Are Students in an Urban Setting More Effective and Successful if Parents are involved in their Education?
Student’s Name
Institution
Abstract
Learning refers to the process by which people acquire process and retain information, which is used to make decisions in the course of life. It also refers to stimulation that causes the brain to grow in a given direction. Children are actively in the process of acquiring and retaining information through growth, with the most active learning period occurring during their first five years of life. Over this period, they feed their curiosity through visual, listening and hands-on activities such as touching and moving things. Over the entire learning process, it is important for a parent and caregivers to provide the information that a child needs, or provide a challenge to stimulate the brain. It is also important for parents, caregivers and teachers to identify children’s strengths and utilize them to make the children’s learning experience more fruitful. Children’s achievement is quantified by test scores, grades, and promotion among others. Children who attain high test scores is more successful that those who achieve lower scores. US education policy promotes equal access of education to all children . It is also focused on maximizing the malleability and the receptive nature of children’s brains during their development. The participation of urban parents in their children’s education makes them more effective and successful. Despite various benefits that accrue from parent’s involvement and presence in children’s education, some parents, especially in urban areas, may find it hard to do it. Urban parent’s participation in their children’s education has many benefits which include improved test scores, reduced absenteeism and improved attitude among others.
Contents
1. INTRODUCTION 5
1.1 Background Information 5
1.2. Problem Statement 7
1.3. Aim 9
1.4. Research Questions 9
2. LITERATURE REVIEW 10
2.1. Introduction 10
2.2. How Children Learn in Regard to various Educational Policies and Practices (US) 10
2.3. Differences in Urban and Rural Settings in Regard to Parent’s Involvement in their Children’s Education 16
2.4. The Need for Parents’ Involvement their Children’s Education 18
2.5. Are Students in Urban Settings more Effective and Successful in School if Parents are involved and Present in their Education? 21
2.6. Synthesis and Conclusion 23
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 24
4: DISCUSSION/APPLICATION 28
5. CONCLUSION 31
6. References……………………………………………………………………………………..33
Are Students in an Urban Setting More Effective and Successful if Parents are involved in their Education?
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background Information
Learning refers to the process, by which people obtain process and retain information, which is used to make decisions in the course of life (Boaler, 2008). Children are in the process of acquiring and retaining information in their actively growing brains, with the most active learning period for children being their first five years, which is when the child’s brains is most receptive. As a result, they nourish their curiosity through seeing, hearing and hands-on activities such as touching and moving things. Over the entire learning process, it is important for a parent and/or a caregiver to provide the information that a child needs, or provide a challenge that will enable a child to gain such information. Additionally, it is important for a parent, a caregiver and/or a teacher to identify a child’s strength and utilize it to make a child’s learning experiment better, which helps a child to achieve more. A child’s achievement in school is quantified by test scores, grades, and grade promotion among others. Children who attain high test scores are more successful that their low-scoring peers.
Every child has strengths and weaknesses when it comes to learning. Some learn better through listening, a mode of learning suited to the traditional classroom. Such children can be very effective in reproducing what is taught at school. At home, these could be the easiest to teach. A classroom setting involving these children requires many discussions. Other children learn through using their senses and through engaging in learning activities. Teachers and parents can help such children through formulating learning projects for effective learning. Activities such as drawing can also help these children. There is also a group of learners that learn best through physical activities. These children are said to learn kinesthetically and may find it hard to sit and concentrate for long periods of time. In addition to demonstration, these children prefer to participate in activities themselves. A large number of children are visual learners and compliment this with listening activities. This group learns visually and processes the teacher’s body language as well as the facial expression. They also benefit from illustrations accompanied by explanations. These learners are imaginative and have an advanced ability to think graphically. They prefer a quiet learning space devoid of movement. After learning to write, this group of learners benefits from reading to improve and refresh their memories.
The US education policy supports accessibility to all children and is dominated by public institutions. However, a small proportion of the population is served by private institutions that are run by individuals or are affiliated with churches. In particular, K-12 education is dominated by public institutions with very little involvement from private institutions (Mccune, 2008). The system is generally not dynamic and much emphasis is laid on accessibility to all. Individual interaction between children and teachers may be minimal or may not happen at all, which leaves a great need for parents/guardians to interact with their children to cater for specific needs of each student. For this reason, the interaction between parents and their children plays a pivotal role in the learning process.
Parental participation in children’s learning is very important and contributes to the success of children. Due to various conditions in parents’ lives, understanding of their roles as well as their attitude towards children’s education, parental participation in children’s education always varies in various places. The level of involvement in children’s education may vary according to factors such as geographical location, parents’ education, occupation, and the general parents’ attitude among others. The changing family dynamics and sharing out of roles have also complicated the issue of bringing up children. More children than ever are growing up in single-parent households. In other instance, the issue of child’s responsibility leaves gaps on which parent takes care of children. This may have varying effects on the children’s success.
