Parental Involvement in a Child's Education: Research Proposal

Introduction

Parental involvement in a child's education is one of the core indicators of academic achievement. At an early age, children will show a positive attitude toward school, enhanced self-esteem, and improved academic performance mostly when their parents are actively involved with their education (Hill & Taylor, 2016). For decades, the educational school system has been trying to increase parental involvement in school in order to improve the academic performance of students. It is imperative to let parents and guardians walk this journey with their kids and tutors. Parental involvement has the focus of researchers, public debate, and policy formation (McNeal, 2014).

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With many years of research show that parental involvement is vital to a child's educational success and that when parents or guardians are involved in their children's education, they demonstrate educational gains (Garbacz, Mcdowall, Schaughency, Sheridan, Welch, 2015). For example, with higher parental involvement students perform better in school, attend school on a daily basis, earn better grades, and have a better attitude toward school (Namok, Mido, Sunha &Thomas, 2015). More than these desired outcomes, a positive correlation exists between parental involvement and students' academic achievement regardless of family income, education level, or socio-economic background (Stacer & Perrucci, 2013). When parents are interested in their children's education, chances of their children succeeding in school and life are likely to be improved. Parents can also gain the skills and knowledge they need that will help them in child upbringing.

Statement of the Problem

Minimal or lack of parental involvement thereof has been controversial in the academic success of a child all the way from elementary, middle school to high school (Hilgendorf & King, 2012). Also, it is contended that parental involvement differs with a child's changes in educational level. Prior research findings showed that parental participation impacted academic achievement (Nunez, Suarez, Rosario, Vallejo, Valle, & Epstein, 2015). The degree of parental involvement is highest for elementary school going children while parents of middle school kids are deemed to be less concerned in studies but more in sports. These parental indulgences include attendings PTA meetings, supervising daily homework, encouraging the child, attending children's sporting activities, as well as reviewing the child' diary to keep track of their progress. However, the correlation between the two variables of parental involvement and student's academic success has not proven such a success. Presumably due to underlying factors such as inflexibility at work, biased parental perceptions towards involvement, poor economic status or previous unpleasant encounters with the school administration (Hornby & Lafaele, 2011).

Misinformed parents about their role in their children's education as well as lack of confidence in their academic capabilities pose as a barrier too. Poor relationships between parents and school have brought about a detachment hence hindering active participation of the parents (Rosenberg & Chopra, 2015). Some parents and guardians school administrations do little in incorporating them into their children's school life. Such a move would effectively enlighten parents on the child's educational needs. Despite various interventions by various regulatory bodies such as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 reauthorized by the U.S federal government which emphasizes the significance of parental involvements and accountability, there has been low turnout in these participations (Morris & Klocke, 2012).

Many scholarly findings seem to confirm the need for these involvements with others disputing the practicality. As a result, this has had a remarkable effect on the quality of education the child attains with a number recording poor performances, low esteem levels, low motivation levels as well as lack of concentration (Wilder, 2014). The researcher seeks to conduct a non-experimental, quantitative correlational survey with children sampled from various grades, by administering questionnaires, document reviews from the school registry, to establish the correlation between these two dependent variables; parental involvement academic achievement. The selected students will be observed for the better part of their early and middle school as well as their parental participation levels. The researcher, therefore, having identified this problem sees the need to execute this dissertation.

Purpose of the Study

This quantitative correlational research proposal purpose is to explore the nature and level of connection that exists between parental involvements and its direct or indirect impact on the student's academic achievements. The study will examine critical facets of parental involvement leading to academic success. The research seeks to go beyond the course itself and identify the various behavioral aspects by the parent that might influence their participation. The identification of such behaviors might prove as significant as much as is a difficult task.

Parental perceptions about their children's academic excellence capabilities, participation roles, institutional credibility, communication efficiency as well as the frequency of involvement will be explored. For such reasons, this study is established to ascertain any correlation if any that parental involvement has on the academic achievement of the student. To serve the purpose, in-depth interviews, document reviews, questionnaires as well as surveys will be administered to the target population sampled from various grades within identified regions so as to acquire relevant data.

