiative, and self. Educators need to understand and see
the children in kindergarten institutions from a range of angles in order to address the
problems faced by children. This understanding will help to implement the program of
early childhood education more effectively.
There are several definitions of attachment or attachment based on a number of theorists
ethologi. Ethologi study is a study in relation to human and animal behavior in natural
conditions. Here are the views and definitions of attachment according to figures ethologi
members.
(a) Lorenz through observation studying the behavioral patterns of a group of geese. He
concluded that we would not understand the children if we do not observe his behavior in
their natural environment.
(b) John Bowlby has continued to study the Lorenz. He noted that young children form
attachments and intimate emotional attachment to parents or adults who replace real
parents.
Bowlby defines attachment behavior as any behavior that helps the baby closer to the
individual attachment. Attachment may also intended as a close and cordial relations
which create a strong and loving person with a different binding.
(c) a strong attachment relationship and high childhood will affect the lives of individuals
compared with a weak attachment relationship. The effect is as follows:
(i) Have a high self-esteem
(ii) To feel more accepted by family
(iii) To feel more accepted by peers
(iv) To feel more accepted by society
For example, a child who is too attached to his mother would find it difficult to part with,
especially when the mother would be sent to kindergarten.

COMMITMENTS parents with their children at home, especially when it is very

important and the research proves it brought significant improvement in the success of a
child.
International study of the 2009 International Student Assessment Program conducted by
the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development shows that the way how to
involve parents spend with children at home affect its success.
This is supported by statistics that 52 percent of the time students spend at home and in
the community compared to only 15 percent of the time they are in school.
Data were obtained from a sample of student timetables 2011 Ministry of Education for
the use of pupils aged seven to 16 years based on 42 weeks in a school with an average of
5.5 hours in school every day, two hours a week curricular activities and sleep eight hours
a day.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

PARENTINVOLVEMENTINPRESCHOOLEDUCATION
CONCEPTOFPARENTING
Parents are the first and longest gru for their children. In the normal process of
development, the mother father that much support perkembanganbahasa, social and
academic their children. There is positive evidence over the last 30 years that enunjukkan
that teach specific skills for parents can help in the development of children under their
care.
Parent family is the basic unit and very important role in the formation of a family. To get
the family dynamic management, proactive danmenepati changing times. The role of
parents is very pentng and should be viewed as a macro and all this terlbat be
committed. In addition to family factors, environmental factors need diambi jug off. In
order medirikan a happy family and efficient, the concept of "let the curved bamboo
shoots" should be emphasized. Parents are one unit and must carry yarns proactive
management of science and humanity.
Parenting is the hardest job of all, but most parents receive little or no direct formal
training in parenting skills. However, parents often dkritik for every mistake they
make. Psychologists have studied the practice of parenting to the parents.
Family involvement can be seen in many ways depending on the context. Epstein
describes the theory peru cooperation exists between the school, family and
community. The following types of non-involvement hierarchy, but it is a framework for
linking kelarga, community members and professionals of early childhood education. Six
types pnglibatan by Epstein parents is:

1 Parenting: helping families parenting skills and understanding of child development

2 Communication: adopt various means of effective communication between schools and
families.
3 volunteerism encourage voluntary berkhdmat family in many ways.
4 Learning at home: involving family support learning activities at home.
5 Make a decision: involving families in the management and organization persekolah
related.
6 Collaborating with the community: coordinating community services for the common
good.
Parenting principles should be viewed from a micro and makro.kemahiran parenting is
fundamental to the well-being of families, communities and countries. Eibubapaan not
limited to parents, but also the maturity and readiness erhubungkait with other institutions
to work together.
PRINCIPLES
Parenting by giving happiness to the parents as well as challenging for parents to find
effective ways to communicate and educate their children. There are several principles of
parenting that can be used to help parents in carrying out their responsibilities. Positive
practices will bring a positive impact on children.

STUDY OBJECTIVES / STUDY QUESTIONS

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF PARENTING
All children are born with a variety of potential to grow if given the
right encouragement. development for example, a lot depends to
influence environment in early childhood development. If these factors
are not available at certain times of the development of children

happen. Earnings and less social status affects children's achievement

in school than children of young families such action in terms of
Creating a home environment that encourages learning
Setting high expectations for achievement and realistic tetapo child's
future
in education children involved in school and society.
GOAL OF PARENTING
Studies show that there are some skills that parents need miiki so that
they can develop children's behavior effectively by selfishness. Among
kemahiranya is:
Develop and clarify expectations Restraint when child show unwanted
behavior. Perform a positive action or egatif Being positive
elada Shaping behavior
Motivate children positive behaviors.
Parenting is a complex process and need parental knowledge and parenting
skills in order to educate children with the best possible in the following
aspects:
Child development Understand the development and growth of
children berkembangserta their needs in the life of every
development. Know themselves understand in terms of motivation,
values and how they can deal with child delinquency, and others. Skills and
strategies parenting Parenting skills and strategies to understand the
specific needs of children anxious children and behavior enangan ana
during the process of parenting. How to communicate Understand how
to communicate with children, spouses and teachers effectively. How
teach Learn how to teach concepts and skills to children. Managing
family Understand how to support their families and manage seuah
family. Getting help Recognizing the importance of getting help from
other people and how to get help when need it.

