Family involvement matters in education

School success for children can be impacted by a variety of factors. The child’s school, teacher, parents, diet, friends and personality can all contribute to how successful a child is in school. However, a recent topic of interest in this area focuses on just two of these factors. Namely, who is more responsible for children’s school success — parents or schools?

Both parties have very important roles when it comes to the education of our youth. Researchers from three different universities throughout the country studied the roles of the schools and the roles of the parents to determine if one has more impact than the other.

On the parenting side, the researchers looked at parent-child bonds, trust, communication, and parents’ active engagement in their children’s academic life.

On the school side, they focused on the school’s ability to create a positive learning environment, student involvement in extracurricular activities, teacher morale, and the ability of teachers to address the needs of individual students.

After studying the different factors on both sides, the researchers found that students who had high levels of bonding, trust, communication, etc., with their parents but low levels of the school factors were more successful academically than students who had high levels of the school factors but low levels of the parent factors.

One of the researchers, Dr. Toby Parcel, states, “While both school and family involvement are important, the role of family involvement is stronger when it comes to academic success.”

It is important to remember that school and learning do not end when the school day ends. It is imperative for school success for parents to be actively involved in their children’s learning.

For more information on this topic, please contact Christina Rittenbach, Stutsman County Extension agent, at 252-9030 or christina.rittenbach@ndsu.edu

Tags: life, family, education