Parental involvement is one of the core components that have been shown to provide a healthy and positive effect on the academic achievement levels of children in grades K-12. The results have been almost unanimous among a variety of studies demonstrating improved grades and exam scores, high attendance and graduation rates, and advanced behavioral skills among students whose parents play a proactive role in their child’s study habits. It’s a simple fact that the more a parent is involved in the academic progress of a student, the better that student will perform in school.

Unfortunately, not every child is equipped with this helpful support system to ensure their success. This is why it’s critical that schools enact some form of involvement program to get parents engaged in their child’s education and promote active participation in any capacity. Encouragement can come in many forms and leading experts in the field of education have defined the most common and effective methods of involvement can take place both outside of the classroom and within the confines of campus.

Parenting at home has proven to show some of the most significant impacts on a child’s achievement as reading to the child and assisting with homework have both shown to be impactful and productive. Parents who maintain routine communication with teachers and administrators have also proven influential in the performance of their children along with parents who volunteer in and around the school. However, school meetings and parent-teacher conferences are still the most popular and best attended method for parental involvement. A 2007 study found that 78% of parents surveyed participated in a parent-teacher conference and 74% showed up to a class or school function. The same survey determined that parental involvement was greater with children in grades K-8 than it was with students in high school.

The Latino Family Literacy Project provides training for award-winning parent involvement programs. The focus is for both students and parents to engage in family reading to increase bilingual literacy skills. The program uses multicultural bilingual books written in both English and Spanish from award-winning publisher Lectura Books. Here is a testimonial video a school that has implemented this program and talk about the success they’ve had.

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The post How Does Parent Involvement Affect Student Achievement? appeared first on The Latino Family Literacy Project.

There is little debate that a parent’s engagement in a child’s learning is highly beneficial. A number of studies have shown the extent of the positive impacts that healthy parental involvement can provide with marked improvements in attendance, behavioral patterns, and social skills, as well as better grades and test scores, resulting in higher graduation rates. But distinguishing the type of relationship that provides the most benefit can be a bit more difficult to fully ascertain, as the term “parental involvement” can have many different meanings and applications for a student’s progress. For most parents, attending parent/teacher meetings is the most common method of demonstrating some form of involvement in their child’s learning, but there must be a nurturing alliance between parents and educators as both parties work in concert for the positive outcomes of the child. This can be found in a number of collaborative strategies that include volunteering, routine avenues of communication, and a shared effort for decision-making so that all stakeholders have equal input in school policy and educational content. This helps to foster stronger bonds with the child at both school and home between all concerned parties to help improve learning. Teachers work with students during the day to impart curriculum and parents continue the successful achievement of students by taking an interest in their studies, assisting them with homework and ensuring that all such work is finished and ready for the next day’s classes.

Lectura Books offers award-winning bilingual books that are a great tool for English Language Learners. The books are written in both English and Spanish and focus on important vocabulary. This will help ELL students succeed with language acquisition no matter what grade level.

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Family literacy means parents and their children learning together. Developing family literacy is one of our most important educational goals. When we attain family literacy, we help ensure the academic achievement of our children. We learned so much during COVID-19 school closures about what is needed to support families at home!

To start with, these three factors need to interact to attain family literacy goals:
1) the educational level of parents
2) parent involvement
3) the academic success of their children

Each area depends on the other two in order to achieve effective results. Improving family literacy means focusing on working with parents to teach them how to help their children learn. This is one way to improve the educational level of the parents while involving them in their children’s school. As parents begin to work with their children, they may begin to see an improvement in the achievement levels of their children.

The very essence of family literacy is to bring the parents and children together in the school setting. That’s why we aim to include the following four best practices in our approach to family literacy:

• Provide a set of stimulating interactive activities for parents and children
• Train parents in reading and English-language development so they can be active partners in their children’s learning
• Demonstrate to parents the strong connection between literacy and school success for their children
• Use culturally appropriate reading materials for children

These four core components are the basis of our best practices model that leads to success in family literacy. Best practices are those actions proven to lead to reliable results.

When The Latino Family Literacy Project presents its webinar training, it does so with the idea of having these best practices as the core components. We make the family the center of the work. From that center, we build concentric circles of knowledge and influences.

Everything flows from the home and then to parent involvement in the school, which includes language development, socioeconomic influences, and the community. The final outermost circle represents the world beyond school.

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