A Review of the Relationship between Parental Involvement and Secondary School Students' Academic Achievement

Abstract

This paper reviews the research literature on the relationship between parental involvement (PI) and academic achievement, with special focus on the secondary school (middle and high school) level. The results first present how individual PI variables correlate with academic achievement and then move to more complex analyses of multiple variables on the general construct described in the literature. Several PI variables with correlations to academic achievement show promise: (a) communication between children and parents about school activities and plans, (b) parents holding high expectations/aspirations for their children's schooling, and (c) parents employing an authoritative parenting style. We end the results section by discussing the findings in light of the limitations of nonexperimental research and the different effects of children's versus parents' perspectives on academic achievement.

Parental Involvement, Student Active Engagement and the ‘Secondary Slump’ Phenomenon—Evidence from a Three-Year Study in a Barbadian Secondary School

“…Across these studies, the Hedge's measure indicated that for overall academic achievement, the effect size for parental expectations was the largest among all the other variables (Hedge's g=.88). The remaining variables (i.e., parent-child communication, parents checking homework, and parental style) all showed medium effect sizes, Hedges' g=.32, .38, and .40 respectively, reinforcing the importance and positive effects of parent involvement in schools (Shute et al, 2011).…”

“…Secondly, perceived parental involvement was directly and negatively related to academic achievement for all grade levels. Thirdly, that perceived parental involvement predicted academic achievement and fourthly, that higher levels of perceived parental involvement were associated with lower levels of achievement, especially among the tenth graders (Shute, Hansen, Underwood, & Razzouk, 2011). Al-Alwan (2014) extended the parameters of the discourse to include a discussion of the relationship between parental involvement and motivational constructs such as school engagement, as measured by behavioural engagement, www.ccsenet.org/ies International Education Studies Vol.…”

Don’t aim too high for your kids: Parental overaspiration undermines students’ learning in mathematics.

“…Despite this conceptual difference, in the psychological literature, the constructs of parental aspiration and expectation have often been used interchangeably (Shute, Hansen, Underwood, & Razzouk, 2011;Trusty, 2002;Yamamoto & Holloway, 2010). In fact, some researchers regarded an aspiration item as an index of parental expectation (e.g., Juang & Silbereisen, 2002;Zhang et al, 2011).…”

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“…Many authors find a strong relationship between parental involvement (PI) and school achievement of children, arguing that it can remedy any negative effects from income (Jeynes, 2005;Bouchamma, Lapointe and Richard, 2007;Shute et al, 2011;Porumbu and Necşoi, 2013;Serbin, Stack and Kingdon, 2013). Singh et al (1995) distinguish between four groups of PI: parental aspiration, parent-child communication, home structure (such as discipline and rules), and parental involvement in school activities.…”

“…the support and help that parents provide to their children. Shute et al (2011) classify the activities related to PI into two categories: home activities (aspirations, discussions about school, reading at home, checking homework etc.) and school activities (parents' contacts with the school, participation at parent-teacher meetings, volunteering at school etc.).…”