Correlations Between Student Academic Achievement and Parental Involvement - Statistics Project Example

RESEARCHING CORRELATIONS BETWEEN ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AND PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT Providing academic motivation to students and ensuring they stay motivated, can pose a great challenge to parents and teachers. In most cases, all school students are usually motivated with some lacking the type of motivation expected by their teachers or guardians. With this in mind, it becomes essential to understand that children motivation to ensure success achievement is sometimes exigent, pleasurable or even incredibly exasperating. Never the less, the teachers and parents are not expected to despair; instead, they need to remain extremely positive and always invent new methods of motivating the students. For a student, there are many distractions since they are undergoing growth and need to practice different ways of making decisions. These distractions can range from the need to join clubs to intramurals or even soccer. In my opinion, these are social practices necessary in schools but pose a great challenge when it comes to choosing perfect study habits and concentration for learning and achievement of success. From many researches done in the previous years, it is evident that involvement of parents is incredibly beneficial to the success of children and adolescents in both academic and general life learning. With an active family involved, the entire programs involved in early childhood, middle, elementary and even high schools are greatly enhanced, and their outcomes are considered more effective. Although most people relate this involvement with only academic success, the parent-child relation assists also in student attitude, sense of well being, grades, homework readiness, and educational aspirations. This relationship is essential to all students despite their level of study. Statistics have showed that a positive relationship between the parents and their children especially in high schools have caused a decline in the come to of school drop outs with variables like educational aspirations, school retention and homework being the indicators to motivation caused or expounded by parents. This research paper is aimed at providing various types of parental involvement in the academic success of their children, but with regard to other factors. Some of the motivational aspects that are associated to parental involvement are autonomy, school engagement, self-regulation, motivation to read, intrinsic /extrinsic motivation and mastery goal orientation. Student academic achievement can be impacted greatly by parenting practices. Their positive participation in all school activities can be used to predict the engagement in school. However, it is significant to comprehend that research proves that a great teacher-parent association resulted to more poor engagements in schools. This is because a relationship of teacher and a parent mostly is because of behavioral problems or other negativities associated with the children. In this case, the problem is not the detrimental contact, but because the association that is considered negative is in existence since the behavior, problems are primarily associated. For this reason, it is considered an advantage if schools focus majorly on fostering interactions considered constructive instead of keeping records of the tallied interactions. In so doing, parental involvement may foster a good or improved performance. This is not essential to only students in the elementary schools but also those in high schools. It is also essential to realize that ethnic backgrounds and diverse socioeconomic factors can affect the adaptation to schools based on parental involvement. Boosting an adolescent’s morale in their academic structure, not only involves their class work, but also other activities like watching them perform their best sport and attendance of the school planned parents-children programs, assisting during subject selection and ensuring continued follow-up of the child performance and involvement in other activities. Statistics have shown that those parents who continually follow all the proceedings of their children performance always have better average performance. This is because their continued involvement makes the students increase their concentration, elevated their efforts, and had increased attention based on the four area subject studies: math, science, social studies and English. Another factor that can foster academic prosperity based on the parent cha better performance. Behavioral supervision from the parents ensures child association is parenting style, where a more authoritative style ensures greater performance as long as the kids are allowed autonomy and democracy. A time for countless social, physical, cognitive and emotional changes is school. Academic achievement is hard to many children because of its complex school structure and the demand for learning. Learning students need parental involvement that acts as a propeller to push children ahead into their potentials. Parents can encourage successful school outcomes for children when they help them to build up helpful learning habits at home. High student achievement is the product of parental conversation with their children regarding academics and school experiences. Standardized test scores, grades, teacher ratings and a selection of other measures are all higher for students with parents who are aggressively concerned with their child’s education. They do so not considering race or social class. According to Harvard Family Research Project, demonstrative aspects of parental involvement for example parental attendance and implementing house rules and partaking in school functions have an effect on a student’s achievement less than parental style. Authoritarian, permissive authoritative and authoritative styles are three common parental styles that permit children to be independent while controls and limits to actions tend to bring into being high academic achievements cross-culturally. This is particularly true in authoritative fathers who are warm and responsible. In addition, academic outcome of children is largely affected by parental expectation of students’ achievement and clear communication. Current research by the National Education Longitudinal Study established that a child’s insight of parental expectation raises his personal expectation of academic achievement. The outcome was more time dedicated to study and upper the academic achievement in post-secondary and high school attainment. Secondary students attained more when they knew their parents were paying attention in their studies than what they expected. Learning and achievements of children can be supported by parents and help promote positive result in numerous ways. An enormous method to confer about school life and any probable educational pressure that a child may be undergoing, is during the parent-child family time. Discussing education planning, building relationships with their teachers’ early and encouraging children to do homework and reading, are some of the things the Harvard Family Research Project is recommending parent to do. In life, evaluation and assessment are things we have to deal with. For this reason, students need to appreciate when