PERSONAL CONTROL OF MOTHER AND FATHER

Self-control refers to the skill of a person to control emotions and
behavior in a positive way when faced with a situation in life. close control
skills with a psychologist. Someone who skill high self-control will look
dirina as the ability and skills to challenge to face. When the
perception of the situation is positive then he can act with confidence,
quiet and decisions. In community rapidly developing not played parents
are faced with the challenge of new and more complex.Parents to act with
confidence, calm and make reasonable decisions. Parents respond to
the challenges will affect the happiness of his family. Problems in work
that is not well managed. May be brought into the family by not
knowing da affect the relationship in the family. Skills of self-control is
very important to learn by their parents because they can: Membanu
someone controlling her emotions and act with confidence Help a
person maintain positive communication with other family members
Allows one to make effective decisions Prevent someone than about
feeling depressed.
Dpelajari skills and self-control can be improved through the following
ways: Understand the advantages and disadvantages of the
individual experiences reflection or reflection leas.amalan learning
helps a person examine the action taken and its effects trick. Engage
in various activities and situations that a person's experience. A broad
a mechanic and often successful confident of their abilities and have
high self-control to m engekalkan happiness. All parents have the
desire and ambition to be an excellent mother, but experience has
shown that many parents feel their performance as parents not
secemerlang expected. In fact, many thought them not have the ability
to be an excellent parent and maintain happiness in the family.

I chose the title of parent involvement in children's education is right-I find that the
parents are very important in early childhood education. Parents need to know the
development of social, cognitive. Parents and teachers must work together to ensure that
wal education can help children growth and get a good education
I also create and select a topic from the basis of my experience as a preschool teacher. I
have been a preschool teacher for 12 years. From my experience and what I've seen
parents do not have the experience and knowledge to educate children at age 4 to 6 years.
Parents hand over all the duties of educating preschool teachers.

CHAPTER ONE

Problem Statement
According to the research of Epstein (2001) children learn and develop through three
overlapping spheres of influence: family, school, and community. Students who have
support from their parents at home show better performance at school, while students
lacking support are struggling. Getting parents involved in the education of their children
appears to be a crucial factor for the continuing educational development and success of
children in school. Although numerous research studies have been done concerning this
issue in education, additional research is indicated.
Purpose Statement
The purpose of this research project is to gather more information on parental
involvement in education. In doing so, the researcher hopes to learn and grow from the
information gathered by this study. By doing this research study, information concerning
teachers and their own practices in the classroom will be obtained. This information will
enable the teachers/researchers to observe the dynamics of their own classroom, while
investigating how to develop parental involvement in their students education.
Encouraging parents to get more involved by helping their children learn at home, will
also benefit the larger school community. By the end of this study, we hope to enhance
the lives of children as well as the lives of professionals (Mills, 2007, p. 10).
Research Question
The following research question will guide the study:
How can parents be involved in their childs education?
Rationale
Parental involvement may be an essential factor in the development of the
foundation in childrens education. In spite of this, many parents do not appear to be
getting involved in their childrens education. This lack of involvement may have a

negative impact on student performance in and out of the classroom and ultimately effect
their continuing educational development and success. Teachers need to play a major role
in connecting to the larger school community. This study will gather information about
effective parental involvement strategies and then use this information to develop an
action plan to utilize these strategies in classrooms, homes, and schools.
Definitions of Terms
Parental involvement- Parents help children meet the satisfactory level of academic
standards by interacting and being parts of their education. This can be observed when
parents assist with homework, when parents motivate and encourage their children, when
parents participate in school functions and when parents interactively communicate with
teachers.
Larger school community- includes interaction among students, teachers, and parents
Developmental education- the academic and personal growth through teaching to
improve childrens skills in order to be successful
Student performance- what students achieve at school based on their behavior and
academics
Active involvement- being involved with children in ways that include face to face
interactions such as tutoring, working on homework with children, and reading with
children
Passive involvement- being involved with children in inactive ways such as providing a
proper environment, providing school supplies for the child, and making sure the child
attends school
Assumptions
The following assumptions were made concerning teachers views of parental
involvement:
Teachers believe that students should be educated at home as well as at school.
Teachers need additional information on parental involvement.
Teachers believe that different home environments effect parental involvement.
Teachers believe that other educators will find this study important.
Teachers want to achieve their full potential as well as the potential of their students.

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Teachers need and want feedback about their performance as professionals.

Working together enriches professional development.
All teachers want to improve.
Limitations
The study will be limited by the following limitations:
1. The research is limited by the personal bias of the researchers.
2. Time will be limited to three months as this is a requirement for a college course.
Researchers in this study are not yet permanently certified as teachers.
The knowledge, skills, and abilities of the researcher are limited.
Delimitations
This study will be further defined by the following delimitations:
Research will only focus on parents, teachers, administrators, and students affiliated with
6 YEARS.