1.2. Problem Statement
Separate studies have been done regarding aspects such as how children learn. These papers detail the processes through which children acquire process and store information in their brain, which is used in making decisions later on in life. This information also spurs children’s curiosity and fosters mental development which is important for their general intelligence. On the other hand, separate research work has been done detailing and describing the educational policy in the US as well as how this is translated into educational practices throughout the country. Advantages as well as shortfalls of these policies and their implications have also been adequately described. Furthermore, parental involvement in children’s education has also been described as well as the benefits of engaging actively in their children’s education. However, the effects of urban parents’ involvement on their children’s education and its effects have not been adequately described. Additionally, there has not been a comprehensive comparison and integration of all the information obtained through the papers described above relating to involvement of urban parent’s and their presence in their children’s education and its effects to the outcomes.
It is important to note that students and parents in the urban setting face a unique set of challenges, different from those faced by parents in the rural areas. Involvement of parents in students’ education has various effects and there is a need to find out the specific effects of urban parent’s involvement in their children’s education. In regards to live stages, children are the most actively growing group. This rapid growth occurs physically, emotionally and psychologically and is accompanied by an increase in complexity of brain in which new functions and abilities are acquired. As a result, child growth is accompanied by the most rigorous learning to take advantage of children’s very receptive and malleable brains. As a result, most of the teaching is designed to take place throughout this time period from early childhood through to teenage to adulthood. Additionally, children also have a remarkable ability to learn independently from their environment through what they observe in the human as well as physical environment and have a unique way of processing it and interpreting into their knowledge. This also play a crucial part in children’s intelligence. With this knowledge, education policies which inform practices adopted in schools for learning and teaching are adopted. Although the role of parents is not usually outlined in government educational policies for schools, they form an important part of children’s education through the fact that they are the core part of their children’s human environment during growth. Additionally, parents make deliberate efforts to teach their children the skills that they think are most important for children’s growth. Delivery of education to children varies according to environment as educational policy and practice may vary from one place to the other. Additionally, parental contribution to learning varies from one parent to the other due to their varying ability and understanding of education. This paper seeks to determine whether students in the urban setting are more effective and successful in school if parents are involved and present in their education, in light of how children learn, educational policy and practice.
1.3. Aim
This paper will seek to determine whether urban parents’ presence and involvement in students’ education make the students more effective and successful. In order to achieve this objective, various theories and information regarding how children learn will be discussed in order to find out what is known regarding how children learn. Additionally, specific conditions that parents in the urban setting face and which make their involvement in their children’s’ education significantly different from those of their rural counterparts will be appraised. This will be done by assuming there is difference in parents in the urban settings and those in the rural settings. Additionally, parents’ presence and involvement in children’s education will be discussed, including the concept of students becoming more effective and successful in school. Educational policy of the US government and how it affects the practice of teaching as well as parents’ involvement in children’s education will be discussed. This is important as education is funded and regulated by the government. The government policy forms the basis of delivery of education to children and may have indirect effects to the extent in which parents participate in education. It may also influence the effectiveness and success of children in education.
1.4. Research Questions
Research questions will be used to direct the search for information, such that the information required to achieve the aim of this research is obtained. Therefore, the research questions will be the breakdown of the paper’s aim such that all the information needed to draw a conclusion that effectively responds the paper’s aim is obtained. This information will be obtained through a literature search in published materials that have been complied about the subject matter.
1. How do children learn in regards to various educational policies and practices?
2. What are the differences that exist in the urban and the rural setting in regards to parental involvement in their children’s education?
3. What is the role of parents involvement their children’s education
4. Are students in an urban setting more effective and successful in school if parents are involved and present in their education?
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Introduction
This section will focus on reviewing other materials that have been compiled concerning the subject of this research. Materials that will be researched into include books, scholarly articles and even Internet resources that have been compiled by specialists and scholar concerning this field. The review will seek to examine what these authors said about the subject matter and synthesize it in regard to the research questions. Important information raised as well as the gaps left by authors of these materials will be described. Additionally, areas of controversy that these materials could have will also be highlighted as well as the questions they pose for the reader. The researcher will seek for answers posed by these researchers from other pieces of literature.
2.2. How Children Learn in Regard to various Educational Policies and Practices (US)
Sinnott (2003) researched on the effects of the family and the society on the learning of the children. He found out that children from areas affected by extreme poverty in poor neighborhoods performed poorly compared to children from well up neighborhoods. He also found out that children whose parents were unemployed or chronically ill were at a higher risk of dropping out of school and risk of performing poorly in class. Such children were also more likely to be punished for misbehavior.
