Abstract
Parental involvement plays an important role in a child’s academic success. This study examines what parental involvement looks like before kindergarten through the Head Start program, specifically if pre-packaged family-fun time activities encourage parental involvement. Socioeconomic status was examined by looking at the highest level of education anyone in the household had completed, and parental involvement was looked at through a question asking if an activity encouraged the family to spend time together. Pre-packaged activities were created and sent home with 51 Head Start children, with a survey sent out with the last activity. 11 surveys were received, with positive feedback about spending family time together and having fun. We found that there is a slight difference between socioeconomic status, represented by the highest level of education within a household, and parental involvement. It was also found that households with high levels of education are less likely to be involved. It is also suggested through the survey responses that parental involvement was promoted through the pre-packaged family-fun time activities
Keywords: parental involvement, socioeconomic status, education, activities
Parental Involvement Encouraged by Family-Fun Time Activities
Parental involvement is viewed as a significant factor in student achievement. The more involvement from parents, and even the community, results in better student learning (“Report,” n.d.). We want children to be successful in school, which involves parental involvement, whether it is through basic obligations of home and school, through involvement at schools, or involvement in learning activities at home (Epstein & Dauber, 1991). We wanted our study to focus on what parental involvement looked like before kindergarten, examining parental involvement through pre-packaged take-home activities.
When exploring how parental involvement can be encouraged with pre-packaged family-fun time activities, it was predicted that if the families reported enjoyment in the family-fun time activities, there would be more parental involvement. Our study lies on Epstein’s Model of Parental Involvement, more specifically involvement in learning activities at home. With involvement in learning activities at home, teachers sent home pre-packaged activities for parents and their children to complete at home. This helped parents become involved and prepare their children with the necessary information for them to be successful in school (Epstein & Dauber, 1991; Bower & Griffin, 2011). It is important to note that regardless of race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status, family involvement increases a student’s academic success (“Report,” n.d.).
After administering pre-packaged family-fun time activities through the Head Start program, a survey was sent home to measure several factors including parental involvement, socioeconomic status, and race. In this study, we wanted to examine the connection between socioeconomic status, by the highest level of education of anyone in the household, and parental involvement and if the activity had encouraged family spending time.
Literature Review
Parental Involvement
Parental involvement can be defined through involvement in children’s academic and extracurricular activities. In many ways, it is linked back to the time a parent[s] has invested in the education of their child, whether it is directly linked to their academics and extracurriculars, or when they help their children at home. Research shows that parental involvement is crucial to a successful education (Epstein & Dauber, 1991; Hornby & Lafaele, 2011; Tazouti & Jarlégan, 2019; Janssen & Vandenbroeck, 2018).
What Can Parental Involvement Look Like?
Parental involvement can be correlated with higher grades, better attendance, behavior, and even mental health of children (Hornby & Lafaele, 2011). There are six types of parental involvement: basic obligations of families, basic obligations of schools, involvement at schools, involvement in learning activities at home, involvement in decision making, and collaboration and exchanges with community members (Epstein & Dauber, 1991). With basic obligations of families, these families are assumed to provide for their children’s health and safety, developing appropriate parenting skills, and promoting positive and safe conditions that can support their children through their learning and behavior management (Epstein & Dauber, 1991; Ansari & Gershoff, 2016). Basic obligations of schools refers to the responsibility of the school to keep families informed about a child’s progress in school, as well as school programs. This can include: memos, notices, phone calls, and parent-teacher conferences. Newsletters, or letters home, social media and websites, as well as emails are also ways for the schools to uphold their responsibilities and to increase parental involvement (Epstein & Dauber, 1991; Hornby & Blackwell, 2018). The third type of parental involvement is involvement at school. This involves parents participating in classroom and school life, like providing assistance to teachers and other children in the classroom. It can also include family members supporting extracurricular activities like sports and school performances (Epstein & Dauber, 1991; Tazouti & Jarlégan, 2019). With involvement in learning activities at home, teachers are sending home instructions for parents to assist their children. The schools are providing the information necessary to prepare the children for further learning, and how parents may assist in the completion of homework (Epstein & Dauber, 1991; Bower & Griffin, 2011). In order for parents to be involved in the decision making occurring at their children’s school, parents must be involved in participatory roles. Organizations such as the Parent-Teacher Association, Parent-Teacher Organization, or Parents, Teachers and Friends Association are active ways for parents to be involved. However, not all may be as inviting or cost-friendly as they sound. The last involvement type was a later developed concept that implies that there is a joint responsibility of children’s success (as seen in Epstein & Dauber, 1991; Hornby & Lafaele, 2011; Caño et al., 2016; Caño et al., 2016).