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CHAPTER TWO

Problem Statement
Parent involvement has been shown to be an important variable that positively influences
childrens education. More and more schools are observing the importance of parental
involvement and are encouraging families to become more involved. Due to this recent
trend, it has become essential to understand what is meant by parent involvement and in
what ways it has an influence on childrens education. This review of the literature will
examine parental involvement from the following perspectives: effective forms of
parental involvement, positive effects of parental involvement, barriers, parents, parental
involvement programs, and common characteristics of parental involvement programs.
Effective forms of Parental Involvement
An effective form of involvement is presented by Epsteins model. Epstein (2001)
discusses how children learn and develop through three overlapping spheres of
influence: family, school, and community. These three spheres must form partnerships to
best meet the needs of the child. Epstein defines six types of involvement based on the
relationships between the family, school, and community: parenting (skills),
communicating, volunteering, learning at home, decision making, and collaborating with
the community. Epstein emphasizes that all of these six types of involvement need to be
included to have successful partnerships.
Another effective form of involvement presented by Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler
(1995) includes out of school or home-based partnerships as well as school-based
activities with parents and children. They discuss that when parents get involved (going
to school events, helping with homework) childrens schooling is benefited. Benefits
include knowledge, skills, and confidence.
Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP) (2006) believes that children must have a range
of learning environments around them, or complementary learning. Such learning
environments include family, early childhood programs, schools, out-of-school time
programs and activities, libraries, museums, and other community-based institutions.

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HFRP believes that complementary learning will provide a linking of consistent learning
and development. This linkage is similar to that of Epsteins (2001) spheres of influence.
HFRP linking of community and Epsteins spheres of influence are similar that they each
incorporate community, school and family so that they all effect one another.
In Cottons (2001) book, The Schooling Practices That Matter Most, there are signs that
the most effective forms of parental involvement are those where parents work directly
with their children. Programs that show the most effective results include tutoring,
working on homework with children, and reading with children. These active forms of
parental involvement have had a greater impact on achievement than passive forms of
involvement. Passive forms of parental involvement have still been shown to improve
childrens achievement, so they are better than no parental involvement at all.
The book expresses another effect of parental involvement is shown when the parent
intervenes at an early age. The earlier in a childs life that the parents become involved,
the greater the effects will be on the childs educational process. The effectiveness of this
approach has been shown through various childhood education
programs such as Head Start.
According to studies done by Reutzel and Cooter (1996) positive effects on parental
involvement were shown to increase when choices were provided to the parents. The
schools that offered a variety of ways for parents to get involved had an increased effect
on student achievement. Giving parents various methods or activities to involve them in
their childrens lives, increased the willingness and ability of parental involvement. This
increase in parental involvement has shown a consistent, positive relationship in students
achievement and development in school.
Positive Effects of Parental Involvement
Research has indicated that parental involvement improves components of childrens
education such as daily attendance, cognitive and social skills or achievement, behavior
and attitude, confidence, and motivation (e.g. Cotton & Wikelund, 2001; Epstein, 2001;
ITS, 2004, Sheldon, 2003).
Positive Effects on Attendance
Many studies of students at all grade levels show that students with high attendance rates
are less likely to drop out of school and are more likely to achieve at high levels and

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graduate from high school on time. In other words, students learn more and are more
successful if they have good attendance. With attendance being so crucial and such an
important issue in education, it has become a major objective for schools. In 1996-97, the
National Network of Partnership Schools invited various schools to investigative a
Focus on Results study. The aim was to learn whether and which family and
community involvement activities affect student attendance. Twelve elementary schools
were examined for this study. Each school was noted for their prior level of attendance
then several family involvement activities were put into place. They resulted in
significantly increased rates of daily attendance, reduced chronic absenteeism, or both.
This investigative study proposes that schools can improve or uphold good attendance by
executing family and community involvement activities (Epstein, 2001).
Positive Effects on Behavior and Attitudes
In Cottons (2001) book there was information on The National Network of Partnership
Schools conducted another Focus on Results study to learn whether school, family, and
community partnerships improve student behavior and attitudes at school. There were
two rounds of data collection involving forty-seven schools. The schools were from a
variety of locations including urban, suburban, and rural areas. Seventy three percent of
the schools were elementary and 27% were middle and or high school. Before the
partnership program was put into place, information was collected from the schools. The
quality of their partnership programs, their use of family and community involvement
practices, and also occurrences of student discipline actions were examined in depth.
After great analysis from one year to the next with improved quality of their partnership
programs, the study demonstrated lower levels of students involved in school discipline
actions. More specifically, the schools that improved their partnership programs had
fewer students who were sent to the principal, received detention, and who received inschool suspensions. This research and findings recommend that larger school
relationships help improve students behavior in school.