Friedman and Mandelbaum (2012) talk about how the US has strayed from a developmental path it set centuries ago. Although the book talks more about the American political and economic system, the role once played by a successful education system to the country’s success is highlighted and effectively described. According to the author, a great deal of the US success in the 20th century could be attributed to its education which produced effective leaders, professionals and industrious workers. Educational policy after World War II was focused more on access, affordability and effectiveness which made it successful and responsive (Trowler, 2003). The author notes that there was active participation of parents and various levels of government in education which increased quality. The popular culture then exemplified hard work and saving among the Americans and this set-up free time for parenting. The importance of education was emphasized by teachers and parents alike. However, the author notes a general decline in this trend where American households do not save and have developed a culture that exemplifies working less for more while education has lost its primary significance in many areas. The educational policy and practice continues to focus on accessibility and affordability but learners and parents do not seem to hold education as highly as was the case before (Friedman & Mandelbaum, 2012). The culture of fewer saving and less work has left many parents in a chronic need to work longer, leaving no time for parenting and participating in children’s education. The authors propose a shift in which Americans would work hard, save more and encourage children to study longer. Additionally, the educational policy that focus mainly on accessibility and affordability need to change slightly to include the quality needed as well as packaging education in a more attractive way so that many people can participate. Although children’s education in the US is not as bad as some might contend, much needs to done to improve it. The system is seen as being successful in developing a sense of nationality among American children due to especially due to its curriculum. Subjects such as the American history and the country’s political system are well expounded (Žakelj, Švab & Mencin, 2013).
The impact of the local government influence is felt in that it funds and sets the standards for all the public institutions. However, children learn more through examples which this system has failed to show, especially in the recent times. Teaching children about the past American success may not have much impact if these children cannot see the success now. For them to be truly motivated to achieve and become successful, they must see the success and hear the same from people. This creates an urgent need for the government and all the citizens to ensure that the government is prosperous in many aspects, which can inspire children (Friedman & Mandelbaum, 2012).
The current economic time in which a number of parents are virtually absent from home portrays the country as a struggling one as these children may directly link their parents struggle with those of the nation (Mccune, 2008). At the same time, parents’ absence means that children lack the role models that are important for effective development. In addition to scientific and scholastic knowledge that children are taught in school, the authors argue that children also need to see adults, and especially parents who upload these principles and values in their lives. Parents can also demonstrate values like mutual respect, compassion and concern for the vulnerable members of the society by living them. In addition, virtues such as honesty, self-discipline, courage and trustworthiness, are best taught to children when they can observe them from the adult members of their society, and especially from their parents. The author also highlights the fact that parents nowadays may fail to set high academic expectations for their children. There has been divided attention and children are sometimes taught how to prosper through the arts and sports and not necessarily through education. Some parents have chosen to view arts, sports and education as being mutually exclusive and do not focus on instances where education may supplement art and sports. However, the authors have not gone into the specifics about how children learn.
A number of theories have been offered to inform the process of teaching and learning in the US. Some of them are utilized by the various levels of the government to formulate the best teaching practices that are aimed at producing the best results for children.
(Boaler, 2008) curried out a survey to find out how parents participation in math Helped children to love math and perform better in school. In his survey, he found out that involved close to 500 school going children, the author found that children’s performance was much higher in children who had been taught to apply mathematics in life. This involved teaching children to calculate their own ages in years, learn basic ratios that were applied at home. For instance children in lower high school were able to understand and use Pythagoras theorem when parents related it to ladders at home. This made numbers more meaningful and fostered proper understanding of math.
Žakelj, Švab & Mencin, (2013) observed that the process of raising children and learning are inseparable. His research was meant to find the effects of early introduction to learning toys. Parents who reported to have introduced their children to learning toys earlier also reported that their children developed cognitive abilities earlier. The toys involved in this early step involve recognizing and sorting shapes, colors among others. This confirms many learning theories that suggest that children begin learning earlier than the onset of formal schooling.
Mulej, Kajzer & Rebernik (2000), summarized some of the theories that are utilized to direct how teaching should be conducted include the Sigmund Freud’s theory of personality development which suggests that learning begins far earlier than formal education. In this theory, Freud proposed that how parents reacted to a baby’s elementary sexual and aggressive drives affected the development their character. His theory is particularly known for its assertion that all babies had self-centered urges, which he labeled as the ‘id’. In his description of how this develops into the ‘ego’, he points out that a baby became more realistic when some of its desires were denied. This presents the earliest opportunities for parents to ‘teach’ their babies and contribute to development of better personalities. Freud described the development of the ‘super-Ego’ that and balances the ‘ego’ and the ‘id’.
Erik Erikson was another theorist who described how children develop personality in stages; in each stage, children encounter conflicts that lead to growth of an emotional quality or failure to develop it. The potential for succeeding or failing is equally high. Erickson’s subdivisions have been used in many other works, especially to reinforce psychological counseling for children as well as counselors. Jean Piaget’s work has also been utilized in the development of learning activities for babies and young children. His theory proposed that early intellectual growth is greatly stimulated by physical activities; actions initiate thought sequences and these sequences influence actions later on. His theory forms the basis for many learning games and activities.
Urie Bronfenbrenner developed a theory that illustrated how a child’s development is influenced by his/her environment. He proposed a ladder of various aspects of the environment that act at various levels that all act on a child’s situation and character, known as a microsystem. The mesosystem, on the other hand, is composed of the child’s immediate family and has the greatest impact on a child’s psychological development, with the greatest attachment being to the mother or the caregiver. This theory outlines how important the immediate family’s support is to a child’s development. The other factors in the child’s environment, such as the school and the community form the exosystem and are of secondary importance. It is important to note that in very early years of elementary school, a teacher may be required to also act as the caregiver. The third important system that affects a child’s development is the macrosystem. These include the public policy, government and culture. The final system in a child’s life is the chronosystem and may include challenging events such as parents’ divorce or a change of schools.
