Parents in the Driver’s Seat

With Back-to-School season in full swing (In some parts of the country, school has already started!), it’s a great time to keep in mind that—as important as schools are—they do not make as much difference in the educational development of children as families and communities do.

Most parents I talk to recognize this. They know that what they do with their children is very important. They know that schools can’t do it all themselves, and they seek out schools where parent involvement is high.

Research confirms parents play a leading role in their children’s education.

In a 2001 review of dozens of research studies on this topic, MIT economist Caroline Hoxby reported that the consensus view is that family factors account for about 90% of the education attainment of 30-year-olds, while school factors account for less than 10%.

The studies generally show that the parents’ education level is the single most important factor for predicting their children’s educational attainment. But what parents do with their children matters a great deal, too. 

Reviewing the research, Hoxby noted that “Family conduct variables that are statistically significant predictors of good student outcomes include owning an atlas, owning a dictionary, owning more than 50 books, having a computer for child’s use with homework, having attended a school event, parents’ checking that homework is done, parents’ planning course-taking with child, visiting the library, visiting science or history museums, parents’ knowing what courses child is taking, parents knowing how well child is doing in school, and parents knowing graduation requirements.”

Of course, these aren’t the only important things that parents do. This is a representative list of behaviors that researchers were able to measure.

The key point is that we parents need to be involved with our children’s education. What we parents do is more important than what we say. We need to demonstrate to our children that learning is important.

A key way we can do this is to never stop learning ourselves, whether we have Ph.D.s or whether we haven’t yet graduated from high school. We need to constantly ask questions of our children, ensure that our children do their homework, attend school events and take our children to interesting places that spark their curiosity.

GreatSchools offers some helpful tools for stimulating your thinking about how to be a great parent when it comes to your children's education. I suggest starting with our grade-by-grade newsletters that help you know what to expect in your child's development this year.

Welcome back to school, parents!

Comments

[Diana Bonate]

Another school year means another battle over classroom placement for our children. My children are fraternal boy/girl twins. Their individual academic needs have never be the issue in deciding what classroom they should have - the "twin" issue remains foremost. It is a disheartening struggle. As their mother I feel obligated to wage this battle for as long as they need me to. So here we are, another school year and another new school in order to meet our placement needs.
Parental involvement in such a basic yet critical decision - classroom placement - is not welcomed in my experience.