PERSPECTIVES ON PARENT INVOLVEMENT: ITS IMPLICATION ON

ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF SELECTED GRADE VII STUDENTS OF

PANSOL NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

BY

ANALIZA L. MAGMANLAC

OF

PANSOL NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

PADRE GARCIA DISTRICT

Noted by:

MARILOU R. MARASIGAN
Head Teacher III

SABENIANO E. ROSALES, Ed. D

Principal III

PERSPECTIVES ON PARENT INVOLVEMENT: ITS IMPLICATION ON

ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF SELECTED GRADE VII STUDENTS OF
PANSOL NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

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ABSTRACT

Family and school represent the primary environments in which young

children grow and develop. Today, the link between these institutions is taking on

added significance as concern mounts over the challenges that schools face in

building or maintaining strong parent participation.

Parents play a crucial role in every stage of childhood and can play

positive role in getting the best in education. Therefore, parent involvement has

become a topic of concern particularly in the students’ educational achievement.

This study aims to imply that parents’ involvement impacts on students’

academic performance. In addition to that, this is also to find out parents’

attitudes, desire and initiative to increase involvement opportunities.

In teaching grade 7, in Pansol National High School, the teachers are

concern with the academic performance of students as it is reflected on their

records.

This research aims to identify how does parents’ participation in

educational activities influence academic performance of students and what are

the common practices if parents extended to their children to have better grades.

I. CONTEXT AND RATIONALE

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 Parents play a crucial role in every stage of childhood and can play

positive role in getting the best in education. The role of parents in their children’s

education has always been emphasized by different groups like educators and

administrators. Parents have the right to ask questions to the teachers and

principals and get involved in the child’s education process right from the

elementary level to the college level. While at the school level, parents can help

their child with reading, writing and homework, at the college level, parents can

help in selecting the right college, and career and encourage their children to

save for college education. The questions which always remain about parents’

involvement are does it have a positive impact on the student’s achievement, do

they push their children too hard, or the effects on the behaviour and attitudes on

the children. In ongoing quests to improve academic performance and

opportunities among school children, those involved in education as well as child

counselling and related fields have been placing a strong emphasis on parental

involvement in scholastic life. A highlighted issue for many years, the

involvement of parents in the fostering of positive academic habits and the

establishment of a consistent presence in school life through frequent visits and

other actions has been promoted as a crucial component of early academic

success. ( Acero, Victorina et. Al, 2007)

Parental participation in school activities includes a wide range of

behaviours but generally refers to parents' and family members' use and

investment of resources in their children's schooling. These investments can take

place in or outside of school, with the intention of improving children's learning.

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Parental involvement at home can include activities such as discussions about

school, helping with homework, and reading with children. Involvement at school

may include parents volunteering in the classroom, attending workshops, or

attending school plays and sporting events (Rain and William, 2011).

A parent is the child's first and most important teacher in life and he or she

is expected to play an active role in the child's school journey because it is

believed a parent and child should grow together and have a rewarding school

experience.

This follows subsequently by school life where academic performance is

expected to be high. The parent is supposed to be supportive to the child in all

aspects which include socially, physically, mentally and also emotionally

(Epstein, 2001). Studies have indicated that children whose parents and/or other

significant adults share in their formal education tend to do better in school.

Some benefits that have been identified that measure parental involvement in

education include; higher grades and test scores, long term academic

achievement, positive attitudes and behaviours and more successful programs

(Epstein, 2001).

II. LITERATURE REVIEW

Parental Involvement

Parental involvement is defined as the level of participation that a parent

has in the child’s education and school. Many parents are tremendously involved,

often volunteering to help in their child’s classroom activities, communicating well

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with their child’s teachers, assisting with homework, and understanding their

child’s individual academic strengths and weaknesses. Unfortunately, there are

also many parents who are not directly involved with their child’s education.

Many schools have programs aimed at increasing parental involvement such as

games and sports, home activities, and assorted opportunities for volunteers.