Arnold Gesell, who studied the developmental path taken by thousands of children, came up with stages through which children develop, which he called developmental milestones. These have been utilized widely to check children’s development. B.F.Skinner theorized that children’s behavior as well as their learning can be molded by the use of positive or negative reinforcement, a system that is widely used in the US to correct deviance and improve children’s performance. Alfred Bandura theorized that children learn new things by observing and imitating those around them. This encourages parents and teachers to role models.
Lev Vygotsky theorized that children learn by being involved in practical activities and that parents, peers, caregivers and educators have a role in children’s mental development. He stated that children learn new information better when it is placed or presented in a framework of activities. He pointed out an area where children usually start, in the quest for this knowledge and described it as the proximal development zone. This is another theory that support the use of learning activities for children, and emphasizes the crucial role that parents, caregivers and educators have in this process, and is utilized in the development of learning activities and to emphasize the same to the parties involved Kljajič, 2015)
John Bowlby was the first child development researcher to propose that the early relationship between children and their caregivers plays a crucial role in children’s development and impacts a person’s life and particularly social relationships throughout the entire life. He observed that when a baby’s parents are unfailingly reliable, such babies develop bonds and will feel more secure and free to explore the world. On the other hand, people whose parents were not dependable may find it hard to develop emotional attachments later on in life, and may feel insecure about exploring the world. This theory has been used to encourage parents and caregivers to be dependable as it allows their children to be more confident learning and sexploring the world. Confidence, and especially in seeking more information, is vital is learning as it makes the whole process easier and enjoyable for children.
2.3. Differences in Urban and Rural Settings in Regard to Parent’s Involvement in their Children’s Education
Lynch (2011), observed that there marked differences in the urban and the rural areas in the US which influence learning in these different setups. In addition to influencing the learning process, they influence educators and parents differently. The author describes rural areas as places with people living off-the-grid in places far from urban places. These places also offer very limited if any mobility to capital and labor. This means that shifting from one occupation in the rural areas may be next to impossible. This could be the case with shifting in the function of a building as one building a house, a firm, a shop or a hospital for decades and even centuries. This is a trend that is very different in the urban areas where people often change jobs with or without retraining (Lynch, 2011). Additionally, the mobility of fixed capital is very pronounced where the use of buildings changes rather fast. In addition to these changes, there are others that affect education as well as parent’s participation in the entire process. The author notes the fast social and economic changes in the urban areas result in the need for people to be continuously changing. As a result, time becomes a limited resource that might not be available for social activities, social organization and the family. On the other hand, rural areas experience very few changes and people change slowly. As a result, there is less need for people to adapt quickly to changes, leaving time for family and social groups. Another contrast that exists in the urban and rural areas is that some of the roles previously performed by families are now performed by schools. For instance, working parents can leave their children at school beginning at very early age. Additionally, children education can almost fully be trusted on schools whereby parents may withdraw almost fully from the function of educating their families and only provide basics to them. Lynch (2011) observes that there is an effective partnership between schools and parents who are almost required to participate in children’s education. Much of the parents’ time is available in the rural area than is the case in the urban areas.
Hornby (2011) sought to establish differences that exist between teaching in urban and rural areas. He found no significant difference in the delivery of education between the urban and the rural areas in terms of outcomes. In other words, children in the rural areas do not necessarily perform better academically than their counterparts in the urban areas. In fact, there is a higher investment in education in urban schools which means such schools enjoy better services and systems. For instance, the latest in technological advancement is applied in urban schools, giving them easier access and utilizing computers for teaching. Students in these schools receive computer training which is less common in rural schools. Additionally, urban schools benefit from computer aided teaching which is poorly developed or absent in rural schools. In other extreme cases, some schools in the rural areas may lack some of the most basic amenities such as clean drinking water which is available in all urban schools. Other rural schools lack extra-curricular activities and children may only learn course curriculum. This can be limiting to children in terms of career and talent development. Finally urban schools benefit from well-advanced teaching systems. Children in these institutions are in a better position to achieve more academically. However, the author notes that parental participation in rural schools may make learners more holistic individuals especially after they grow up. In rural institutions that have services close to those enjoyed in urban schools, children may participate more. The author states that parent’s participation in education reduces truancy and averts many vices such as crime and drug abuse that are more common in the urban areas
Children in rural schools are only disadvantaged when they cannot access services that are enjoyed by their counterparts in the urban areas. However, in the more developed rural areas, services in these schools including the teaching aids such as computers as well as well-developed resources for co-curricular activities such as sports fields and gyms, children are in a better position to benefit from adequate involvement of parents in their education.
2.4. The Need for Parents’ Involvement their Children’s Education
Hornby (2011) examines the benefits of parental involvement in students’ education. According to this author, there is correlation between parental presence and involvement in their children’s education and success for all the parties involved. The researcher proposes a holistic correlation between families and schools and describes the benefits that are derived. It is important to note that parental involvement in children’s education is not easy to achieve partly due to parents busy schedules and the fact that some parents think it is not helpful. With the increasingly busy schedule for American parents, some of them would like to relegate and delegate as many of their responsibilities as possible to other institutions so that they can get more time to for their activities and even relaxation.