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Positive Effects on Cognitive and Social Skills or Achievement

Many studies highlight the point: parent participation in education is very closely related
to student achievement. A Stanford study found that using parents as tutors brought
significant and immediate changes in children's I.Q. scores. Other research projects found
that community involvement correlated strongly with school wide achievement and that
all forms of parent involvement helped student achievement. The Home and School
Institute (1985) concluded that parent tutoring brought considerable improvements to a
broad array of students.
Barriers
Socioeconomic status
Socioeconomic status has been recognized as an influential factor concerning
parental involvement. The Coleman (1966) report, which stated that the best predictor of
student achievement is the socioeconomic status of the parents, led to a flurry of
investigations on student achievement (Bulach, et al., 1995) Muller(1991), in Schneider
and Coleman, (1993) stated that several researchers have found that parent qualities
typically associated with socioeconomic status are positively related to parental
involvement. For example, Lareau (1987) found that upper middle class parents were
typically engaged in school activities and influential in school decision, while working
class parents took on a more supportive role with respect to their involvement with their
childrens school.
As a result of his personal experiences, reading, and research, Motsinger (1990)
asserted that the developers of Teacher Expectation Student Achievement (TESA)
workshops found that teachers do tend to give high achieving students more attention
than those who lag behind (p.5). Underachieving children feel disliked by the instructor.
Parents then feel, it is because we are poor (p.5). and resentment grows. According to
Brantliner and Guskin (1987), some low income parents feel schools discourage their
involvement and view them as the problem, and they believe that stereotypes of poor
parents as inadequate care givers and uninterested in their childrens education persist
among educators. Although low income families may feel unneeded or unable to be
involved with their childrens school, Henderson (1988) states that children of low

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income families benefit the most when parents are involved in the schools and parents do
not have to be well educated to make a difference.
Cultural background
The cultural background affects the relationship between home and school. As
cited in Rudnitski (1992), Litwak and Meyer (1974) found that parents from racial,
ethnic and cultural minorities, especially those of low socioeconomic status, tend to feel
less affinity for the school than those in the mainstream middle class (p.15). This shows
that schools in the United States have different values than those of the family as well as
inability to communicate with culturally diverse families effectively.
Also in Rudnitski (1992), Liontos (1991) writes that
Low income, culturally different parents have traditionally been marginalized through an
inability to communicate with schools and through the inflexibility of the school as an
institution. This tradition has fostered the feelings of inadequacy, failure, and poor selfworth which are cited as reasons for low participation of parents from marginalized
groups (p.15).
It is proven in this research that these traditions of ineffective communication and cultural
differences are the factors that prevent parents from becoming involved in their childrens
education.

Language
A language barrier happens when a lack of English proficiency prevents communication
between immigrant families and the school system. Aschers (1988) work discussed the
language barrier that affects Asian/Pacific American parents. Since English is not the
native language of this group, parents think their language skills are so poor that they
cannot be useful as participants in assisting their child in school. Involving parents from
any background is no easy task and in light of cultural and language differences,
linguistic minority parents present a special challenge (Constantino, et al., 1995, p.19).
In a study by Zelazo (1995) it was found that more English than Spanish speaking parents
are involved at the school site as volunteers and in attending school meetings. Parents
whose English proficiency is limited may find it difficult or intimidating to communicate

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with school staff or to help in school activities without bilingual support in the school or
community (Violand-Sanchez, 1993, p.20). Lack of language skills became an
intimidating factor when parents and schools could not communicate effectively.
Parent literacy
Students cannot expect parental support in their home schooling when their
parents are not literate. As stated by Liu (1996), Students academic performance at
school is closely related to the family literacy environment and their parents educational
levels (p.20). Children need families that can provide literacy rich environments that
often foster readers in the school (Edwards, 1995). Unfortunately, not all students can
have literacy rich environment at home because many parents did not receive an adequate
education and therefore are unable to provide academic support for their children. This
issue is severe with many parents whose English proficiency and education level is low
(Liu, 1996). Parents who dropped out of school needed to support the family or care for
siblings. Limited schooling impaired parental help on homework beyond the primary
level. A compound problem exists when the dominant language in the home conflicts
with assignments in English (Finders and Lewis, 1994). If parents are not literate, they
cannot assist their children with school work at home.

Family structure
These days, the changing structure of the family affects parental involvement and student
achievement. According to Lee (1991) the structure of the American family has
undergone significant changes over the past thirty years, and as a result of this, it is clear
that many children experience multiple family compositions resulting from the transitory
nature of the modern family. Students who have complete families may have problems
that effect parental involvement, but according to Motsinger (1990), having two parents
will give a student a 200% better chance at success in school. This does not mean that
students who do not have two parents cannot succeed, but they have a more difficult time
or have to struggle harder to succeed.
Working parents

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I found that working parents can still participate in parental involvement

programs, but it is harder than those who do not have a job. Unfortunately, many parents
hold down two or three jobs in order to cope with economic realities, and quite frequently
work schedules prevent these parents from attending meetings and other events at the
school (Onikama, 1998). According to King(1990), in the United States, more than half
of the women with children under six years of age are in the labor force (Onikama,
1998, p.21). How can educators effectively involve working parents in childrens
education, especially in families where both parents are working, is a major issue today.
As stated by Onikama (1998), working class parents want their children to do well, but
tend to give educational responsibility to the teacher.

Teacher attitudes
Teacher attitudes can be one of the barriers in parental involvement. According to
the State of Iowa Department of Education (1996), School staff interest may vary in
terms of commitment to family involvement, and may generate mixed messages to
parents (Onikama, 1998, p.2). Many schools believe that classroom learning is best left
to the professors. They also argue that involving parents is a time consuming luxury
that places yet another burden on already overworked teachers and principals
(Henderson, 1988). These worries make parents feel that the teachers dont want them
around, which drops off the level of parental involvement.
Parents
When discussing parental involvement, the most commonly appearing-word will
be parents. Before introducing parental participation strategies, it is necessary to define
the meaning of parents.