Barriers to Parental Involvement
There are many barriers that may interfere with parents’ abilities to get involved. Many barriers are created by parents’ beliefs, views, and life contexts. Parents who think that their only requirement to their child’s education is to get them to school are less likely to be involved both at school and at home. This mindset is more prevalent in low socioeconomic status areas (Hornby & Lafaele, 2011; Tazouti & Jarlégan, 2019). Hornby & Lafaele (2011) stated that parental views of invitations for involvement impact parental involvement. When school faculty and staff project that parental involvement is not important, parents are less likely to get involved; the more positive attitudes associated with schools and learning, the more likely there is to be parental involvement (Hornby & Lafaele, 2011; Epstein & Dauber, 1991). It was found that parental life context plays a role in parental involvement. Single-parents or parents of large families to take care of are less likely to be involved. Working parents are often less involved because of time restraints, conflicting schedules, and school hours; whereas unemployed parents are less involved because of things such as transportation, childcare cost, and lack of internet (Hornby & Lafaele, 2011; Hornby & Blackwell, 2018; Ansari & Gershoff, 2016). Other barriers for lack of parental involvement include issues associated with language and communication bars as well as not having access to resources (Hornby & Lafaele, 2011; Janssen & Vandenbroeck, 2018).
Which Parents are Involved?
The parents who are more involved often have gifted or talented children, younger children who have a more positive attitude toward school, or even children who struggle with schoolwork, making them prone to be active at home. It is also appropriate to note that parents who are white and middle-class are more likely to be the main participants in parental involvement activities, and that families with a high socioeconomic status were less likely to have parental involvement (Hornby & Lafaele, 2011; Tazouti & Jarlégan, 2019).
Teachers who had a positive attitude about parental involvement prioritized holding conferences and communicating with parents about positive and negative student reports and school programs. Those teachers who had a positive attitude had a higher success rate involving parents who worked, were less educated, new to the school, and single-parents (Epstein & Dauber, 1991; Hornby & Lafaele, 2011).
Limitations
There were several limitations listed in research studies involving parental involvement. The most prominent limitation was that the study and research data can not be generalized to every school level. Several studies focused on one specific level of education, such as elementary school, which prevented the data from being applicable to middle and high school levels (Bower & Griffin, 2011; Tazouti & Jarlégan, 2019). Other limitations included measurement type, lack of information, and lack of data collection. Researchers failed to collect information about all things that could factor into their study including specific types of involvement, dimensions relating to parental self-efficacy and parental involvement, information and parental involvement from the father, and lack of parental voices (Bower & Griffin, 2011; Ansari & Gershoff, 2016; Tazouti & Jarlégan, 2019).
Data and Methodology
Instrument
A survey questionnaire was created by the 40 members of the Social Research and Program Evaluation team at Longwood University. The survey contained both open-ended and closed-ended questions. Items on the survey were designed to evaluate SMART objectives of each of five activities that were completed the previous week by Head Start families. Beyond the objectives of the activities, participants were asked about their experiences with Head Start, take home activities, and demographic information about their households.
Sample
The non-probability sample for this study was based on the 51 children (ages three to five) who attend Head Start in two rural counties in Virginia. After activities were sent home with children for five days, the questionnaire was sent home with all 51 students. Attached to the questionnaire was a children’s book, to incentivize families to return the survey. Guardians of the children were asked to complete the survey and return it to the Head Start teacher the following school day. 11 questionnaires were returned the next school day. Teachers then sent a reminder home with children to return any outstanding questionnaires. This resulted in zero more questionnaires being returned. Overall, there was a 22% response rate.
Quantitative Analysis
Quantitative analysis of the returned surveys is based on the close-ended questions. For this study the dependent variable is parental involvement. The item from the questionnaire that was used to operationalize this was “Did the astronaut pudding activity encourage your family to spend time together?” The answer choices for this item were on a scale of 0 to 10, 0 being not at all and 10 being a great amount. The independent variable for this study is socioeconomic status. The item from the questionnaire that was used to operationalize this was “What is the highest degree of education anyone in your household has completed?” The answer choices for this question were “less than high school,” “high school,” “some college,” “college degree or higher,” and “prefer not to answer.” Descriptive statistics were used to analyze these variables.
Qualitative Analysis
Qualitative analysis of the returned surveys is based on the open-ended questions. The open-ended questions on the survey were “What did your family enjoy most about these activities?”, “What recommendations would you suggest to make these activities better?”, and “What are your favorite ways to spend time with your child?” To answer the research question, how can parental involvement be encouraged with family fun-time activities, inductive open coding was used to determine reoccurring themes in the participant’s responses.
