The parent factor: It can make a world of difference for students

Stories by Sherry Posnick-Goodwin
Photos by Scott Buschman

"What do you mean you don't participate in class?" asks a student doing his best impression of a stern father waving his finger at an insolent son. "You have to respond in class and talk. That is how you will learn. Now you are home. Don't watch television. Do your homework and study." The "father" turns off the television and the "son," another student, grabs a book.

The student performance, delivered entirely in Hmong, elicits mirth among parent volunteers and fellow classmates, all new arrivals from resettlement camps in Thailand. The performers grin with embarrassment during the loud applause.

The teens have been asked by teacher Mai S. Vue to perform skits about adapting to life in the U.S.

Vue, a member of the Fresno Teachers Association, is pleasantly surprised to see that the subject matter chosen by many of her students at the Academy for New Americans reflects something she has tried to stress — the importance of parental involvement. Her parental outreach strategies must be working, she surmises, since her students are imitating their parents.

"I've always tried to do parent outreach and get them involved in one form or another," says Vue, who immigrated to the U.S. at age 10. "That means getting parents involved as school volunteers, getting them to speak out if they have concerns and making sure their points of view and needs are conveyed to administrators or school board members."

"Parents are a very crucial component of a child's education — whether they can speak English or not," she adds.

While many factors contribute to a child's academic success, studies show that when parents are involved in a child's education, students are more likely to earn higher grades, do better on tests, complete homework, attend class regularly, show more motivation, maintain better self-esteem, demonstrate fewer behavior problems, resist substance abuse, graduate from high school and earn a college degree. [See related story]

Unfortunately, the majority of parents do not play a strong role in their child's education, either because they work long hours, hold down extra jobs or think that the school can manage just fine without them. "In the U.S., there are currently 50 million children enrolled in public school," notes the National PTA. "But only one in four parents is actively involved in their children's education. Among working parents, only one in nine parents is actively involved."

"I think that every parent wants to be involved," says incoming California State PTA President Brenda Davis from San Diego County. "I think a lot of people might feel that they don't have the time, or they have the old misconception that their child doesn't want them to be involved. But the majority of parents want their children to be successful. They want to be welcome at school. They want to know what's going on and learn about ways that they can be involved."

The idea of getting parents involved in their children's education started in the late 1940s and early 1950s with parent-teacher conferences, homework monitoring, report card review and signings, PTA meetings, fundraisers and "room mothers," according to researcher Milbrey McLaughlin. It was not until the mid-1960s that educators and policy-makers began focusing on parent involvement as a promising way to improve educational outcomes for poor and underachieving students.

With the 1980s, the "accountability movement" gained strength, and parental involvement became more of an issue, note researchers Kathleen Cotton and Karen Reed Wikelund at the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. With academic standards and standardized testing, parents took on the role of "watchdogs" to monitor learning in the classroom. With the budget cuts and declining resources of the 1990s, schools came to depend on parents to pick up the slack, either by raising funds or providing classroom enrichment, such as music or art.

Today's parents are technologically savvy, and may choose to be involved differently than in the past, says Brenda Davis. "You have an entire generation of young parents who grew up on computers. They don't want to just call the school and get a report; they want to see things online. They want to see information they can check on, including assignments, reports and what's happening at school. They want to use technology — and schools must recognize that. A lot of people might hesitate to phone someone, but they are comfortable with Internet communication. Sometimes, with communication links, parents can be as involved as we need them to be."

For teachers, parent involvement can be viewed as a "partnership" and a valuable resource that can increase student achievement and build a sense of community in school. Or, for those who are used to autonomy and working behind closed doors, it can be one more responsibility — one that can be intimidating or even threatening.

"I try to get parents here any time I can," says Laura Flores, a first-grade bilingual teacher at Sheppard Accelerated Elementary School in Roseland. "If they want to read with the kids, recite a poem to the class or go on a field trip, I encourage it. They can even help at home or donate supplies as their way of getting involved."

Flores, a member of the Roseland Educators Association, acknowledges she did not always feel this way. "When I first started teaching, I felt uncomfortable with anybody in the classroom because I felt awkward and unsure of what I was doing. But now that I'm more comfortable as a teacher, I'm more comfortable with parents. Now, if parents ask if they can help, I always have some activities or work they can help me with. It makes my job easier when they help out, and it gives me more time to focus on kids."

Communication may take extra effort, but it is the key to developing healthy relationships with parents, says Michael Ellis, a member of United Teachers Los Angeles. He teaches in Crenshaw Charter High School's Gifted and Magnet Program, which serves low-income minority students in South Central Los Angeles.

He calls "every single parent of every single student within the first 60 days of school. I don't call them only to tell them their student is doing poorly; I call them just to stay in touch."

He laughs as he admits that his teenage students experience "shock and horror" when he visits their home and chats with their parents. But once they recover, they are inspired to work harder.

Ellis, an AP and honors history teacher, runs extracurricular programs such as the Model United Nations Program, which requires parent support to survive. Even though he teaches honor students, it takes a great deal of time and effort to forge partnerships with their parents. Once parents have buy-in, says Ellis, they become active partners in education.

"I have a fall kickoff and a potluck for the Model U.N. Program and invite parents," he says. "After the food, students do a PowerPoint presentation on what the program is all about. This has been very successful at getting parents involved in chaperoning overnight conferences and competitions where my students role-play that they are delegates from a particular U.N. country. Because of this, parents understand when their child needs more than a pencil, paper and binder for my class."

Communication takes extra time and effort, says Ellis, as well as patience and understanding. "But for me, it's really worth it to make the attempt. It's surprising how many parents respond once you reach out to them."

CTA ads encourage parent involvement

Students succeed when parents team up with teachers to make education a family commitment. That was the back-to-school message in CTA's statewide advertising campaign.

"The new school year is time to remember it takes families, teachers, and students working together as a team to ensure a child's success," says CTA President Barbara E. Kerr in one radio ad featuring parents and students talking about teacher dedication and how teamwork can help overcome problems like overcrowding.

In the spot, one parent says, "I don't know how teachers do their job without a team of the parent, the teacher and the child." Another parent talks about classrooms with 36 kids spreading teachers too thin. Yet another parent concludes, "You definitely need to have a team; it has to be the family, the student and the teacher."

The statewide print and radio ads are the just the latest in a series of annual back-to-school reminders that CTA has been producing for many years. In recognition of the fact that minority parents may need extra encouragement to participate in their children's education, this year's radio ads aired on more than 75 radio stations, many of them Spanish and Asian-language stations. Print ads appeared in approximately 50 ethnic newspapers, including African American, Latino, Native American, Chinese, Indian, Korean, Vietnamese, Filipino and Thai publications.

"El comienzo del ao escolar es un buen momento para recordar que la mejor oportunidad que tienen los nios de salir adelante nace de la colaboracin entre familias, maestros y estudiantes," CTA Vice President David A. Sanchez, who is bilingual, says in one spot airing on Spanish radio. "The beginning of the school year is a good time to remember that the best chance children have to succeed is when families, teachers and students work together."

The radio ads can be heard (and scripts can be viewed) in the "Family Involvement" section of the CTA website. The website also offers resources for families