As Lockette (1999) mentions, When we use the term

parents involvement, we need to remember that parent can also mean other adults who
play an important role in a childs life (p.1). Lunts (2003) includes parents, guardians,
stepparents, siblings, members of extended family, and any other adults who might carry
the primary responsibilities for a childs health, development and education into the
meaning of parents.

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In the article by Bal and Goc (1999), they indicate that:

Numerous methods to increase parent involvement have been suggested. Such strategies
include increasing communication between teacher and parents, involving parents with
limited English proficiency, providing information regarding how parents can enhance
learning at home, and encouraging parental academic engagement at home (p. 17).
In spite of this fact, many teachers still show their concerns about the lack of parental
involvement at schools and its negative effects on students academic performances on
grades. Parents are also dissatisfied that they are not well informed about their students
behaviors or test grades conducted in the classroom and admit that they are not actively
involved in these school activities and it affects on their own students performance.
Knowing about the most state-of-the-art strategies of parental involvement and taking
them into practical actions are essential not only for parents and their students but also for
everybody who is involved in education such as teachers, educators, practitioners, and
community.
Parental Involvement Programs
Preschool Programs
Rioux and Berla (1993) indicate in their book, Innovations in Parent and Family
Involvement, that:
In the nearly thirty years since Head Starts beginnings, the unparalleled establishment
and expansion of new programs for very young children underscores how much it has
become fixed in the public mind that young children all young children must have the
services and support they need if they are to develop fully (p. 11).
Different kinds of preschool programs are created and developed: Head Start,
Parents as Teachers, Even Start Program, Family Education Program, and Home
Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters. Major components for these programs
are Home Visit, Parent Classes including GED, Family enrichment activities and
Early Childhood Education. Each program has slightly different goals and systems
based on its communitys needs and the level of living conditions, but there are two
common goals for the preschool programs. One of the most popular and well-known
program is the Head Start. Rioux and Berla (1993) mentions in the book that The goals

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of the Head Start Program are to provide comprehensive educational services for
preschool-age children and their families and to improve the nutrition and physical and
mental health of the children and their families (p.17). Besides focusing on childrens
education and development, another common characteristic of the preschool programs is
that Parenting and Employability. In the Even Start Program, it well explains
about Parenting as below:
Once a week, an Even Start Family Mentor visits the home in order to assist the parents
in learning how to provide educational experiences for their preschool-age children. The
visit begins with a general conversation about what is going on in the home with the
family. A story is read by the mentor or parents to the children. Language lessons are
designed for the educational needs of each family (p.34).
Through the GED Program, ESL (English as a Second Language), and Plan
Now Families, parents are able to receive various sources of help depending on their
needs. The book indicates that Volunteers trained by the Larimer County Adult Literacy
Coalition conduct classes to prepare parents who have not graduated from high school for
the GED test. Hispanic families get ESL classes and the schools have a chance to help
parents who are working in low-income jobs look for a better job after completing
necessary job trainings.
In spite of these advantages, most programs are suffering from the lack of budget
and participation from the majority of the low-income families. Lack of transportation,
limited media opportunities are prevalent barriers for these programs.
Programs in Elementary schools
The elementary schools are the place where the most active parent-teacher
involvements take place. Rioux and Berla (1993) say that It is hoped that the training
for more parent involvement at the elementary school level will carry over into middle
school and high school where parent participation tends to decline (p. 81). Parents as
Educational Partners, Parent Institute for Quality Education, and Parents, Teachers &
Children Working Together are the part of those examples and Parent Coordinator, Parent
Meeting, and Parent Volunteers are played roles as one of the major components (p. 62 65).

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One of the successful programs is the Family-School Meetings and the book puts
different types of problems by indicating the positive effect of the program as:
The Family-School Workshops are also considered an effective way of dealing with
problems individual students may be having. At the beginning, there was opposition
from both teachers and parents to having students present at the meetings. Both groups
were accustomed to talking about the childs problems without his/her presence. As
parents and teachers see the positive outcomes of this process, as they see that the child
problem is alleviated, they become supportive of the process (Rioux and Berla, 1993,
p.88).
One of the distinguished features of the Elementary Programs is that Parents
roles are emphasized in many aspects.

As briefly mentioned in the book, Parent

Coordinator is mainly One of the supports for the parents: orienting new parents to the
school, assisting parents with a concern or complaint to resolve the situation, and placing
all volunteers (Rioux and Berla, 1993, p.96). Parents are also encouraged to be involved
in making decisions or organizing and monitoring school systems though the chances of
various workshops and committees.