According to Hornby (2011), parental involvement in student’s education plays a role in encouraging students, raising their expectations and creates a platform for parents and school management to cooperate the betterment of the community. Parents’ presence and involvement help children to achieve more. The author also observed that that this was an effective way to improve the performance of all children of varying racial and social economic backgrounds. This was attributed to the parents’ encouragement of the children’s abilities. Parents’ involvement also helps to ensure regular attendance which translated to better test scores and grades, and truancy is minimized. The results of this were exemplified by the fact that parents could also Help in homework, which helped in enhancing children’s understanding. Finishing homework in time and having better understanding of the class work seen above lead to improvement of self-esteem which Helped students to achieve more. This also led to elevated self-discipline, higher aspirations and enthusiasm towards education.
The author also states that the moral support given by parents helps children to acquire positive attitude towards the school and learning. This plays an important role in improving children’s behaviors in learning institutions and has been seen to reduce instances of suspension on disciplinary grounds. This also makes learning more fruitful hence reducing the number of children being put in remedial classes. Racial and ethnic discrimination causes deterioration of children’s morale and hence performance. Children that are discriminated against have their education hampered and may have lower self-esteem. However, effective support by parents has an effect of boosting children’s self-esteem and morale. Children are able to overcome discrimination through the Helpance given by the parents, which may not be possible if parents are absent. Additionally, parental help is needed by teachers and other professionals in education to harmonize children’s cultural background which makes schools a neutral place, which is important for effective learning.
Dacey & Fiore (2000) observed that Children may experience many challenges during transition, which are more pronounced when there is no one to help them cope. The most challenging transition for children is between junior high to high schools, which often leave them psychologically and emotionally disoriented. A parent’s presence and active involvement is very important in reducing the shock experienced in this process. At this critical stage, which also comes at an important period in children’s psycho-social development, effective parenting involves offering guidance and emotional support to make the transition smooth and avoid truancy.
Parental involvement and presence in their children’s education is not always burdensome. For those who are able to do it, it is sometimes easier and may also lead to many benefits to parents (Ule & Živoder, 2015). Hornby (2011) observes that a large number of parents derive joy from Helping their children in every step of their lives including in education and teaching. In this case, parental involvement provides another platform for constructive discussions and communication. Today’s busy lifestyles for parents and school children may deny parents adequate time to interact with them. To reduce this, one area of interaction that is very useful is about children’s education which is an important part of children’s lives. Parents involved in this stage get the opportunity to positively contribute to their children’s socio-emotional and developmental needs throughout children’s growth. This also provides an opportunity for parents to learn and may also boost their parenting skills. It also enhances parent’s decision making and social skills which can be important in the parent’s career. Spending more time with children leads to increased understanding between the two parties and reduces behavioral problems among children which mean fewer punishments are given to children (Hornby, 2011). It is important to note that punishment is not always desirable and other modes of correcting child deviance are better, among them guiding children so that they avoid instances that would otherwise attract punishment. Parental presence and involvement is one way through which the above can be achieved and increase instances of positive reinforcement. Parental involvement in children’s education enables them to understand the school curriculum and the teacher’s job and is important in enhancing cooperation. Consequently, parents are able to provide Helpance requested by teachers for instance, parents may be requested to facilitate children’s learning at home, for instance through administrating learning activities. This may also create strong ties between the parent and the school which develops when the parent’s perception of school is enhanced. Lastly parents learn and become active in policies that affect their children’s education. In some instances, parents can participate in school decision-making which is beneficial. The greatest beneficially of improved parents-school relations is the child (Hornby, 2011). The author also notes that these improved relations are also beneficial to the school and educators and help them to achieve their roles effectively. The prime goal of schools is to ensure that children learn and grow up to become responsible and productive citizens. This role becomes more attainable when children’s education is not left to learning institutions alone.
2.5. Are Students in Urban Settings more Effective and Successful in School if Parents are involved and Present in their Education?
Parental participation in their children’s education should be encouraged as it makes the whole learning process easier (Kamaruddin, Nagalingam & Admodisastro, 2014). This happens for both children in the urban as well as the rural areas. However, the urban setting may hinder effective involvement of parents in their children’s education. Apart from parents busy schedules, some of them choose not to be engaged in their children’s learning when they feel that some school faculties discriminate against their children. Inexperienced teachers who did not understand these dynamics do not show a neutral attitude towards all children which makes black and Latino children feel discriminated against. As a result, they might end up feeling like the education system is not working for them. In other instances, when these feelings are communicated to parents, they may choose to voluntarily resist involving themselves in matters related to their children’s education. This trend is common in urban areas where there are heterogeneous populations (Kamaruddin, Nagalingam & Admodisastro, 2014).
