MY ACTION RESEARCH
QUESTION/STATEMENT
"What affect does a lack
of parental involvement have towards student achievement at the secondary
school level?”
RATIONALE AND/OR RELEVANCE FOR THIS RESEARCH
Exploring
various levels of parental involvement in secondary schools to increase student
achievement is an important topic to research because most parental involvement
typically takes a nosedive once students begin high school. According to research, the lack of
parental involvement is the biggest problem facing public schools today. Statistically, it has been surveyed that 86%
of the general public believes that support from parents is the most
important way to improve schools (Rose, Gallup and Elam, 1997). Decades of research by Parent Teacher
Associations show that when parents are involved students have:
·
Higher grades, test scores, and
graduation rates
·
Better school attendance
·
Increased motivation, better
self-esteem
·
Lower rates of suspension
·
Decreased use of drugs and alcohol,
and
·
Fewer instances of violent
behavior.
Joyce
Epstein of Johns Hopkins University has developed a framework for defining six
different types of parent involvement. This framework assists educators in
developing school and family partnership programs. Most students at all levels – elementary, middle, and high school –
want their families to be more knowledgeable partners about schooling and are
willing to take active roles in assisting communications between home and
school (Epstein, 1995, p. 703).
Do you plan on including an "at-home" component to your parent involvement research?
ReplyDeleteHi Lara,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. I am not going to include an "at home" component only because there are too many variables to consider as people have so many differences to their manner of parenting. Yet from the school's standpoint, the environment is more controlled and regulated by the state's rules and standards of conduct; therefore, I consider to study how many schools neglect making available opportunities to getting the parents involved as more of a win-win situation for my research.
This might sound like a weird question, but I was wondering if you would count grand parents who certain students live with into this equation. I wonder if that would make a difference. I think this will be a neat action research. The students in schools today have a variety of homes such as single parent, grandparents, foster parents, and so on. I know there could be a lot of variable to this topic.
ReplyDeleteGreat job with your action research plan! I truly enjoyed reading about your research into parental involvement, and its link to student achievement. Keep up the excellent and thorough work, and you'll be excited to see your research results!
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Dr. Abshire