Active Participation In Education

Ensuring A Child's Academic Success Through Parental Involvement

Apr 2, 2008

Studies show children learn better and have a greater chance of academic success when one or both parents are active in their education. So how can parents get involved?

Whether a child attends public, private or home school, there is one common denominator beginning to take a more prominent role in the field of education: the active involvement of parents in the educational system. Parental involvement in education can take on many forms and occurs at varying levels.

According to the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NREL), research shows that when a parent is involved in a child’s education from an early age, the child is more likely to be successful in his educational pursuits. Research further shows the more a parent is involved in a child’s learning the bigger the effects are. This is true no matter the type of parental involvement or the age of the child.

Parental Involvement In Home-Based Learning

According to NREL, the most positive impact of parental involvement in education is where a parent is directly involved in her child’s education by working with her child in the home on guided learning activities. Programs that foster parental involvement have been in public schools for several years. They see parents taking an active role in reading programs, homework assignments and or tutoring. These programs have been successful in the public school theater and in the homeschooling environment.

Passive vs. Active Involvement in a Child’s Education

There are many other ways parents can get involved in their child’s educational career and researchers have noted active involvement to show greater results than simply receiving phone calls or signing tests and letters.

It is true that a child whose parents attend teacher conferences and sign letters from the school will do better than a child whose parents lack any formal involvement. But the biggest benefit can be seen when parents work with their child at home as well as at school. According to NREL, the earlier in a child’s academic career parental involvement begins the bigger the effects on the child’s grades, attitude and will to learn.

Getting Involved in A Child’s Education

There are some simple and effective ways for parents to get involved with their child’s education, including but certainly not limited to:

Any of these ideas offer parents the chance to be involved in their child’s academic career but more importantly an involved parent offers a child the opportunity for academic success in a nurturing, caring and comfortable environment.

The copyright of the article Active Participation In Education in Homeschooling is owned by Karrie Emms. Permission to republish Active Participation In Education in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.