How can we know if a child will succeed in school? One of the most accurate predictors of a student’s success is how involved his family is in his education.
As a parent, I know I have struggled with what the phrase “family involvement” in education really means. Does involved mean a helicopter parent or tiger parent or neither?
Fortunately, researchers have been asking the same question and have identified three characteristics of families that enable children to succeed:
- A home environment that encourages learning,
- High, yet reasonable, expectations for children’s achievement and futures, and
- Involvement in their children’s school and community.
As an educator, I need to understand why it is important to place building family involvement at the top of my priority list. As it turns out, what is good for the family is good for the classroom.
Students who have engaged parents:
- Achieve more regardless of socio-economic status or ethnic/racial background
- Score higher on tests and have higher grades
- Graduate at higher rates and enroll in post-secondary education at higher rates
This puts building family engagement in education at the top of the my agenda both personally and professionally.
