Parental involvement and students engagement in school activities free essay sample

In any given classroom and school activity of relatively extended duration and complexity, students’ engagement is never homogeneously high and productive, but rather it fluctuates depending on a number of factors (Mcwayne et al. , 2012; Mattingly et al. , 2013) such as parental involvement (Ho Williams, 2008; McNeal, 2009; Jose et al. , 2010;). Students engage better in school when parents play a positive role in their learning process (Jackson, 2010; 2011; Green et al. , 2012). Students are more likely to make a personal commitment to engage in rigorous learning when they know parents care about how well they do (Kilgore, Snyder Lentz, 2008; Keyes, 2010). However, despite the crucial role of parents, studies in relation to their involvement remain scarce. Students’ low engagement with academic activities is considered the main reason for dissatisfaction (Kuh, 2009), negative experience, and dropping out of school (LinnenbrinkPintrich, 2009; Jimmerson, Campos Greif, 2010). One of the contributory factors is the level of parents’ positive interference to the academic journey of the school (Brookmeyer, FantiHenrich, 2008). We will write a custom essay sample on Parental involvement and students engagement in school activities or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page More significantly, most findings show positive relationship between parental involvement and students’ engagement in school and in the classroom (Dauber Epstein, 2008; Gorard, Rees Fevre, 2009;Cotton, 2011;Fantuzzo et al. , 2012). Nevertheless, the understanding of parental involvement is largely limited to U.S. and Western studies. In the Philippines, poor student engagement and inclination to take prohibited drugsand other delinquent behaviors are attributed to parents who have no enough time for their children’s academic difficulties (Catsambit, 2009; Castro et al. , 2012). Teachers and other education stakeholders would like to see parents more involved with school activities of their children (Gonzalez et al. , 2007). Despite this urgency, a significant number of cases of students’ lack of engagement in school such as cutting classes, tardiness, absenteeism and mediocre compliance of performance tasks and subject requirements continue to proliferate (Aaron Skakun, 2009). In addition, students’ poor engagement does not just lead them to superficial knowledge acquisition of lessons but also to deviant behaviors such as gangsterism (HamrePianta, 2007; Engle Conant, 2008; Fredicks et al. , 2011). According to Dr. Villaneda A. Olang, Baganga South District Public School Supervisor, National Achievement Test scores among elementary students were low due to poor student engagement in school. Cutting classes among these students were rampant which resulted to loss of learning motivation and incidence of drop outs increased. Further, she said that students were usually forced to help their parents in livelihood activities to augment family income. Therefore, it is in this context that the researcher got interested to conduct this research in order to determine whether family involvement predicts student engagement in Baganga, Davao Oriental. As both parental involvement and student engagement are common factors in successful relationships in a school community, looking at these variables, a number of studies have been done on student engagement and its different components as well as studies done on parental involvement. A research finding emphasizes that parental involvement in children’s learning makes the greatest difference to student achievement (Harris and Goodall, 2008). However, student motivation as an academic outcome of parental involvement has only recently been explored and investigated (Gonzales-Dettass, Willems and Doan-Holbein 2005), but there has been no specific research showing how this relationship is significant. Hence, the researcher took interest to present some specific types to determine the relationship between these variables. It only shows that the present study can give specific contribution to the field of education and generates new knowledge in student engagement to change parent’s practices in school. Statement of the Problem The main thrust of this study was to determine the relationship between parental involvement and student engagement in Baganga, Davao Oriental. Specifically, it sought to answer the following questions: 1. What is the extent of the parental involvement in terms of: 1. 1 Parenting 1. 2 Communicating 1. 3 Volunteering 1. 4 Learning at Home 1. 5 Decision-making 1. 6 Collaborating? 2. What is the level of student engagement in terms of: 2. 1 Academic Challenge 2. 2 Student-Faculty Interactions 2.  3 Active and Collaborative Learning 2. 4 Enriching Educational Experiences 2. 5 Supportive Campus Environment 3. Is there a significant relationship between parental involvement and student engagement? 4. Which domain of the parental involvement best predicts student engagement? Hypothesis This study tested the following hypothesis: 1. There is no significant relationship between parental involvement and student engagement. 