Introduction
Education is a very crucial topic when it comes to ensuring proper learning and the improvement of methods of learning. Significantly, Educational enhancements over the years include a set of various researches that seek to find better ways of learning. There have been various studies on human psychology and on concepts of education whose aim is to understand aspects of education. Additionally, as concerns education among students, there is more than just teaching and classwork. In the real sense, students learn more through interactions with their environments than the students do in class. Arguably, the process of learning is a long one and involves various stakeholders. For instance, for the realization of better learning to occur, there is a need to ensure that parents’ involvement happens. This involvement is the incorporation of parents and even guardians in learning through activities and the provision of information. Most of this information is concerning the children and their performance in school. With such involvement, a lot of goals in education can be realized appropriately.
Literature review
Significantly, parental involvement has, for a long time, been a subject of discussion as to whether parental involvement is essential. Most of the educational programs involve the focus on education in the confines of the wall. This method is only conventional in terms of how different schools understand learning. Arguably, it’s agreeable that learning takes place as much outside school as it takes place in class (Benner et al., 2016). The challenges that face education are mainly based on the enhancement of methods.
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In essence, parental involvement is one of the trends in education. This trend involves parents in activities that happen in school. However, more events occur outside of school. For instance, some educationists prefer that parents are given information that helps them to understand how the learning process works. Intellectual capacitation is essential as the parents can understand and even be part of what the students are learning (Benner et al., 2016). Arguably, by following what their children learn, parents become able to help their children with understanding.
Most of the time, there is also a need to provide information to parents on matters of school and the events or activities. This information is passed to parents inform of school letters and teachers comments. Mostly, school letters explain to parents what is happening at school. In most cases, the messages are to notify parents of upcoming events which include general meetings and even sports event. In the real sense, it’s essential to understand that school letters are crucial to keeping in touch with performance (Ule et al., 2015). Arguably, a teacher may pass the information on a Childs behavioural change to parents. The parent can understand the challenges of the student. The possibility of correcting cases such as truancy, aggression through bullying or even cases of depression is therefore high.
Additionally, parental involvement also happens through parents actives in school. These activities that are mainly for parents could help the parents to interact among themselves. Through this creation of bond, ideas are exchanged among parents and also teachers. Planning these activities is also an excellent way to understand the issues that parents face. Problems such as relationship squabbles are detrimental to the performance of the students socially and even emotionally. The essence of these endeavours is to ensure that safer environments are created for the sake of better educational success. Additionally, it’s very significant to reconcile the learning environment to all the key stakeholders.
Significantly, in 2016, the number of parents reported to have been attending events in American schools showed a difference in wealth. For instance, a total percentage of 62 was said to be from low-income families (Muller & Kerbow, 2018). On the other hand, 93% were from wealthy families. This information is crucial as it shows the differences because of education. Arguably, it’s apparent that most parents from low-income families would avoid events in school in connection with the challenges that they face at home. The fear to expose themselves and their children to societal ridicule may be the issue. However, on another end, the initiative is a good one as parents can resolve their emotional and mental crises to allow children to learn better.
In America, the creation of parental information resource centres is very crucial. This program is enabled by legislation to improve education. In such a case, the parent’s involvement is to ensure that there is an intentional effort. The aim is to ensure that children that are graded as in need of improvement acquire help. Such policies are essential not only for individual children but also for children regarded as slow (Ule et al., 2015). Essentially, slow students need their parents to show them that their efforts are critical and that their learning habits need to improve.
One of the theories that support educational, parental involvement is the cognitive development theory. Primarily, this theory emphasizes that there are various stages of development of children. Despite its unique focus on children rather than learners, the approach is crucial. A human being develops in stages which include the operational and even the formal and logical step (Ule et al., 2015). It’s vital to understand that as children grow, they build cognit0ion based on what and who is around them. Children in their earlier stages may seek the attention of their mothers by doing what seems to attract attention to them.
Similarly, parents are crucial to the development of cognition. Adequately, families play a significant role in the imparting of knowledge. Mainly, even in the formal stage, logical thinking happens, and the purpose of the family is to guide understanding and to improve the experience.
On the other hand, the ecological systems theory is a critical way to address the parental involvement subject. Significantly, this theory cites various ways in which environments contribute to the knowledge of a child (Benner et al., 2016). Apart from the place of families, the approach adds that other agents such as the media are contributors. The theory supports various factors such as learning at home. In this case, if the parents are provided with enough information, they can learn and help the students to learn.
Additionally, the theory posits that the availability of communication is a crucial factor in education of a child. In essence, there is communication between parents and teachers. This communication creates knowledge of the abilities and rate at which a child develops cognitively (Castro et al., 2015). Additionally, the theory suggests that children may be able to improve decision making through parental involvement. Since children also learn from observation, parent leadership in institutions brings forth the idea of decision making. Children see the place of parents in arrangements such as parents-teachers Associations as the representation of decision making.
Significantly, there is a need to ensure that parents and teachers work in coordination to ensure that there is a proper improvement in education. Moreover, interactionists such as Jean Piaget see parents as the centre of the child’s learning. The use of families to go beyond just life skills is essential. In this case, families may contribute directly to the development of education by helping in decision making. For instance, after the assessment and determination of children’s abilities, the parents may take the initiative to design appropriate methods to enhance learning for the child.