The variables which will be addressed in this study are; home environment,

parent- school communication, education activities both at home and at school.

(UNESCO, 2000).

Based on the study , a synthesis of research on parent involvement also

found out that, regardless of family income or background, students with involved

parents are more likely to; earn higher grades and test scores, and enrol in

higher-level programs, be promoted, and earn credits, attend school regularly,

have better social skills, show improved behaviour, and adapt well to school

(SEDL, 2002).

Home Environment Learning

Home environment focuses on the aspect of creating a supportive

environment for the children to study in e.g. balanced meals, safety, a reading

/homework area which has enough lighting establishing a family schedule to eat

meals as a family, setting firm rules for bedtime, extracurricular activities, setting

limit on television time, setting high but appropriate expectations, parents being

models of learning and hard work. Home environment includes supervision and

rules. This refers to moderate levels of parental support (Jeynes, 2007

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 Home environment allow parents flexibility in scheduling, provide

opportunities for parents and children to spend time together, and offer a relaxed

setting. To be most beneficial, home activities should be interesting and

meaningful not trivial tasks that parents and children have to "get through." When

teachers plan home activities, they often think in terms of worksheets or

homework that will reinforce skills learned in school (Barwegen and Joyce,

2004). But parents often grow tired of the endless stream of papers to be

checked and the time spent on "busywork." Another danger of promoting

home activities is the possibility that there may arise an unclear distinction of

roles, with teachers expecting parents to "teach" at home. Teachers and parents

need to understand that their roles are different, and that their activities with

children should be different (Patrikakou, 2004). In addition, in an ideal home

environment, there are many other important ways that parents can help their

children learn. Some of these ways include setting rules for use at home,

encouragement by parents to spend more leisure time reading than watching

television.

In today’s society, schools and parents are responding to increased

expectations, economic pressures, and time constraint. In these changing times,

effective partnerships between teachers and parents become even more

essential to meet the needs of the children. Communicating with parents is one

of six major types of parent involvement practices critical to establishing strong

working relationships between teachers and parents. Cultivating the teacher-

parent relationship is also considered vital to the development team work

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(Schuster, 2003). Unfortunately, many teachers are not specifically trained in the

skills they need to communicate effectively with parents (Hradecky, 2004).

Parent-school communication

School communication practices are so fundamental to involving families

in the education process, teacher preparation and professional development

programs should actively promote the development of communication skills for

teachers (Caspe, 2003). Teachers strive to establish partnerships with parents to

support student learning. Strong communication is fundamental to this

partnership and to building a sense of community between home and school. In

these changing times, teachers must continue to develop and expand their skills

in order to maximize effective communication with parents. Good communication

between parents and teachers has many benefits. When parents and teachers

share information, children learn more and parents and teachers feel more

supported. Good communication can help create positive feelings between

teachers and parents. Schools and teachers know that good communication with

parents is an important part of their job. Teachers need to know about the

children's families, language, and culture in order to help children learn. Parents

benefit because they learn more about what goes on in school and can

encourage learning at home. Most importantly, children benefit by improved

communication because contact between homes and school helps children learn

and succeed. But parent-teacher communication can also be hard, especially

when parents feel uncomfortable in school, don't speak English well, or come

from different cultural backgrounds than teachers. Fortunately, both parents and

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teachers have developed ways to make communication easier. Some parents

might have had a bad experience in school when they were children. Other

parents have not felt welcomed by the school or teacher. Fortunately, there are

things that can be done to help overcome these barriers. Here are examples of

how some parents have become more comfortable and confident.

Parents and teachers should check with each other first to make sure they

both feel comfortable with these arrangements:

Chat with the teacher. One father just stops by and chats with his

daughter's teacher when he picks his daughter up from school. Through these

talks they have come to know each other and that can make it easier when it is

time to have a parent-teacher conference.