2. No domain of Parental involvement signifi cantly predicts student engagement. Review of Related Literature This section presents various views, arguments, theories and findingsfrom research and publications which are relevant in establishing the essence of this study. The first part of the review discusses parental involvement which includes parenting, communicating, volunteering, decision-making andcollaborating. The second part presents student engagement which includes academic challenge, student/faculty interactions, active and collaborative learning, enriching educational experiences and supportive educational experiences. Parental Involvement Increased involvement of parents and families often cited as one of the most important ways to improve public schools. A variety of studies confirm that parent involvement makes an enormous impact on students’ attitude, attendance, and academic achievement (Anderson Minke, 2007). Although some working and single parents may be unable to contribute to schools because of work commitments and time constraints (Bauch, 2011; Castro et al. , 2012; Xu, 2012), educators are discovering many additional ways that parents can help students and their schools (Edwards Alldred, 2008). To effect change, parents must find time to participate in their children’s education (Votruba-Drzal et al. , 2012) while schools must provide the supports necessary for them to involved (Weis, 2010). Children whose parents are involved generally have higher grades and test scores (Mc Groder, 2010) as well as more positive attitudes and behaviors (Xu, 2012). And schools benefit from parental involvement in that there are long-term improvements in academic achievement, more successful school programs and more effective schools (Weis, 2010; Castro et al.  , 2012). Some researchers examined the effects ofparents involvement on school engagement. (Votruba-Drzal et al. , 2012) found that parents behavioral involvement enhances students because it fosters students motivation and engagement in school. Though many studies have identified a relationship between adolescents family experiences and their levels of engagement, these studies have most generally concentrated on demographic characteristics of the family, such as its socioeconomic status (Xu, 2012; Votruba-Drzal et al. , 2012). For instance, (Edwards Alldred, 2008) found that students whose families had a higher SES showed higher levels of school engagement, where engagement was measured by how muchstudents liked school and how much time they spent on homework. While McGroder (2008), Hill and Craft (2009) and Hill and Taylor (2010) found students performance was enhanced by behavioral and emotional engagement of students and was related to strong parent-student relationship, they ignored the links between parent-student relationship and students school engagement(Xu, 2012; Castro et al.   , 2012). Paquibot (2011) expanded upon the traditional kinds of involvement by identifying six types of involvement in schools such as parenting, communicating, volunteering, learning at home, decision making, and collaborating with the community. The following indicators were taken from the revision of Mayne’ 2011,based from Epstein six types of parental involvement (Phi Delta Kappa Center for Evaluation, Develop ment and Reasearch) Epstein,J. L. , Simon,B. S. , and Salinas, K. C. (1997). Involving parents in homework in the middle class. Parenting. Research strongly supports the benefits of having parents involved in their child’s education (Votruba-Drzal et al. , 2012). Weis, (2010) states that research also indicates that parents who are involved in their child’s academic life have a profound effect on the child’s ability to learn and help instill in them an appreciation for learning that can last a lifetime. Parenting can be better manifested when parents make themselves available during the difficult times of their students. This difficulty can be academic (Castro et al. , 2012), personal (Edwards Alldred, 2008; Coolahan et al.  , 2009) or other school-related problems (Hill Craft, 2007; Hill Taylor, 2008). In addition, parenting is better felt when there is constant communication between the teacher and the parents (Weis, 2010), exemplifying supportive behaviors and statements at home and before going to school (Coolahan et al. , 2009; Hamre Pianta, 2007) and being helpful in answering childrenâ €™s assignments or projects (Castro et al. , 2012; Mc Groder, 2008). These parenting types have been linked theoretically and empirically to children’s social and emotional outcomes. (Xu, 2012; Hamre Pianta, 2007) found that school children whose parents demonstrated authoritative parenting behaviors exhibited self-motivation in preschool and positive adjustment upon their entrance into elementary school. Conversely, children of authoritarian parents demonstrated inhibited participation and lacked initiative (Mc Groder, 2008; Coolahan et al. , 2009). Permissively-parented children exhibited lower levels of self-reliance (Edwards Alldred, 2008) and achievement motivation (Hill Craft, 2007; Hill Taylor, 2008). With respect to the indifferent/uninvolved parenting style, Castro et al. , (2012) proposed that parenting sometimes yields the poorest outcomes among children. However, research on this construct is limited and has tended to focus on adolescent developmental outcomes (Xu, 2012; Weis, 2010; Coolahan et al. , 2009). Recent empirical research, most of which has focused on minority and lower socio-economic status families, has supported the claim that reasonable parenting style is the most developmentally appropriate and supportive parenting style (Votruba-Drzal et al. , 2012; Hamre Pianta, 2007). It is generally believed that authoritative parenting encompasses an optimal mix of both warmth and control such that children receive consistent messages not only about the expectations that their parents have for them but also the support and responsiveness they need in order to meet these expectations (Leyendecker et al. , 2010; Castro et al. , 2012). This style of parenting is thought to promote social competence in preschool because it facilitates children’s early development of problem-solving and self-regulation skills necessary for social success (Edwards Alldred, 2008; McGroder, 2008; Coolahan et al.  , 2009). Communicating. Halgunseth et al. , (2009) and Lambert, Abbott-Shim and Sibley (2013) argued that a healthy communication between teachers and parents and their children would lead to the establishment of mutual trust, expressed shared goal of the best interest of the child, the creation of a vehicle for open communication (Weis, 2010; Hamre Pianta, 2007; Harr is Goodall, 2008), and the clarification of an attitude of collaboration and problem solving rather than blaming (Castro et al. , 2012; Lambert et al. , 2013).