This study will focus on two dependent variables; the student and the parent. On the other side, the independent variables will be the degree of parental involvement in the student's academic accomplishment and development as well as the student's extent of academic achievement. Further, the study will explore additional parental insights regarding the school and the teacher such as the quality, the social, economic status, training needs, hindrances to involvement, the laid down policies and regulations, accountability to the student/school as well as a detailed account on the best practices. This study seeks to find more dynamic forms of parental involvement yielding positive results rather than the passive ones. The research will also look at the level of parental involvement not only in schools but at home and if it has a notable effect on a child's academic performance.

Research Questions

This particular study will be centralized on the significant phenomenon of parental involvement and the subsequent result on academic excellence. The intent being a parental view about their role in participation and how differently these views could be across the various grades the student encounters. This proposal which has been put across by different researchers in their scholarly works. Therefore, this quantitative non-experimental study intends to find out parental perceptions regarding their indulgence in their offspring's academics. The following research questions were formulated as a basis for the study:

RQ1: What is the correlation between parental involvement and academic excellence?

RQ2: What are the parental perceptions concerning their ability and responsibility in the involvement of their student's education?

RQ3: What are the barriers if any that could hinder parental involvement which subsequently adversely affects the student's performance?

RQ4: Which strategies and best practices could be implemented to improve the student's academic success as well as counter theses barriers to parental involvement?

Formulation of Hypothesis

H01: There is a correlation between parental involvement and academic excellence.

H02: There will be no statistically substantial correlation between parental perceptions concerning their ability and responsibilities in the involvement of their children's education.

H03: There will be barriers that hinder parental involvement which will subsequently affect the student's performance.

H04: There will be strategies and best practices that will be implemented to enhance the student's success as well as curb the barriers to parental involvement.

Definition of Terms

For a better understanding of this study, the researcher seeks to elaborate these terms

RQ: Research question

H0: Null Hypothesis. Refers to a universal statement which suggests the impossibility of any statistical significance or correlation between two variables.

H1: This denotes an alternative hypothesis which suggests the existence of a significant correlation between the two variables.

PTA: are initials which stand for Parents Teachers Association. The association aims at enhancing the involvement of the parent with the administration improving the education standards of the student and strengthening the student-teacher relationship.

Academic Success: This refers to the level of a student's excellence rated against the set grading parameters.

Parental Involvement: This is the dedication of the parent to fully engage in their children's schooling.

No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB): This is a U. S Act of 2001 enacted by the Congress. The Act reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary school Act which laid a foundation for standard education such as accountability for academic performance and various parental involvements in students' learning.

References

Baker, T. L., Wise, J., Kelley, G., & Skiba, R. J. (2016). Identifying barriers: Creating solutions to improve family engagement. School Community Journal, 26(2), 161-184.

Besnoy, K. D., Swoszowski, N. C., Newman, J. L., Floyd, A., Jones, P., & Byrne, C. (2015). The advocacy experiences of parents of elementary age, twice-exceptional children. Gifted Child Quarterly, 59(2), 108-123.

DeBray-Pelot, E., & McGuinn, P. (2009). The new politics of education: Analyzing the federal education policy landscape in the post-NCLB era. Educational Policy, 23(1), 15-42.

Goodall, J., & Montgomery, C. (2014). Parental involvement to parental engagement: a continuum. Educational Review, 66(4), 399-410.

Hemmerechts, K., Agirdag, O., & Kavadias, D. (2017). The relationship between parental literacy involvement, socio-economic status, and reading literacy. Educational Review, 69(1), 85-101.

Hill, N. E., & Taylor, L. C. (2016). Parental School Involvement and Children's Academic Achievement. Current Directions in Psychological Science.

Hornby, G., & Lafaele, R. (2011). Barriers to parental involvement in education: An explanatory model. Educational review, 63(1), 37-52.

Jeynes, W. (2012). A meta-analysis of the efficacy of different types of parental involvement programs for urban students. Urban education, 47(4), 706-742.

Nitecki, E. (2015). Integrated School-Family Partnerships in Preschool: Building Quality Involvement through Multidimensional Relationships. School Community Journal, 25(2), 195-219.

Rosenberg, M., & Chopra, D. (2015). Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life: Life-Changing Tools for Healthy Relationships. PuddleDancer Press.