they are appraised or even measured up to others; be it in specific tests or even in classroom quizzes. It becomes a vital reconsideration in the application of technological, inventions and innovations in the motivation when it comes to learning of the latter. Take for instance, the Lincoln public schools; they are an ideal example when it comes to these particular aspects. The school, over the years, has introduced a much less teacher-oriented form of learning. It involves the use of current sites that address the needs that come along with studying and parental-student relationship. The method is facing unending popularity bearing the fact that; it brings about a new unfelt phenomenon that are less of developing threats to the students, hence motivating them to individually and from varied points of view; understand the principles of all subjects more naturally and most importantly with immense fun. Though not popular with everyone at the moment, if applied with a lot of influence, the use of such sites can make computers a motivational technique itself especially in this era of technological advancements. Although most learning happens in school, positive attitude to study begins at home. For instance, if a student’s family and the entire relatives’ fraternity value mathematics, the student will automatically want to enjoy the subject. This positivity at home provides enough motivation for the elementary student to study the subject and attain high grades. In addition to this phenomenon, most teachers have often claimed the importance of mathematics practice both in school and at home. It is essential to realize self-determination theory distinguishes motivation between varied types based on different goals and reasons: extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is described as the aspect of performing ideas with the hope of being appealing or pleasurable. This in most cases is aimed at ensuring acceptance in the social setting of a student. These are the aspects used in identifying ways of motivating students in elementary schools into studying. Extrinsic motivation involves working on ideas to achieve noticeable products. For instance, working hard with the help of the parents to prove the idea that special needs students are bound to fail false. In most cases, motivation based on interest among students comes to decrease developmentally despite the fact that learners have accomplishments, capability and alleged proficiency that maintain the need for studying. This has been a great motivational problem towards realization, skill, and aptitude of student learning. Actually, for students to feel motivated and hence experience success, they must feel comfortable with the entire subject, must receive challenges to achieving success and anticipate success prior to the progression of any subject motivation. This is achievable with all round assistance from the teachers, parents and even their fellow classmates. History has proven that motivational beliefs act as favorable contexts of learning and submit to the students’ points of view. Their opinions count on the effectiveness and efficiency of learning and a number of teaching methods. In the attempt to explain about motivational beliefs, a number of individuals have explained its reference to judgments, beliefs, and values that may involve events, objects, or even subject matters domain (Ford, 2006). For instance, a class may contain a student who does not understand the importance of doing homework while others may have the interest of doing it with the belief that it is better practicing mathematics at home. Divided into two parts, outcome expectations and self-efficacy, motivation is like an inner control. The first part, self-efficacy, beliefs, can be identified as those beliefs that hold students ability by themselves and are related to specific domains. A good example is the belief that one can do a certain type of mathematics. It is therefore vital to maintain the relation by reconstructing in students by creating a learning environment or situation, where they can eventually achieve success by experiencing it, in a bid to get a good performance in the classroom (Moses, 2010). It is never the less significant that a situation of correct solutions not be accorded to them. They actually need to grasp the reasons behind the plan and what they are expected to put effort into for their ultimate ability In cases of non-interest in feedback, oriented process is actually a result of students that have lacked the establishment of favorably motivational beliefs. It brings about the notion that students actually care less on the expected methodology in a particular problem; there interest is based on nothing much than the learning of whether an answer is actually correct or wrong. This uncouth behavior should be shunned with the necessary need to remind students on the need to maintain the expected format in handling the latter. This is because, a process that entails orientation in feedback actually accords the students the necessary notion as well as feeling that will eventually promote the progress whilst stimulating them to develop while paying reference to their achievements altogether (Hunter, 2006). Apparently, students can get motivated in various ways. Assessment is among the key points in improving a student motivation level. Its inclusive of students understanding behind their students learning hence improving the ultimate students achievement as well as motivation. These results into a feeling of control that increases intrinsic motivation levels resulting on improved success, motivation nonetheless. Moreover, teachers are offered the chance to promote students’ success by supervising the assessment and application of improved communication qualities (Ford, 2006). Useful assessments, provision of ample instructions by a teacher results to the zeal behind a students’ success in a second chance demonstration and actually leads to improved learning. Again, a self-paced program, that considers the diverse dimensions of parent engagement and motivation determine the outcomes of students. This is achieved by the use of a goal framework on the influence of social, home and school environment as well as classrooms; improving the students achievements and motivation altogether. Evidence reflects on secondary and elementary possessing positive learning and motivation patterns when setting is considered. Evidently, the answer cannot be directional (yes or no) but actually depends on the general point of view on the cases at stake. This may mean in one way or the other that a good students achievements is not determined by the motivation in a student, but by the motivation provided by those in the surrounding. It actually depends on a range of things; the effect on student achievement on actual motivation, affects on the very students motivation, and finally, the enhancement and existence of the very motivation. Many individuals argue out that poor teaching skills destroy motivation; while quality teaching results to excellent students of all ages. Never the less, it is still strongly logic to argue out that recommendable achievements by students are actually determined by their motivation level all the same. Work cited Daniel, Henry. Motivation for learning. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2006. Read More