According to Milner and Lomotey (2014), the earlier urban American family setup was simple and contained well defined roles which made it easier for parents to participate fully in children’s education. However, since mid-20th century, family arrangements in America and especially in the urban areas have become more complicated. One-parent households are becoming more common and the responsibilities of parenting may be overwhelming to one person. There are other socio-cultural changes that affect parent participation. Among the most pronounced reasons why urban parents are finding it increasingly hard to participate in their children’s education include marginalization from children’s life due to poverty, language barriers and cultural differences and racism among others Kljajič, 2015)In other instances, some parents, especially the urban poor, have the general perception that education is unfairly skewed towards whites, who form the bulk of the American middle class. As a result, they are usually not interested in participating in their children’s education and do not attach importance to their children’s education.
Despite the above challenges, Milner and Lomotey (2014) assert that urban parents’ presence in education is very beneficial to the children’s education. Some of the direct benefits of this participation include reduced instances of absenteeism, improvement of children’s self-esteem and timely completion of homework among others. Urban parents who participate in their children’s education help them to overcome instances of bullying by providing emotional support, helping them perform learning activities at home and guiding them on the right way to behave. As a result, these children perform better in academic work, experience fewer instances of absenteeism, engage less in activities that may attract trouble and have fewer emotional problems when transitioning from one stage to the other. The combination of these factors helps such children perform better academically and have easier time in school. With other factors held constant, parental participation in children’s education plays a crucial role in children’s success. Learning is not an activity that is only done in school but has to be integrated in all other aspects of a child’s life. Given that children spend a large amount of their time at home with parents and care givers, it is paramount that these people participate effectively in making the learning process effective (Zalec, 2012). This is needed even more in urban areas where there are many things that can distract children from learning. Effective cooperation between urban parents and teachers help children to achieve more academically and have a better emotional balance.
2.6. Synthesis and Conclusion
As seen throughout the above literature, many researchers, scholars and specialist have written about the topic of how children learn and the government policies that affect learning. Additionally, the literature has shown that significant differences exist between urban and rural settings which make it significantly harder for parents in the urban areas to be involved effectively in their children’s education. The literature has also demonstrated that parents’ involvement in children’s education is helpful and has many benefits which include enabling children to effectively cope with changes, Helping children to engage in learning activities and enabling them to get over bullying and discrimination among others.
Although parents in the rural areas may find it easier to get involved in their children’s education as compared to the ones in the urban areas, they do not perform better than their counterparts in the urban areas since urban schools enjoy better facilities and hence improved services. Issues of poverty and racial segregation are among the key reasons why parents in the urban areas are not effectively involved in their children’s education. The literature also shows that urban parent’s presence in their children’s education is advantageous and makes them more effective and successful in education.
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
As seen in the introduction, learning is the process in which information is acquired as various forms of stimuli, processed to make a meaningful sense and stored for future use. In young minds, this information may be put into various applications as it may be stored to be used as basis for making decisions or may influence the direction in which the brain develops. The process of learning is a complex one and has many participants among them children’s parents and caregivers, learning institutions and policy makers in form of various levels of government. To mediate between these important facets in children’s education, scientists and researchers develop theories and frameworks that inform how learning is conducted and sets out the roles played by each participant as well the best way of interaction in order to generate the desired synergy.
For this reason, research works has been done concerning the contribution of each of the above group to the effective learning of children. However, there still lacks adequate research work on the effects of urban parent’s participation in their children’s education. As various theories highlighted in the literature review indicates, many of the theorists focused on the role that parents and children’s caregivers play in the general learning of children and not necessary in the school setting. For this reason the role of parents in children’s development and early learning and especially before a children are introduced in the school setting has been almost adequately discussed. This is also the case with children’s learning outside formal schools.
On the other hand, theories that inform the formulation of the US education policies are well described, as well as the practices that arise from these policies. For instance the need for equality in provision of basic education and ease of access of the same has been among the main reason why K-12 system of basic education was introduced in all public institutions in the US (Blanden & Machin, 2004). Learning theories inform aspect such as the age in which children go to school and the preferred age of children in each level of education.
Still in the literature review, some researcher have indicated that there is significant differences regarding how parent in the rural areas participate in their children’s education as compared to their counterparts in the urban areas. Parents in the urban areas are faced by factors such as busy schedules caused by higher life demands and may be worsened by issues such as poverty, segregation as well as the changes in the family structure in which some family roles are no longer divided between parents as was the case in the first half of the 20th century (Marjanovič, Fekonja, Kranjc & Bajc, 2008). Some parents may also not understand the benefits of participating in their children’s education or how best to participate.
The research problem identified by this research was that there was has not been comprehensive research work that has focused on finding out if urban parents’ participation in their children’s education would make them more effective and successful in education. Different research materials brought together in the literature review helps to cast more light about the subject. As the literature review section indicates, effective participation of urban parents in their children’s education can make them (children) more effective and successful in school.
Research by the center for public education (CPE), in 2014 indicated that over 60% of the teachers believed that their student’s academic performance would improve if parents were involved in their education, while over 70% of the parents surveyed stated that students drop out of school if their parents were not involved in their education (Hall, Quinn, & Gollnick, 2014). However, parents in the urban areas perceived this involvement differently, and this difference in perception was seen to be similar across racial and ethnic background. Parents also differed in which form of involvement they thought was useful.