Join in an activity or program for parents at the school. Some parents

help a science class by doing gardening and helping children see how plants

grow. Some parents attend a parent group at school to learn how to help their

children learn at home. When parents do these kinds of things, it is a way of

telling the teacher and the child that the parent cares a lot about the child's

education and the school.

Talk to other people who spend time in the school. One parent knows the

school nurse and is able to talk comfortably to her. This parent is able to learn

more about the school by talking with other parents or neighbors who know the

school and can provide information.

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 Watching child in the school. One mother regularly sits in her son's

classroom at the beginning of the day for a few minutes when she drops him off.

She gets the feel of the classroom and sees how he acts with his friends and his

teacher. Sometimes parents do not have a car or someone to watch their other

children while they visit the school. Other times, parents work during the day or

evening and cannot get to a meeting. But communication can happen even

without a visit to the school. Talk on the phone with the teacher. One mother

works full time, but is able to take calls at her job. She gave her work number to

her child's teacher. When the child has a problem in class, the teacher can call

the mother so they can work on a solution to the problem together. Sometimes

the mother will give advice to the child over the phone.

Summary of the literature Review

Communication refers to passing of information from one party to another.

Parent’s school communication enables the parents or the teacher to pass

information regarding the preschool child (Caspe, 2003). In studies conducted by

Epstein 1995, communication is put as one of the six pillars in parental

involvement which facilitates a strong and significance relationship between the

teacher and the parents. In the current society, schools and parents are

responding to increased expectations concerning the child. In these changing

times, effective partnerships between teachers and parents become even more

essential to meet the needs of the children. According to Schuster (2003),

cultivating the teacher-parent relationship is also considered vital to the

development team work between the teacher and the parent. To enhance

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communication, (Hradecky, 2004), says that it is important that the teacher

attends communication courses and seminars to be able to communicate to

parents effectively. It has been known that, School communication practices are

so fundamental to involve families in the education process, teacher preparation

and professional development programs should actively promote the

development of communication skills for teachers (Caspe, 2003).

III. ACTION RESEARCH QUESTIONS

• The study addressed the following research questions:

1. What is the profile of the parent respondents in terms of:

1.1 gender

1.2 educational background

1.3 economic status

2) To what extent does parents’ participation in educational activities at home

influence academic performance of students?

3. What are the common practices of parents extended to their children to have

better grades?

4. What suggested plan of action may be proposed of parents to improve the

academic performance of their children

IV. PROPOSED INNOVATION, AND STRATEGIES

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 The students’ record were used as the teachers’ reference to provide / devise

strategies to engage parents in the study habit of their children.

These are the following :

Time Check Card

It is a monitoring chart wherein the assignment/ project is written for every

subject area. It is a way of teacher to determine whether the parents monitor the

students’ follow up in every subject.

Date Subject Assignment/ project Parents’ signature

I CONNECT

The teacher has the list of parents contact number and even email address if

possible to easily notify the parents about their child behavior and performance in school

and to make follow-up or in emergency cases.

CONFERENCE

This is usual action of parents’ and teachers just in case the if the child really

needs it. This is also intended for the parent whose child is being observed and reported

for misbehavior and severe misconduct.

PARENTING SEMINAR

This seminar are participated by the parents whose child is in the level of low

performance in academic.

V. ACTION RESEARCH METHOD

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 This is a descriptive quantitative research which aims to understand the

scale of parents’ involvement on the academic performance and achievement of

the students. The respondents of the study are selected grade seven parents.

a. Patricipants and and/ or other source of data and information

The respondents of this study were selected 180 parents from

Grade Seven who willingly participated in the conduct of this study covering

2017-2018. Parent – respondents were selected through random sampling.

Random sampling refers to a variety of selection techniques in

which sample members are selected by chance, but with a known probability of

selection. Most social science, business, and agricultural surveys rely on random

sampling techniques for the selection of survey participants or sample units,

where the sample units may be persons, establishments, land points, or other

units for analysis.