Committees include Fund Raising, Hiring,

Curriculum, Program Evaluation, Building and Grounds, Bilingual, School Literary

Magazine, Arts Collaborative, and Race and Class (Rioux and Berla, 1993, p. 94).
Another aspect of elementary programs is to focus on immigrants and parents
who did not get proper education to help their childrens works with the proficiency level
of English. For example, the Families Together program in Oakland, California provides
many programs for immigrants and refugees. They support them with ESL Classes,
Primary Language and Literacy Support, and special services such as translation,
providing interpreters between families and schools, and referrals for legal help and
social and mental health services.
The last aspect of parent involvement programs is that the more parents are
involved, the better performance students show at schools and the better relationships
between teachers and parents. In FOCUS -Focusing our community and uniting for
success in Wapato, WA, outcomes and evaluations are made by saying that:
Changes in teachers attitudes and behavior have been noticed. Staff members are more
cordial they assist, welcome, or smile at parents who are in the school. The bilingual

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teachers who do the presentation in Spanish at the FOCUS meetings have developed
some very good relationships with the Hispanic parents (Rioux and Berla, 1993, p.152).
In one of Rioux and Berlas research programs, Sterne Brunson School
Development Program, he/she says that:
Teachers attitudes are changing toward more acceptance of parents strengths and
weaknesses. Many teachers go to their students homes to find out why a child is not in
school. Parents feel more at ease in the school; they no longer feel inferior to the
teachers, who are open and responsive to them. Parents attend and speak at school board
meetings more frequently than in the past. Improvement in students test scores and in
social behavior has bee evident partly as a result of this program (p. 128).
However, still many programs experience insufficient funds, so most of them
depend on replying on funds from local businesses and organizations.
PTA National Standards for Parent/Family Involvement Programs
According to the PTA (Patent-Teacher Association) website (www.pta.org), they
introduce themselves as the Best Resource for the Parents as below:
As the largest volunteer child advocacy association in the nation, National Parent Teacher
Association (PTA) reminds our country of its obligations to children and provides parents
and families with a powerful voice to speak on behalf of every child while providing the
best tools for parents to help their children be successful students (The National PTA
www.pta.org. (n.d) Retrieved from http://www.pta.org/about_pta.html).
The PTA provides nine diverse programs to the schools and parents through the
national-wide, state-wide or local associations and organizations as below:
PTA Goes to Work - provides youths with chances of experiencing valuable resources
for employment, training, and career information.
Building Successful Partnerships is one of the PTAs parent involvement programs and
its purpose is to provide schools and parents with updated information about childs
development and education. The trained presenters deliver speeches or presentations
around the nation throughout the year and since 2000, over 800 presenters completed this
program though the PTA.
Parent Involvement Schools of Excellence Certification is a program for schools to be
certified in parent involvement programs based on the National Standards for

22

Parent/Family Involvement programs. If other schools are interested in benchmarking

this program, it is helpful for them to use these outcomes to enhance their programs.
Reflections PTAs Official website explains about Reflections that:
The annual arts program allows more than 700,000 children and youth to express
themselves through musical composition, photography, visual arts, and literature. For
many school districts with limited funding, this program provides great value to the
students

and

school

community

at

no

cost

to

the

district

(http://www.pta.org/local_leadership_subprogram_1116958614281.html).
Phoebe Apperson Hearst-National PTA excellence in Education the purpose of this
program is to encourage local PTAs to award its efforts and ongoing contributions in
parent-teacher involvement programs.
Back-To-School offers students and parents to be familiar with changes in school
systems and be ready for the next school academic year.
After School enriches students to make-up their academic weaknesses or overcome
difficulties through resources and extra helps from teachers and educators.
Teacher Appreciation Week is for encouraging teachers who are the main resource for
students success and for having a chance of appreciating their efforts and contributions
in every spring.
School/Community Workshops covers various topics such as bullying, drug abuse,
childs nutrition and prevention of school violence to help parents and communities be
aware of its dangers and solutions.
The National PTA programs are made based on The National Standards for
Parent/Family Involvement Programs.

Six standards are 1) Communicating, 2)

Parenting, 3) Student Learning, 4) Volunteering, 5) Decision Making and Advocacy, and

6) Collaborating with Community. Lockett (1999) summarizes these six standards as
below:
Communicating Lockette (1999) mentions in her article that Communication between
home and school is regular, two-way, and meaningful. Communication is the foundation
of a solid partnership. When people communicate effectively, positive relationships
develop and greater progress can be made. Communication occurs between parents

23

and teachers, parents and school administrators, and parents and community
through conferences, workshops, and Back-to-School Night (p. 4).
Parenting in Lunts article, She (2003) gives very clear definition of parenting by
saying that:
This category includes the basic responsibilities of families such as providing housing,
health care, nutrition, clothing, and safety, and creating home conditions that support
childrens learning (e.g., purchasing necessary books and other school supply, providing a
place to study, etc.). Parenting also implies that parents are warm and responsive to their
children, communicate with them and support their development (p. 2).
Student Learning Many parents want to help their children with homework and school
projects, but they just dont know what is most helpful or appropriate (Lockett, 1999, p.
4). Therefore, teachers and schools help parents know how to foster learning at home,
monitor homework and progress, and give feedback to teachers (p. 4).
Volunteering volunteering can be the most effective and convenient way for parents to
be involved in school participation. Many schools and teachers want parents to be
actively involved with school events and this is more stressed in the elementary school
levels. In the book, Innovations in Parent and Family Involvement, Rioux and Berla
(1993) indicates that:
In the addition to traditional activities such as providing support services for various
school events, tutoring, and assisting in the classroom, parents are actively involved in
decision making, serving on school committees, and being consulted regularly on all
aspects of school governance (p. 70).
School Decision Making and Advocacy - Lockett (1999) emphasizes the important of
parents participation in decision-making and support for school governance by saying
that:
Parents should be partners in collaborative decision-making processes on all issues
affecting students from school curriculum and course selection, to discipline policies
and overall school reform goals. The most important factor in effective decision making
is building a foundation of trust and respect between educators and parents (p. 5).