The majority of urban parents feel that their involvement is more useful when children are young. In 2013, 92% of parents with children in K-8 level participated in PTO/PTA gatherings against 83% of parents with children in high school. Fifty-two percent of the former volunteered compared to 34% of the latter (Hall, Quinn & Rollick, 2014). The majority of the white parents participated more in activities such as PTA meetings; they felt that this was very important in boosting the performance of their children. Additionally, a higher percentage of white parents participated in other school events such as fundraising and volunteering, while fewer of black and Hispanic parents attended school events for varying reasons.
Over 82% of parents believed that checking their children’s homework was important and did it. The research also found out that 94% of black parents and 91% of Hispanic parents checked their children’s homework (Hall, Quinn & Rollick, 2014). These two groups believed that this was the most effective way through which a parent could be involved in his/her child’s education. Eighty-two percent of white parents checked their children’s homework, which was still high enough but significantly lower compared to the other two groups. In this research, many parents believed that Helping their children to cope with various emotional changes for instance transition was not necessarily a way of a parent to participate in a child’s education. They viewed it as more of a general parenting role than an academic role and did not think it had marked effects on children’s academic performance. Ensuring a child transitions smoothly from one level to the next had direct role in a child’s performance.
A study was carried out carried out that involved a joint synthesis aimed at interpreting outcomes of 51 studies conducted since 2000s on the effects on the effects of parent’s presence and involvement on children’s education (Alameda-Lawson, 2014). The main aim of this joint synthesis was to find a common conclusion and seek a unified way forward. The research designs of all these studies varied and included case studies to experimental designs. The joint synthesis found that the effects of parents’ involvement in their children’s education were uniform across children from urban and rural areas of various races and levels of income. For this reason, these outcomes can represent the effects of urban parent’s involvement and presence in their children’s education and included the following. These children were more likely to earn higher test scores and be admitted to higher-level programs, pass in their class work and even earn credits and get promoted. These children also had higher likelihood to have uninterrupted school attendance, exhibit improved conduct, have improved communal skills and acclimatize well to transitions in school. More importantly these children had high chances of graduating and proceeding on with tertiary education.
CPE and SEDL also synthesized these studies to examine what kind of parents involvement/presence entailed. Involvement and presence meant the support of parents while learning at home, which included support in working on the homework, emotional support and ensuring that children did not miss school. It also involved parents intervening in school programs, attending school events and volunteering when necessary, although this latter set of activities had fewer effects on performance especially from grade 9 through 12. As seen in the literature review as well as the research by CPE and SEDL, urban parent’s involvement in their children’s education is beneficial and can make children more effective and successful in school as well as academic work.
4: DISCUSSION/APPLICATION
Parent’s presence is very important for a child’s mental development which is important for learning. This is because parents/caregivers provide the required physical nourishment and mental stimulation all of which are crucial for a child’s mental development. In school going children, parents provide the required resources for children to attend school and may also provide the emotional support that helps a child to be successful in school. Parents form a part of a child’s environment that influence many process during growth. For this reason, a parents/caregivers role in a child’s growth is indispensible. A parents/caregivers role in the early child’s development is pivotal and a parent/caregiver doubles up as a teacher. Later on, at around the age of 4, many children in the US join the kindergarten where school teachers are tasked with the responsibility of teaching while the parent is expected to hold a supportive role in order to make the entire learning process smooth.
The various learning and child development theories seen earlier in the paper are utilized by the government to formulate policies and practices to facilitate effective learning. Most of these policies and teaching practices are meant for learning institutions. Whoever, some of them provide information on the role of parents and the community in the entire process. As the research indicated, there is a need to further improve the US education system in order to respond to various issues that have emerged since its inception. For instance, the K-12 system assumes that learning begins at the age of 4, which has been used as the basis for taking 4-year-olds to kindergarten. However, child development theories suggest and support the fact that learning begins earlier and parents can contribute more to children’s educational progress by stimulating their brains almost as soon as they are born. This is supported by among others the child development theory by Sigmund Freud which indicates that baby’s interaction with the parents or the caregivers play a crucial role in development of their personality later on in life. Still, other theories support that games and activities given to children even before the age of four are crucial for learning, as they stimulate children’s brain to develop. This suggest that parents should be actively engaged in teaching their children before they attain school going age.
The research above also indicates that there is significant difference in parents’ participation in their children’s education between the urban and the rural areas. Parents in the urban areas are less likely to participate in their children’s education due to factors such as busy schedules, racial segregation, changes in family setups among others. For this reason, there is a need for these parents (in urban areas) to plan and purpose to participate effectively in their children’s education. This is important as the research shows that parent’s participation and presence in their children’s education has many benefits.
