Abstract
Everyone seems to agree about
the importance of parental involvement (PI) in children's education.
Two-way communication between families and schools is essential both
for schools (they gain better understanding of the child's needs and
secure parental assistance) and for parents (being more informed about
their child's progress at school promotes levels of PI that are even
more beneficial for children's education and personality development).
For a variety of reasons, however, many parents and teachers find themselves
unable to timely contact each other when they find a need.
This essay examines new telecommunication
technologies, such as voice-messaging system, e-mail, Internet and web
sites, and demonstrates their potential to support family-school connection.
I argue that effective classroom, school and school district web sites
have a positive impact not only on student learning, but also on PI,
and envision the future of PI, and web site and other telecommunication
technologies.
Introduction
The call for increased parental
involvement (PI) and statements about its importance have become clichés
in educational literature. For example, the former Secretary of Education
Richard W. Riley declared that "parents are the essential link
in improving American education, and schools simply have to do a better
job of reaching out to them" (cited in Moles, 2000, p. vii). Indeed,
a student's school and family are not isolated from one another; they
share the responsibility to educate students and prepare them for adulthood.
As a result, both parents and teachers are concerned about students'
academic attainment, which is an important factor of students' success
in the future.
The results of numerous studies
reveal that PI has a potential to improve student achievement and behavior
(Balli, Wedman & Demo, 1997; Bryan & Sullivan-Burnstein, 1998;
Callahan, Rademacher & Hildreth, 1998; Griffith, 1996; Portes, Zady
& Dunham 1998; Smock & McCormic, 1995). Many schools today,
however, lack parental support and participation. Various researchers
seem to agree that parents are supportive and engaged in their child's
schooling when two-way communication with teachers is established (e.g.,
Bauch, 1989; Taylor, 1999). However, as Jonson (1999) reports, many
parents do not communicate with their children's schools due to a vast
number of reasons. For example, some parents avoid communicating with
their child's school primarily because they do not feel comfortable
talking with teachers (e.g., ESL parents), do not think their concerns
will be heard and responded to promptly, or are burned out by their
work. The problem of establishing a link between families and schools
suggests that other approaches, including telecommunication technology,
should be also considered.
The purpose of this essay
is to examine new telecommunication technologies, like voice-messaging
system, e-mail, Internet and web sites, and to demonstrate their potential
to support family-school communication. I am aimed to show that classroom,
school and school district web sites have a positive impact not only
on student learning, but also on PI. If these sites contain appropriate
content (and this essay discusses some characteristics of effective
web sites), they attract parents. Consequently, parents will become
more informed about and involved in their child's education.
1. Parental involvement (PI) and its role
1.1 Defining the concept
of PI and its types
Even though the terms "family",
"school", "parents", "parental involvement"
and "school and family partnership" have been used for a very
long time, PI did not exist as a field of study before the 1960's. According
to Blanchard (1998), the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965
(ESEA), emphasizing that parents should become more engaged in their
children's education and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Section 402 concerning
the importance of family involvement in the education of disabled people,
launched the era of studies on PI. Since then, much research has been
done on PI. Educational literature defines the terms "parents",
"family", and "parental or family involvement" very
broadly. Generally speaking, the concept of PI implies that parents
participate in one or more school-related activities, such as attending
parent-teacher conferences, parents-teacher-association (PTA) meetings,
volunteering at school, assisting their child with homework, encouraging
the child to better attainment, and so on (Balli, Wedman, & Demo
1997). Changes in the structure of the American family suggest that
the term "parents" relates to parents, guardians, stepparents,
siblings, members of extended family, any other adults who might carry
the primary responsibilities for a child's health, development and education.
Therefore, all references to parents, family and their involvement are
applicable for all adults who play an important role in a child's home
life (Peressini, 1997).
In this paper, I use terms
"family" and "parents", "family involvement"
and "parental involvement" interchangeably and when referring
to parents who are involved in their children's education, I assume
that all three Grolinick & Slowiaczek's components of PI are present:
1) parents' behavior involvement (acting as a role-model for the child);
2) parent's personal involvement (engaging in the child's activities);
and 3) parents' intellectual involvement (being emotionally attached
to and concerned about the child) (cited in Xin Ma, 1999). Thus, even
those parents who do not participate in their children's schooling may
still be considered as caring parents.