Table 1
Distribution of the Parent-Respondents
Year Level Total Population of Total Parent-
Parent-Respondents Respondents

Faith 50 28

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 Hope 46 26
Charity 46 26
Loyalty 45 25
Patience 44 25
Wisdom 43 24
Piety 46 26
Total 320 180

b. Data analysis plan

Scoring of Responses

The responses of the parents were tallied scored and tabulated for statistical
treatment. The items in the second part of the questionnaire were scored based on
the Likert Type Scale with 5 options; 5 as the highest score and 1 as the lowest
score. There was a provision for each equivalent verbal interpretation.

Option Scale Range Verbal Interpretation

5 4.5-5.0 Always
4 3.5-4.49 Often
3 2.5-3.49 Sometimes
2 1.5-2.49 Seldom
1 1.0-1.49 Never

a. Data gathering methods

The researchers used data gathering procedure like interview and suvey

Also, the following date gathering tool like questionnaires were used to attain the

objectives of this study.

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 A set of questionnaires was given to parents to identify the factors

contributing to students’ performance in school.

An interview with students and parents was also utilized in writing title,

formulating the research problem, drafting the review of related literature and

studies, determining the research design and methodology, preparing research

tool, conducting data gathering procedure.

The design of the research followed three phases namely the pre-design

stage, the design stage and the post-design stage. The pre-design stage

includes respondents profile, common practices of parents extended to their

children, . The design stage involves the drafting of questionnaires and interview

to parents. Finally, the post design will be the suggested plan of action may be

proposed of parents to improve the school performance of their children.

PRE-DESIGNSTAGE DESIGN STAGE POST DESIGN STAGE

1. Respondents’ Profile
1.1 Gender
1.2 Educational
Background Suggested plan of
-Questionnaire action may be
1.3 economic status
proposed of
2. parents’ participation -Interview parents to
in educational activities improve the
at home influence school
academic performance performance of
of students their children
3. Common practice of
parents extended to their
children
4. parents’ participation 13
in educational activities
at home influence
academic performance
VI. Results and Discussions
This category presents the results and discussion of data regarding the
parents’ involvement to the improvements of their children’s school performance.

1. Parents’ Demographic Profile

The demographic profile of parents is determined in terms of gender,
educational attainment and economic status.

1.1 Gender. The parents’ profile in terms of their gender manifests in

Table 1.
Table 1
Parents’ Demographic Profile in Terms of Gender

Gender Frequency Percentage Rank

Male 65 36 2
Female 115 64 1
Total 180 100

As presented in the table above, out of 180 respondents, 64 percent

were female and only 36 percent were male. It is implied that most of the parent
respondents are housewives. They are full time housewives whose time is
devoted to their children and household chores. Their husbands are the ones

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working for their family. The mothers are given more responsibility of attending to
the needs of their children especially to school activities and assignments.

1.4 Educational Attainment. Table 5 and 6 showed the parents’

demographic profile in terms of educational attainment

Table 2
Father’s Demographic Profile in Terms of Educational Attainment

Educational Frequency Percentage Rank

Attainment
Elementary Graduate 41 23 2
Secondary Graduate 112 55 1
College Graduate 27 15 3
Total 40 100

The table showed that the majority of the father were secondary
graduate. On the other hand, 15 percent of parent-respondents were college
graduate and 23 percent were elementary graduate. It is implied that most of the
father-respondents were able to help their children to improve their scholastic
performance.

