Saturday, January 25, 2014

Research that Benefit Children and Families



When schools, families, and community groups work together to support learning, children tend to do better in school longer and like school more (National Education Association, 2013).

This topic is important to me because I have been in education for quite some time now.  I began this journey working in the public school and from there began working in early childhood and it is my opinion that parents aren’t involved the way that they should be in their child’s education and because of this children aren’t learning at their full potential. 

A synthesis research was conducted by Southwest Educational Development Laboratory that has been done over the past decade on the involvement of parents.  In their findings it showed that children tend to do better with learning, they go to school more because they are interested, they have a higher educational ranks, many go on to continue their education once graduating from high school and their social skills tend to be better with less behavioral problems and this is all because of parental involvement. 

Even in my own experiences I have found that children strive to do better because of the encouragement and involvement that they receive from their parents.  I have learned that most of the behavioral problems that I have encountered since being in the education profession were from children whose parents were less involved. 

If parents truly understood the impact that they have on their child’s learning we would have more children who would reach their full potential.  The only problem is getting them to learn and understand that it’s not all up to the professionals; they play a huge role in it as well.

Reference

National Education Association (2013).  Research Spotlight on Parental Involvement in Education Retrieved from http://www.nea.org/tools/17360.htm/

4 comments:

  1. Hi Latarsha,

    Thanks for sharing this. There are some cultures that consider education the job of the professional. This makes it tricky for the teacher to approach the parents and encourage parent participation. I think family difficulties also play a part.


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  2. Latarsha,

    It is very sad that some parents lack the involvement that is needed in order for their child to be successful. As a fulltime working mother of two I am guilty of trailing behind with my involvement at times. Now more than ever is it imperative for parents to be involved with their child's education. Testing and less instruction is going on in our schools making school difficult and it is important for us to be involved. Thanks for sharing!

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  3. Wonderful post Latarsha! I too have encountered this problem on many levels of education and found that most often the parents disconnect was either cultural or just a lack of confidence or knowledge. Just as I try to understand the children I am around and meet them where they are, I do the same with adults and parents. It's quite a task, but with consistency and patience I have found that most evolve and eventually come around. You already have the knowledge and understand the importance of family involvement and I am sure you will be able positively engage them and meet their needs to get the message across.
    Be well Latarsha!
    Emily*

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  4. Hi, Latarsha
    Parent’s involvement is the topic I chose. Developing a parent involvement plan is a preparation that comes with accomplishment throughout the year. Involvement plan consist fun events to get the parents pump-up to come out to different events. Getting parents involved will cut down on discipline problems in many ways.

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