The term effectiveness in children’s education as used in this research describes children’s ability to study well in an optimized physical, social and psychological environment and achieve the desired results. A combination of these factors can make children to be successful in their studies. As seen in the literature review and the research and discussions section, parent’s participation is important and can make children learn better and achieve more in terms of better grades, higher test scores as well as faster promotion to the next academic level. Parent’s participation starts from the most basic aspects of raising children such as providing physical and psychological needs. For instance, parents and caregivers need to give attention to how their young children grow. From the Sigmund Freud’s theory, parents will need to be careful not to heed to some of their baby’s’ irrational needs which may hinder a child’s emotional development and affect the person’s life as an adult. At the same time, parents should also provide love and care to children and also engage them in games and learning activities that that would stimulate their brains to develop in the right direction.
In the school setting, especially the K-12, more research work needs to be done to single out the effects of various ways through which parent’s choose to participate in their children’s education. As seen earlier, different parents chose different ways of participating; some parents attend the PTA meetings, others contribute to school fundraising events while others volunteer in school activities. The majority of parents believe that checking children’s assignment is an important way of participating in their children’s academic life. Some parents also participate by ensuring that their children are not out of school unnecessarily while others provide emotional support to enable their children manage changes and transitions that may arise in children’s lives. The above efforts by parents are lead to effects such as reduced truancy and low rates or school drop-out, high test scores and fewer instances of children getting punished. All of these are desirable and beneficial for children and make school time bearable.
The findings of this research can be utilized by policy makers such as various levels of governments as well as schools to formulate the best way for parents to participate in their children’s education. Additionally, it can be used by schools to advice urban parents on the importance of their participation in their children’s education as well as various ways through which they can effectively achieve this. The research reveals that parents’ participation is pivotal to children’s success in school; it also reveals that this participation can be hard or impossible to achieve among some parents and especially the ones in the urban areas. One of the important areas of parents’ involvement is in Helping children’s in assignments. Schools can come up with modalities that eliminate the need for some children to do their assignments at home. Policy makers and schools can also come up with instructional models for students in which all assignments are completed at schools.
This research ‘suggest’ areas of further study in the future. Among the most important areas that could be researched on in the future includes the development of unified standards outlining what parent’s involvement entails in an attempt to make parents involvement in their children’s education standard. Secondly, a future research can be done to investigate various ways through which urban parent’s participation in their children’s education can be improved, in order to reduce the negative effects of parents’ failure to participate. Research can also be carried out to find out why poor parents and especially those of color think that public education is for the middle income class that is majorly composed of the whites. This can be important since its one of the reason why poor parents lack zeal to participate in their children’s education or even to make efforts to maintain them in public schools. All these areas of possible future research would make the current research more meaningful and may also play a crucial role in the implementation of the findings of the current research. The overall effect will be the betterment of delivery of education to the American public through making the learning process easier for all participants.
5. CONCLUSION
As seen in the discussion, children learn through their senses and by engaging in physical activities. Learning in respect means acquiring knowledge as well as stimulating the brain to develop new capabilities. Various policies established by the government are used to ensure that children acquire knowledge fast and efficiently as well as ensure that their brains are stimulated to acquire the necessary capabilities needed in future citizens. Learning in this aspect can be seen as mental development. Some government policies are simply meant to ensure that basic education is available and accessible to all.
As seen in the literature, there are some aspects that may hinder parent’s involvement in their children’s education, while some parents do not really think it is necessarily important. However, parent’s involvement and presence in their children’s education is indispensable and has many benefits. This has been proved by many of the learning theories discussed earlier as well as previous research findings by CPE and SEDL. Benefits that accrue from parent’s involvement and presence in their children’s education are felt in the rural and urban settings, by various ethnic groups and backgrounds and irrespective of the parents’ level of income. However, as noted earlier, each group prefers some mode of parent’s participation and involvement, with the urban white preferring participating actively in PTA meetings, attending school events and volunteering their services to schools. On the other hand, urban black and Hispanic communities participate less in such activities and but a higher percentage of them prefer to Help and check children’s homework. Additionally, black and Hispanic community forms the higher percentage of parents who do not involve themselves in their children’s education. However, most parents (82%) believe that participating in their children’s education was important. A large percentage of parents also believe that parents absence and none involvement lead to rise in drop out case. Another trend that was research paper writing service observed was that parents were involved more in children’s academics in the grades prior to high school. The paper has established that urban parent’s involvement in children’s education was advantageous. Therefore, students in the urban setting are more effective and successful in school if parents are involved and present in their education, in light of how children learn, educational policy and practice.
The research inquiry was successful as all the research questions have been answers and hence the objectives of the research have been accomplished. However, there were some challenges arising from the fact that some variables described are abstract and may not be quantified. Such include attitude success and effectiveness among others. However, the researcher overcame these limitations through describing these variables and their outcomes. Another challenge that was faced occurred from the fact that there are very many factors that affect a student’s success and the effect of parents’ involvement and presence is not easy to quantify. However, the researcher has described the desirable outcomes that accrue when a parent is involved in his/her child’s education. Additionally, many parents and researchers do not agree on the best way through which a parent may be involved and be present in a child’s education. Some of the researchers and including those in CPE and SEDL have tried to show what involvement means and which forms of parents’ involvement were effective and which ones were not. However, the outcomes of this research are dependable to a great extent and the research was a success.
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