Table 3
Mother’s Demographic Profile in Terms of Educational Attainment

Educational Frequency Percentage Rank

Attainment
Elementary Graduate 29 16 3
Secondary Graduate 93 52 1
College Graduate 58 32 2

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 Total 180 100

The table showed that the majority of the mother were secondary
graduate. On the other hand, 32 percent of mother-respondents were college
graduate and only 16 percent were elementary graduate. It is implied that most
of the father-respondents were able to help their children to improve their
scholastic performance.
Table 4
Parents’ Demographic Profile in Terms of Economic status

Monthly Income Frequency Percentage Rank

Php 3,000 – 5,000 49 27 2
Php.5,000- 10,000 86 48 1
Php. 10,000 – 20,000 45 25 3
Total 180 100

With regards to economic status or family income, the table shows

that 48% came from those who are earning , Php.3,000- 5,000 from those who
are earning and 25% ranged from Php.10,000 – 20,000. This served as a tool to
determine parent’s income and its implication regarding the effectiveness of
students’ achievement.

Table 5

Parents’ Participation in Educational Activities at Home

Practices Always More Often Seldom

Often

1.Identifying a regular time and place in

your home and holding your child
responsible for completing all 3.02
assignments/ projects to the best of his/her
ability.

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 2. Being aware of your child’s academic
strengths and weaknesses and monitoring 2.71
His/ her academic progress

3. Failiarizing the grading system used on

your child’s report card. 3.29

4. Being part of parent organization or 4.00

attending PTA meeting and other school
activities.

5. Helping to reinforce what teacher has

taught or providing outside
tutorialassistance if necessary. 2.33

6. Showing a positive attitude toward 4.03

learning a discussing the importance of a
good education.

7. Encouraging your child to participate in 4.10

different activities in school and even in
community.

When it comes to parents’ participation in educational activities,it is found

out that the parents’ encouragement to their children has the highest scale. It

means that most of the parents encourage their child to participate in different

activities in school and in community.

Based on the result, it is also also found out that most of the parents show

a positive attitude toward learning and they also realize the importance of good

education.

However,only few parents want to be a part of organization and other

school activities. They are just willing to attend school PTA meeting but not

beyond other activities.

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 Furthermore, when it comes to the grading system used, most of the

parents want to familiarize themselves but it is hard for them to identify a regular

time and place in their home to hold their child responsible for completing all

assignment and projects.

It is also noted that parents are not totally aware of their child’s academic

strengths and they rarely monitor the students follow up in every subject after

the school hours.

Thus, it is also hard for parents to reinforce what the teacher has

taught.Most of the time teachers are the one who reinforce learning and the

result shows that most parents are not hands on in the studies of their child.

VII- Conclusions and Recommendations

Based from the results of the study the following conclusions were

formulated:

1. Most parents are willing to encourage their child in their studies but they are

not willing to extend their support in other school activities.

2. Parents are not really hands on in the studies of their children Most of them

are not monitoring the daily school homework and activities of their child.

3. Students who have low academic performance are not fully supported by their

parents.

Based from the results of the study the following recommendations

were formulated:

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1. The study will serve as a reference material that would help parents and

teachers to identify the innovations and strategies to engage students in the

study habits.

2. The study is significant for students and teachers to improve students’

academic performance.

3. This study will raise an awareness of parents to evaluate themselves in the

support of the study of their children.

4. This study will be the basis of parents and teachers to create a plan of action

to improve the students’ academic performance.

VIII. REFERENCES
Acero, Victorina et. Al (2007) Principles of Teaching I. Rex Bookstore, Inc.
Aquino, Gaudencio V. et. Al (2003) Introduction to Psychology. National Book
Store.
Berry, Jennifer (Nov. 20, 2007) “10 Ways Mom and Dad Can Help Junior Get
Better Grades.
Colinares, Nilo E.,(2010), 21st Century Trends, Issues and Challenges in
Philippine Education.National Book Store.
Rain, L, William, K, (2011). Parental involvement and students' academic
achievement: A meta-analysis. Educational Psychology Review,
Hoover, D, Kathleen V, Sandler & Howard (1997). Why do parents become
involved in their children's education. Review of educational research Califonia
USA.
Rutherford, Simon, B. S., & Salinas, K. C. (1997). Involving parents in homework
in the middle grades (Rep.No. 18). Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta Kappa Center for
Evaluation, Development, and Research.

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