The Importance of Parental Involvement

How does parental involvement affect the classroom and your child's learning?

    Parental Involvement is a difficult topic because not all parents can be involved in the same ways, but their involvement, in general, is what is important. As a teacher, I understand that all of my parents have different careers, home lives, and outside stressors that may cause them to be able to more involved in our classroom life or less involved. However, the concern is that you are involved in the ways that you can be. Now you may be asking why involvement is so important to your child's education. After all, it has often been thought that the teachers are the ones who should be involved when the children are at school, and the parents are involved outside of school hours. Research, however, shows that students who have involved parents are more likely to be successful in the classroom, and are more likely to have better social and life skills. In an article by Ashley Brooks, from Rasmussen University, she defines the aspects of the classroom that these students are more likely to be successful. These areas she states are "higher grades and test scores, attend school regularly, have better social skills, show improved behavior and adapt well to school"(Brooks, 2019). Some parents may stress when they read this because they are thinking about their current involvement and then will start to go to the extremes of how they can be involved when in reality there are three simple ways presented by Brooks. Those are to be present at school when

A parent in the classroom reading a book to a small 
group of children

possible, showing interest in kids' schoolwork, and keeping a positive attitude towards education (Brooks, 2019). The one area to focus on out of these three that some parents may worry about their abilities to do is being present at school when possible. There are many ways that you can be present at school both literally and metaphorically. Mary O'Keefe, a pre-k teacher at Hudson Falls Central School District states ways to be involved include, “Attending parent nights, conferences and open houses; chaperone field trips; volunteer in the classroom; or donate your time at home with materials and sending in needed supplies”. (Brooks, 2019). What we can see from these examples is that yes there are ways to be involved in the physical form, but also if you are constrained to a job that doesn't allow that you can always be involved in other ways that still help your child receive a quality education and classroom environment. All in all the research supports what has been advocated for years, especially recently after the COVID-19 pandemic, that parents need to be back in the classroom and schools to play an active role in their child's education alongside the support of the teachers. 

    As a teacher, I agree with the research. I have seen firsthand what the classroom environment is like when parents are involved and are willing to share their culture with the children. Children are excited to learn and have the willingness to learn about new topics, ideas, and cultures. In my classrooms, we have a variety of different backgrounds, cultures, languages, and many more customs that can be shared with the children to make a more well-rounded education. I believe that having the home-life merge and mesh with school life not only benefits the individual child but also the classroom culture as a whole. Having parents involved makes children in my classroom feel safe, included, and seen. It is my hope that as parents you understand that the teachers are not the only role models in the schools, it is you as the parent as well.