Results
Quantitative Findings
For the quantitative findings, the following variables were examined using descriptive statistics: Socioeconomic status and parental involvement. Of all of the surveys sent out at the Head Start programs in Buckingham County and Prince Edward County, we had a 22% response rate, gathering data from 11 respondents.
The independent variable is socioeconomic status, relating to the highest degree of education of anyone in their household. Respondents could answer “Less than high school,” “High school,” “Some college,” “College degree or higher,” or “Prefer not to answer.” Of the 11 responses, zero households responded that a household member had less than a high school degree. Two households received a high school degree, four households had some college, five had a college degree or higher, and zero preferred not to answer. Table 1 shows the variation between respondent’s answers to the highest level of education within their household..
Table 1
Highest Level of Education
Note. Highest level of education is stated to represent socioeconomic status as an independent variable.
The dependent variable is parental involvement. This was asked on a 0 (Not at all) to 10 (A great amount) scale. Table 2 shows that the mean of parental involvement is 9.2 with a median of 10. The mode is 10, with a standard deviation of 1.23. This means that 68% of respondents answered between 7.97 and 10.43. This shows that answers on this variable did not vary greatly.
Table 2
Parent Involvement
| Mean | Median | Mode | S.D. | |
| Parental Involvement | 9.2 | 10 | 10 | 1.23 |
Note. N= 11; Parental involvement is represented through a question displayed in activity 5 of the study.
A bivariate model was run using the variables of highest level of education within households and parental involvement. Table 3 shows the mean statistics between the highest level of education and parental involvement. In the bivariate model, one case was excluded from the analysis due to not completing the activity associated with parental involvement. Previous research suggests white, middle-class parents are more likely to be more involved in parental involvement activities, compared to families with a high socioeconomic status were not very likely to be involved with parental involvement (Hornby & Lafaele, 2011; Tazouti & Jarlégan, 2019). Our research suggests that there is a very slight difference between socioeconomic status, represented through the highest level of education, and parental involvement.
Our original hypothesis stated that if families reported enjoyment in the family-fun time activities, then there was expected to be more parental involvement. However, as noted in Table 3, those with the highest level of education in their household being high school had a higher mean than those with a higher level of education within their household. This can imply that those with a higher level of education within their household are less likely to be involved.
Table 3
Mean parent involvement by highest level of education
| Highest Level of Education | Means |
| Less than High School | 0 |
| High School | 10 |
| Some College | 9 |
| College Degree or Higher | 9 |
| Prefer Not to Answer | 0 |
Note. N=11
Qualitative Findings
11 surveys were coded through qualitative coding analysis. Three themes were identified: Family time, interest in crafts, and having fun.
The theme “family time” appeared in five out of 11 survey responses. Respondent 1 stated, “I would pay for activities like this. Life is so busy. These activities make it so easy and stress free to do something together!” Respondent 2 stated that they enjoyed “Spending time together, and learning new things,” when answering what they enjoyed most about the activities. Respondent 3 also stated that their family enjoyed “the family time we spent together” during the activities. Respondent 9 stated, “The interaction with our child and the fact that the rest of the family was interested in participating, as well” was what they enjoyed the most. A commonality among the theme of “family time,” was that the families were able to spend more time with each other. Another thing to note is that the respondents noted that the activities made spending time with each other stress free, implying that other areas of parental involvement could be more stressful, especially increasing the amount of involvement.
The theme “interest in crafts” appeared in three out of 11 survey responses. Respondent 1 responded that “arts/crafts” was their favorite way to spend time with their child, while Respondent 11 responded “crafts” as their favorite way to spend time. Respondent 5 stated, “We love the arts and crafts and the scavenger hunt,” as what their family enjoyed the most. While the responses to the theme “interest in crafts,” are very similar in their answers, the responses were so simple that they stood out when responding to what their favorite way to spend time with their child was or what their family enjoyed the most.
The theme “having fun” appeared in 8 out of 11 survey responses. Several of the responses related to the theme of “having fun” related to the parent or guardian’s favorite way to spend time with their child. Respondent 1 stated, “#1 is singing and dancing together!!,” as their favorite way to spend time with their child. Respondent 2 stated, “doing activities” as their favorite way to spend time with their child, while Respondent 3 stated, “reading, going 4 wheeling, playing” as theirs. When asked about what their family enjoyed most about the activities, Respondent 4 stated, “It brought a lot of fun and laughter for our family.” Respondent 6 stated, “reading and playing house and painting” as their favorite way to spend time with their child, while Respondent 8 listed things they enjoyed doing with their child like, “Drawing (with chalk on sidewalk)… making up our own stories and drawing a pic about it… Cooking (she likes to make her own pizza).” Respondent 9 stated, “reading, playing, exploring, and museums” as their favorite way to spend time with their child, while Respondent 10 stated two responses associated with their favorite part of the activities, “having fun,” and their favorite way to spend time with their child, “doing fun activities.” The responses stated shows the variation in ways parents and children try to spend time with each other, and that the activities associated with the survey created fun for the families to have.