24

For example, Advocate Training Program offers a chance for parents to know
about proper ways to understand school policies and how to advocate school systems and
disciplines.
Collaborating with Community - Lockett (1999) says that Community resources are
used to strengthen schools, family, and student learning (p. 6). However, many parents
do not know how to efficiently use these sources; schools should provide opportunities
for them through workshops or fairs. Inviting businessmen or seniors who are skillful in
certain areas or taking students to the real job field and giving experiences of work are
good examples of collaborating with community.
Connecting Family and School by Using Telecommunication Technologies
Lunts (2003) insists that Web technology has much more potential to establish
better family-school interactions (p. 7). Since internet is getting the most convenient
and best way to communicate and interact with others, modern schools cannot avoid
adopting this technologies and try to create more effective ways to reach out parents and
communities. According to Lunts article (2003), Hot lines and help-lines, Automated
calling systems, Voice mail and voice messaging systems (VMS), E-mail, and Cable
channels and teleconferencing (p. 3) are these examples.
These technologies have many advantages.

First, technology can be more

convenient than other traditional ways, such as Home Visits and Parent Conferences to
involve parents in school. Internet or e-mails are common ways to communicate and
parents are also familiar with the use of these technologies. It does not require much
effort to use technology, therefore, even busy parents can easily participate in school
surveys or on-line conferences. Secondly, these technologies are easy to operate, so most
parents, including seniors, are able to use these systems easily. Schools first should
instruct directions and instructions to parents, but once these systems are set up, teachers
and parents can freely communicate without the usual concerns about scheduling. This
efficiency helps both schools and parents save expenses as well as time in the long term
and help develop a better relationship between schools and parents. Bauch (n.d) indicates
that Among the advantages of VMS is that they are able to provide almost universal
(available to most families) and frequent communication between schools and families,
two ideal qualities of family-school connections (p. 3).

25

However, in spite of the fact that schools and parents are well aware of its
efficiency and necessity of using modern technologies, still many concerns remain. First,
the first disadvantages (with the exception of teleconferencing technology), is that
telecommunication technologies cannot support the richness of face-to-face interaction
(Bauch, 2000).

Limited languages can be a problem in most international cities. If a

classroom is extremely multicultural, a teacher may not be able to provide messages in all
languages spoken by families (McAfee, 1997). Expenses are a big barrier for most
school districts.

Even though e-mails and internet are prevalent, installing and

maintaining these systems or databases need a lot of costs. Moreover, in case of the online conferencing or cable channels, as Lunts (2003) indicates, this type of
communication is not widespread.
Common Characteristics
As common characteristics of parental involvement programs, Rioux and Berla
(1993) come up with ideas such as Charismatic Leader, External Model, and Funding.
Especially, in case of a leader, Rioux and Berla (1993) say that These charismatic
leaders energize others and form staffs who want to be trained, work hard, and serve
families (p. 330). Secondly, developing parents educational, employment, language,
and social skills (Rioux and Berla, 1993, p. 333) should be emphasized. Rioux and
Berla give us a clear example by saying that:
The childs view of himself/herself is greatly influenced by the things that are going well
or poorly in his home. If his parents are unemployed, underemployed, poorly educated,
and socially isolated, the self-esteem, motivation, and optimism of the student about
school and the future are affected (Rioux and Berla, 1993, p.333).
Most programs emphasize the importance of early childhood by believing that
quality efforts at an early age will yield the largest gains in the future (p. 334).
Therefore, many programs are designed to focus on improving interactions between
young children and their parents. Educating parents and involving them in the schools
are one of the common characteristics of parental involvement programs.

Besides

providing ESL classes or GED classes who need further education, teaching parents
about the qualities of being good parents and helping them to be more involved at schools
are very important factors of having successful programs. It also implies the parents

26

more active participations in governing schools, rather than school-dominant decision

making processes.
Summary
Many researchers have identified effective parental involvement programs:
Epstein (2001) defines six types of involvement that are effective forms of connecting the
larger school community: parenting (skills), communicating, volunteering, learning at
home, decision making, and collaborating with the community. Hoover-Dempsey and
Sandler (1995) include out of school or home-based partnerships as well as school-based
activities with parents and children. Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP) believes
that effective parental involvement includes children having a range of learning
environments around them, or complementary learning. Cottons (2001) book, The
Schooling Practices That Matter Most, suggest the direct help from parents is a major
benefit over passive learning.
The research reviewed for this study has indicated that parental involvement improves
components of childrens education such as daily attendance, cognitive and social skills
or achievement, behavior and attitude, confidence, and motivation. Many studies have
been conducted that illustrate this information such as a study done by Reutzel and
Cooter (1996) and Focus on Results done by the National Network of Partnership
Schools (1996).
As barriers that block parental involvement, there are several aspects of obstacles: the
socioeconomic status has been recognized as an influential factor concerning parental
involvement. The cultural background also affects the relationship between home and
school. As cited in Rudnitski (1992), Litwak and Meyer (1974) found that parents from
racial, ethnic and cultural minorities, especially those of low socioeconomic status, tend
to feel less affinity for the school than those in the mainstream middle class (p.15).
Parents lack of English proficiency prevents communication between immigrant families
and the school system. Parents academic level affects students school performance and
family structure like working parents play a role as struggles that todays parental
involvement has. Besides parents problems, teacher inactive attitude also drop off the
level of parental involvement.