Research Design
The research design involves a myriad of methods that one may decide to use in the finding and analysis of crucial information. Significantly, models include types as well as the subtypes, which all describe the method that one may need to use (Yin, 2017). Arguably, research design depends on what the researcher intends to address in their research. The kind of information that one needs to acquire is also a determining factor. Therefore, before the decision on the research design, the purpose of the study must be clear.
In this case, parental involvement is a vast topic of study based on the various intrigues of education. In this study, one may decide to use two designs. These designs include a descriptive design and review design. In the descriptive design, the information collected is through mostly observatory skills (Patten et al., 2017). Significantly, the use of both observation and case study ma[y work best in this design. Observation is crucial in collecting descriptive data for instance, what parents are doing for their children in various situations.
On the other hand, one may want to take a few cases and use them to deduce a general view. A case study involves, in this case, children who perform well and a group of others that do not — also, the comparison of cases, such as low-income families and more affluent families. The information of interest in these cases is their involvement in the children’s institutions. The case study subtype in the descriptive design is very crucial. Through a case study, it’s easy for one to understand the effects of parental involvement in the education of the students.
Primarily, another essential design is reviewing. The literature review is a crucial sub type pin this research design. The use of other researches and written analyses is an integral part of the study. The literature review helps the researcher to understand the view and approaches of other writers (Yin, 2017). The theories such as cognitive development by Piaget may be crucial sources for analysis. The design enables the researcher to have various logics to form an argument.
Educational measurement
Educational measurement and also the evolution of students are crucial components of education. The analysis involves the use of assessment tests to be able to grade the abilities of a child. The interest lies in finding out the unique skills of the child and their intelligence. Additionally, it’s essential to understand how much the student can know.
Measurement in education is essential as one can quantify the ability of students in the appropriate way. Quantification is based on marks or grades or even percentages which identifies the knowledge level of the students (Benner et al., 2016). Discovering of bits of intelligence is vital for learners. Bits of Intelligence point out what the student is best. These include the ability to deal with logical expression or the ability to read or create good speeches. These abilities may help improve the quality of education. Mostly, the focus as a result of the discovery of bits of intelligence must be on how to ease learning by focusing on the areas one is good at.
These bits of intelligence are only discoverable as a result of educational measurement. The students are taken through a series of tests. Mostly, the tests are ran0dom while others are organized and well planned. However, educationists argue that the use of tests and examination is detrimental to the excellent quality of education. The argument is that examinations may fail to assess the actual ability of a student. The abstractness of the exams eliminates logical and5 critical thinking that a practical assessment may exhibit. Therefore, the method of measurement is highly relevant in the analysis of the ability of a student. Additionally, the educational measurement may be both positive and negative.
Summary
Essentially, education creates a good base of knowledge and is a continuous process in learning. Being formal or informal, the setup is an important aspect. The coordination of the methods of education is also very significant. Also, the involvement of parents is crucial in ensuring that there is a collective responsibility (Ule et al., 2015). It’s important to consider that parents need to be actively absorbed into the learning process.
Essentially, the family is the first unit of socialization for children. There are various mechanisms that parents use to accomplish the goal of socializing children. For instance, through observation, the children may learn skills from their parents. Additionally, through reinforcements such as grounding and punishments, the children become more knowledgeable. In the same way, parent involvement helps to reinforce the mechanisms of teachers. The parents being closer to the students can work on the behaviour of the children and als5o the ability to understand what they are taught by practising with them.
In conclusion, parental involvement is a crucial way to deal with various problems in school. The issues may range from the use of drugs, behaviour change, inability to comprehend, special needs as well as truancy. Sometimes the challenges come as a result of the behaviour of the parents. Also, the relationship at the family level may be detrimental. Therefore, involving parents through activities and discussions is essential in helping to eliminate the effects of a parent caused problems. For instance, parents can understand that constant disagreements and chaos affect the performance of their children. Information such as this one can be easily acquired through a well thought out research design.
References
Benner, A. D., Boyle, A. E., & Sadler, S. (2016). Parental involvement and adolescents’ educational success: The roles of prior achievement and socioeconomic status. Journal of youth and adolescence , 45 (6), 1053-1064.
Castro, M., Expósito-Casas, E., López-Martín, E., Lizasoain, L., Navarro-Asencio, E., & Gaviria, J. L. (2015). Parental involvement on student academic achievement: A meta-analysis. Educational research review , 14 , 33-46.
Muller, C., & Kerbow, D. (2018). Parent involvement in the home, school, and community. In Parents, their children, and schools (pp. 13-42). Routledge.
Patten, M. L., & Newhart, M. (2017). Understanding research methods: An overview of the essentials . Routledge.
Ule, M., Živoder, A., & du Bois-Reymond, M. (2015). ‘Simply the best for my children’: patterns of parental involvement in education. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education , 28 (3), 329-348.
Yin, R. K. (2017). Case study research and applications: Design and methods . Sage publications.