The open-ended responses from the survey relied on family time, their interest in crafts, and having fun to encourage parental involvement. Many of the responses given by the respondents were very similar as five out of 11 respondents stated similar responses about spending time with family. Three out of the 11 respondents mentioned an interest in crafts when responding to the open-ended questions. Eight out of the 11 respondents mentioned a variety of responses of their favorite way to spend time with their child or that their favorite part of the activities was that they had fun, suggesting the theme of “having fun.” It is important to note that the themes of “interest in crafts” and “having fun” are intertwined with the theme of “family time,” or the association with spending time with families. The activities sent home and the responses from the parent or guardian of the child can be associated with Epstein’s parental involvement of basic obligations of families and involvement in learning activities at home (Epstein & Dauber, 1991). It is suggested through the responses that parents provided a safe and positive condition that supported their child through learning management. It is also implied with involvement in learning activities at home that parents assisted their child in the required areas and prepared their child for further learning, promoting parental involvement (Epstein & Dauber, 1991; Bower & Griffin, 2011).
Conclusion
This study further proves that parental involvement is crucial to a successful education (Epstein & Dauber, 1991; Hornby & Lafaele, 2011; Tazouti & Jarlégan, 2019; Janssen &
Vandenbroeck, 2018). This study focused on the two of the six types of parental involvement: involvement of basic obligations of families and involvement in learning activities at home. Both involve supporting their children through their learning and behavioral management (Epstein & Dauber, 1991; Ansari & Gershoff, 2016).
The research and analyses conducted found that there is small difference between socioeconomic status, represented through the highest level of education in a household, and parental involvement. However, previous research had suggested that middle-class parents were more likely to be involved in parental involvement activities, compared to parents with a higher socioeconomic status (Hornby & Lafaele, 2011; Tazouti & Jarlégan, 2019). We originally predicted that families who reported more enjoyment in family-fun time activities would have higher levels of parental involvement. Our analysis reported that a higher socioeconomic status, represented through a higher level of education within their household, are less likely to be involved. Our qualitative findings showed that the pre-packaged family-fun time activities reduced stress for parents, implying that stress is associated with parental involvement. We found that not only does socioeconomic status contribute minimally to parental involvement and that parental involvement may be more stressful than interpreted to be.
Limitations
There were many limitations within our study. The first limitation is that our sample size is not large enough. A 22% response rate is not an appropriate response rate when 51 surveys were sent out. It can also be implied that our sample size is not generalizable to all subsets of populations, as we focused on educational levels before kindergarten. It can also not be generalizable because Prince Edward and Buckingham County are not representative of parental involvement and socioeconomic status as a whole. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) is another dilemma faced during this study. Not only did COVID-19 shut down the Head Start program for the 2020 school year, but it also disrupted parental patterns of sending paperwork back to school with their children. We also believe that the change in the gift for participation in the survey influenced the response rate. Instead of a gift card, participants were given a children’s book.
References
Ansari, A., & Gershoff, E. (2016). Parent involvement in head start and children’s development: Indirect effects through parenting. Journal of Marriage and Family, 78(2), 562-579.
Bower, H. A., & Griffin, D. (2011). Can the epstein model of parental involvement work in a high-minority, high-poverty elementary school? A case study. Professional School Counseling, 15(2), 77-87.
Caño, K. J., Cape, M. G., Cardosa, J. M., Miot, C., Pitogo, G. R., & Quinoa, C. M. (2016). Parental involvement on pupils’ performance: Epstein’s framework. The Online Journal of New Horizons in Education, 6(4), 143-150.
Epstein, J. L., & Dauber, S. L. (1991). School programs and teacher practices of parent involvement in inner-city elementary and middle schools. The Elementary School Journal, 91(3), 289-305.
Hornby, G., & Lafaele, R. (2011). Barriers to parental involvement in education: An explanatory model. Educational Review, 63(1), 37-52.
Hornby, G., & Blackwell, I. (2018). Barriers to parental involvement in education: An update. Educational Review, 70(1), 109-119.
Janssen, J., & Vandenbroeck, M. (2018). (De)constructing parental involvement in early childhood curricular frameworks. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 26(6), 813-832.
Report – the positive relationship between family involvement and student success. (n.d.) National Parent Teacher Association.
Tazouti, Y., & Jarlégan, A. (2019). The mediating effects of parental self-efficacy and parental involvement on the link between family socioeconomic status and children’s academic achievement. Journal of Family Studies, 25(3), 250-266.