Parent Involvement: The Key to Student Success

The increasing high failure and dropout rate amongst students of varied backgrounds has unfortunately become a consistent pattern that has entrenched itself in education. By teaching sophomores I have noticed that one of the concerns in this at-risk demographic group is that some of them struggle with identity during this in-between stage of their high school years. They lack a sense of where they belong, a perceived dwindling support system, as well as the continued difficulty adjusting to the pace and workload needed to graduate. Motivating factors are often not identified or utilized leading them to detrimental results. A common result of this is apathy, continued failure, and the most unfortunate side effect of dropping out. My research looks to identify strategies and activities that will increase parental involvement which will lead to a decrease in academic failures for the at-risk student.  

Supporting the need for an action research on this topic is evident based on empirical data on failure and dropout/retention rates within the sophomore class "at risk" populace. A research of the past three sophomore classes based on the "at-risk" demographic population from my high schools AEIS report gives a baseline of data from which to move forward on improving the success rate of students. I then identified at-risk population on my TAC (Teacher Access Center) role for the incoming sophomore class and Schoolnet which is our districts site that provides student data that can be disaggregated based on every AEIS category. I interviewed the individual students in all my World History classes that were identified as falling within the requirements of my research.  Next action of my research was to distribute questionnaires addressing school policy, instruction, homework, activities, discipline, parent involvement, and teacher communication, to parents and relevant teachers of the students on my roster identified under any of the “at-risk” demographics. Of the remaining actions is to research assessment data from unit tests as well as grade checks quarterly to keep track of student success or lack thereof. Throughout the process is to continually research and implement best practices for effective parental involvement strategies to improve at risk passing and graduation rates.

My objective is to determine the factors that encourage/discourage parental involvement and the affect they have on pass/fail rates for students who are classified under any demographically at risk category. Identify the programs that are most likely to succeed in increasing parental involvement and student success on our campus.

I had no doubt as to the topic of my research since this has been an issue that is at the forefront of discussion during faculty meetings and the driving force behind weekly PLC’s.  My beliefs were corroborated during my initial conference with my site supervisor. They were not only positive but supportive as we constructively examined my proposed action research plan.  By actively involving my site supervisor in the process since the development I received support with each action step in addition to ideas of how to accomplish them individually.  He helped me identify alternative resources that would better suit my research needs as well as those that would be more readily available. It’s evident that our school is at an impasse on how to positively impact the at-risk demographic population. Even though there may not be one clear cut way my research will attempt to reveal the effect that parent involvement will have on the student’s achievement. The only revision suggested was to amend an action step to include the intended process of increasing parent involvement, communication, and participation through a class website and student on-line portfolio.   

       

Once my topic was identified and approved articulating my vision will be relatively easy considering that this is a topic I am passionate about. Initial communication as stated in the needs assessment will come through interviews and questionnaires. Communicating, articulating, and refining my vision with all stakeholders is then continued through utilizing the blog created for my project as well as a new and innovative educational site Edmodo. Each site has become more and more prevalent in educational leadership not only because our society is adapting to the age of technology, but it provides two-way communication for professionals who are constantly being pulled in several directions. Both the blog and Edmodo provide convenience in the decision-making process, an avenue to reflect, which helps evaluate the decisions and sustains the learning that occurred, and a forum to share my findings with any stakeholders who are also in the business of improving student achievement. 

     

Given that this project did not require many resources other than time to develop a questionnaire, interviews, and research all organization was established during the initial outline for my plan of action. This topic which will look to improve the success of students that are considered to be at risk has at its foundation a priority on student learning. In regards to their safety the identity of each student is kept anonymous unless otherwise given permission.

Lastly in regards to Managing Operations and Responding to Community Interest and Needs these are processes where additional data is being collected and will be analyzed and submitted later.

Catsambis, S., Garland, J.E., (1997). Parental involvement in students education during middle school and high school. Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed At Risk (CRESPAR). Report number 18.

Cavazos, J., Braley, R., Slate, J.R. (2008). Parental involvement and perceived at risk student performance: views from predominantly Hispanic parents. International Journal of Educational Leadership Preparation, 3.

Davis, D. (2000). Supporting parent, family, and community involvement in your school. Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education.

Innerebner, A.M. (2010). Characteristics of effective parental involvement in middle school education and recommendations for increasing parental involvement. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of master of arts in education, Northern Michigan University.

Mulkana, A.J., Hopper, P.G. PhD., Jayroe, T. PhD. (2010). School success for at risk students. Schooling, 1.

Vandergrift, J.A., Greene, A.L. (1992). Rethinking parent involvement. Educational Leadership, Building a community for learning, 50, 57-59.