WHAT RESEARCH SAYS ABOUT PARENT INVOLVEMENT

IN CHILDREN’S EDUCATION

From the Michigan Department of Education

Where Children Spend Their Time

• School age children spend 70% of their waking hours (including weekends and holidays) outside of school.1

When Parents Should Get Involved

• The earlier in a child’s educational process parent involvement begins, the more powerful the effects.2
• The most effective forms of parent involvement are those, which engage parents in working directly with their children on learning activities at home.3
  

Impact

• 86% of the general public believes that support from parents is the most important way to improve the schools.4
• Lack of parental involvement is the biggest problem facing public schools.5 
• Decades of research show that when parents are involved students have6:
  

Higher grades, test scores, and graduation rates
Better school attendance
Increased motivation, better self-esteem
Lower rates of suspension
Decreased use of drugs and alcohol
Fewer instances of violent behavior

• Family participation in education was twice as predictive of students’ academic success as family socioeconomic status. Some of the more intensive programs had effects that were 10 times greater than other factors.7
• The more intensely parents are involved, the more beneficial the achievement effects.8 
• The more parents participate in schooling, in a sustained way, at every level -- in advocacy, decision-making and oversight roles, as fund-raisers and boosters, as volunteers and para-professionals, and as home teachers -- the better for student achievement.9