Parents and schools: the involvement, participation, and expectations of parents in the education of their children

• Published in: Education quarterly review Vol. 5; no. 4; p. 61
• Main Author: Norris, Christina M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ottawa Statistics Canada 01.07.1999
• Subjects: Academic achievement; Parent participation; Parent school relationship; Predictions
• ISSN: 1195-2261

In the NLSCY, questions about parental involvement are asked of teachers, of parents of children aged 4-11 who attended school in 1994-95, and of children aged 10-11. Principals are also asked to report on the general involvement of all parents in the school. Questions are asked about behavioural and attitudinal factors of parent involvement taking place in both the school and the home. Many of the NLSCY questions about parent involvement reflect the wide range of measures of involvement as described previously (see box below). The initial findings from these measures are described in order to highlight the broad variety of questions found on the NLSCY regarding parental involvement. Four parental involvement measures were used (see box below) to examine various socio-demographic variables (two parent-rated and two teacher-rated measures). The teacher-rated measure on contact with the parent and both parent-rated items were included because they measure clear and well-defined parental involvement behaviours. The teacher overall rating of involvement was included in order to provide a global assessment of involvement. The intention of presenting these items was not to compare differences in the perceptions of parental involvement by teachers vs. parents, as the four involvement items measure very different aspects of parental involvement. Therefore, differences in the manner in which parents and teachers rate involvement may be attributed to the fact that these items measure different kinds of involvement. Two parent and two teacher measures are presented to look at the pattern of response for these questions by various sociodemographic variables. Since parental involvement in education is a complex, mufti-dimensional construct, a scale for parental involvement in education could be developed in the future, using existing NLSCY items. Examining the reliability and validity of the scale would demonstrate whether or not the NLSCY adequately measures parental involvement in education, and the scale could provide a global picture of parental involvement to be used in further research. As well, if the scale does not adequately measure parental involvement, subsequent cycles of the NLSCY could include new measures of parental involvement in education. The relationship between parental involvement and academic achievement could be examined using the NLSCY parent involvement measures and the standardized achievement tests. The impact of parental involvement in education on various child outcomes could then be followed longitudinally.