| Citation: | Palenchar, D. R., Vondra, J. I., & Wilson, J. A. (2001). Parental involvement in the home and at school as predictors of early school functioning in an urban, low-income sample. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Seattle, WA. |
Annotation:
The purpose of this correlational study is to examine how different components of Epstein's (1995) six types of parent involvement framework relate to early school functioning. Five components of Epstein's framework, excluding the decision-making component, were examined. After controlling for the student's IQ and the mother's educational level, a supportive home environment was found to be related to student behavior, motivation, and social competence at school. School-family communication and parental volunteering/attending school functions were related to student behavior and social competence at school. Providing or supporting learning activities at home was correlated with student-teacher relationships. Although all correlations were modest, overall, the researchers concluded that school-family partnerships did explain differences in children's socio-emotional development, but not differences in children's academic achievement. The sample for this study was urban, low-income children and their parents, who were a subset of a larger longitudinal investigation. Participants were primarily White or African American, and half of the parents had a high school education or less. Data were collected using teacher and parent questionnaires, as well as school records, when children were in kindergarten, first, or second grade. Although it does not address academic achievement per se, this study statistically connects home-school partnerships to early school success, and suggests that strong parental support of learning at home during the early years leads to high student achievement
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