How is it defined?

Parental involvement entails parents ‘participation in the educational process and experiences of their children’ (Jeynes, 2007, p. 89). Notable aspects of parental involvement at home and at school include: discussion of school activities, aspirations and expectations, parental style, supervision, contact with school personnel and volunteering at school (Shute, Hansen, Underwood, & Razzouk, 2011).

The Learning Bar’s Teacher Survey is a self-evaluation tool for teachers that is based on ‘effective schools’ research, consisting of eight of the most important variables associated with the drivers of student learning, and coupled with the Outward Bound model of teaching and learning covered in John Hattie’s book, Visible Learning (Hattie, 2009).

Why is it important?

• Discussions between child and parent concerning school-related matters, such as assistance with and planning of schoolwork, have a strong positive relationship to academic achievement (Sui-Chu & Willms, 1996).  
• A parental style characterised by support and discipline is associated with positive educational outcomes (Jeynes, 2007).  
• The greater parents’ educational expectations are, the greater the students’ aspirations will be, resulting in higher academic achievement (Hong & Ho, 2005).  
• In order to establish strong parent-teacher partnerships teachers must continually develop effective communication strategies (Graham-Clay, 2005).

How do we measure it?

In Tell Them From Me, teachers respond to eight items on a five-point scale which is scored as follows: 0 (Strongly Disagree), 1 (Disagree), 2 (Neither Agree nor Disagree), 3 (Agree), and 4 (Strongly Agree). The data are scaled on a 10-point scale and the results are reported as ‘the average score for parental involvement’.

 

References

Graham-Clay, S. (2005). Communicating with parents: Strategies for teachers. School Community Journal, 16(1), 117-129.

Hattie, J. (2009). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. New York: Routledge.

Hong, S., & Ho, H. Z. (2005). Direct and indirect longitudinal effects of parental involvement on student achievement: Second-order latent growth modelling across ethnic groups. Journal of Educational Psychology, 97(1), 32-42.

Jeynes, W. H. (2007). The relationship between parental involvement and urban secondary school student academic achievement: A meta-analysis. Urban Education, 42(1), 82-110.

Shute, V. J., Hansen, E. G., Underwood, J. S., & Razzouk, R. (2011). A review of the relationship between parental involvement and secondary school students' academic achievement. Education Research International, 2011, 1-10.

Sui-Chu, E. H., & Willms, J. D. (1996). Effects of parental involvement on eighth-grade achievement. Sociology of Education, 69(2), 126-141.