27

Understanding parental involvement can reach further to the broad range of parents and
teachers. They are not only restricted in biological parents and home-room teachers, but
also a group of people involved in a childs education and development can be
understood in parent-teachers involvement programs.
Parental involvement programs are getting developed in more productive and parents
friendly ways. Still programs mainly focus on the childs early education, but many
different approaches are used to reach up to middle, high school, and even district-wide
communities. Many schools are trying to put efforts in developing relationships between
parents and schools by using electronic methods such as e-mails, voice mail systems, and
on-line conferences.
Most parent involvement programs have common characteristics such as
enthusiastic leaders, educating and involving parents in the schools with necessary
support for them, and paying attention to the early age children. It still has a long way to
go, but as many scholars indicate, the more the schools have parents involved, the better
children we have in the future.

28

See Appendix A
Analysis
After reviewing the questionnaires, it seems that the teachers and administrators have an
extensive list of sixteen different effective strategies that they have implemented. This
shows that they are trying, through various means, to include parents in their childs
education both at school and home. Many of the strategies are common such as sending
notes home while other strategies are unique such as invitations created by the student.
On the other hand, the teachers and administrators also addressed strategies that have
failed. This list is not very extensive, with only four indicated. If sixteen strategies have
been effective and only four ineffective it seems as though parental involvement should
be fairly high. From reading the questionnaires, this is not the case. Question #2 provided
an extensive list of ways parents could be more involved. This leads me to believe that
teachers and administrators may lack in self evaluation. Sometimes it is easier to see or
recognize the positives.
Summary
The evaluation of the questionnaires focused on five main elements: how parents are
involved, how parents could be more involved, effective strategies, ineffective strategies,
and personal beliefs as to why parents are not involved. The questionnaire addressed
theoretically-supported issues because I wanted to know if, in reality, participants had
similar beliefs and effectiveness in influencing the involvement of parents. I used openended questions to provide rich, qualitative information about these issues.
The questionnaire was used as a tool for me to gather information. With participants
being asked to evaluate specific involvement strategies based on the effectiveness of
each, I hope that it helps them to modify, and if necessary, replace with an effective
alternative.

29

Appendix A
Questionnaire Results
1) How are parents involved in their childrens education in your school?
-calling the teacher
- fundraising events
-looking for weekly letters to sign and return
- correct all failed papers and get signed by parent
-coming to the school to volunteer
-chaperoning or attending parties/concerts/parades/festivals/assemblies
-bringing in supplies or snacks
-attending conferences
-supervising and checking homework
-attending curriculum night and PTA
2) How could parents be further involved in their childrens education?
-asking the teacher for and doing activities at home
- family bingo night (game for grades K-2)
- classroom story time
- hoops for facts (game for grades 3-4)
-learning new methods for teaching math and literacy skills
-helping with homework
-responding to phone calls home
- returning notes or forms
- more attendance at PTA, conferences, open house, or registration
- Three for Me-a school-wide program asking parents to volunteer three hours to
childs school
- Consistent form of discipline when homework is not done
3) Effective strategies that you have implemented in your classroom to increase parental
involvement in childrens education.

30

- have the student create and take home an individual invitation to our class
- call the parent and personalize your invitation to them. Let them know how much
youre looking forward to meeting with them.
- send home a letter at the beginning of the school year to welcome them
- create and send home a classroom newsletter each week
- send home literacy bags with books and a feedback
- call each parent at least once a month with problem and positive feedback
- provide parents with information about how and when to contact you
- ask parents how they would like to be involved
- provide easy two-way communication between the classroom and home
- send a personal thank you note after an event attended by parents
- talk to parents in the hallways at school
- talk to parents during car duty
- talk with parents during registration and open house
- start a conversation with a parent with a positive comment about the child
- establish positive relationships with parents at the beginning of the year
- have parent-teacher conferences
-invite parents to PTA meetings
4) Strategies that have failed to involve parents.
- offering trainings and workshops for parents
- sending home guided reading books
- not acquiring positive parent-teacher relations
- assuming parent has skills to be involved at level you are expecting
5) Beliefs as to why parents are not involved in their childrens education.
- the parent is intimidated by the school setting due to low level of education and/or a
poor socioeconomic background
- the parent had bad experiences in school
- the parents work schedule does not permit at-school participation
- the parent doesnt have transportation
- the parent is busy with pace/stress of every day life
- the parent doesnt have a phone

31

- the parent doesnt know what to do at home with the child

- the parent has limited skills or doesnt feel competent
- the parent doesnt want to bother because she doesnt really care about her childs
schooling
- the parents participation isnt mandatory
- the parent thinks that it is the schools responsibility to educate the child
- the parent was never asked
- the parent and teacher have not created a positive relationship

32

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LITERATURE REVIEW

36

37