Abstract
Parental involvement is an important factor in a child’s development. Without parental involvement, some children may get behind or struggle acadmeically. The purpose of this study was to try and get parents more involved with their children with different activities. Activities were sent home over the span of a week to Head Start children to see how involved their parents or family would be. A survey was sent home the following week to the families to be filled out to see what parents thought about the activities and to see if they were done. This is a mixed methods study where qualitative and quantitative data were analyzed . The qualitative data show what different themes the families had in common as they completed the activities and what they have in common as far as helping their children. The quantitative data show parental work responsibilities in relation to parental involvement. Some themes that arise throughout the research will be how parents enjoy doing new activities with their children, how they like to read with their children, and how parents enjoy spending time with their children. Some of the statistics shown will be the mean level of parental involvement, the median level of parental involvement, and the mean parental involvement by parental work responsibility. Some of the practical implications of the study would have been if all the families completed the activities. This would have made it a bit easier for research to show how all families in the area and in the different demographics felt about the activities and how involved the families are.
Introduction
The research question being addressed is can activities encourage parental or family involvement. If families participate in all activities sent home then they are more likely to be encouraged and be involved with their children. This is what the expected outcome was hoped to be. There are quite a few studies out that show how important parental involvement is (Durisic & Bunijevac, 2017; Epstein, 1987; Hindman et al., 2012; Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2001; Larocque et al., 2011; Malone, 2017; Menheere & Hooge, 2010; Ntekane, 2018; Sapungan & Sapungan, 2014). Some sources, which will be included in this study, show how parental involvement can have an effect on a child’s education. Starting young helps keep parents involved throughout most of the child’s educational career which is important. Children need that form of stimulation to keep them interested in their education. Having that parent-child bond helps both parent and child understand some things they may not have before. There are some factors that cannot be controlled that can hurt parental involvement, but some of these factors were asked about to see how involved parents would be with these different challenges.
The studies used in this research mainly showed the educational standpoint of parental involvement. Previous research did not state how involved the families needed to be or how involved they needed to stay in order to have a lasting effect on the child. Some of the studies were mainly focused on primary and secondary school children as the surveys and activities were sent to Head Start families. This study done was important. It shows research of younger children and how involved their families are. Involvement may not start until later on in the educational career, but it is needed as soon as the child starts learning. Keeping parents or families involved helps children understand more and helps the excel in what they need to.
The purpose of this research is to show how involved some parents or families are by sending home Family Fun Time activites. The activities sent home were sent to Head Start families and surveys were sent after to try and gauge the level of involvement the parents or families had. Not every family was going to be fully involved, but the hope was to have all the families do at least one or two of the activities with their children. Not every family did, but that is to be expected. With preexisting factors that may hurt a parent’s level of involvement, not every activity was expected to be done.
Literature Review
Parental involvement is important in influencing a child’s educational experience (Durisic & Bunijevac, 2017; Epstein, 1987; Hindman et al., 2012; Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2001; Larocque et al., 2011; Malone, 2017; Menheere & Hooge, 2010; Ntekane, 2018; Sapungan & Sapungan, 2014). Children, especially young children, learn almost everything they know from their parents. Early on it is crucial to set children up for success. It has been shown that with more parental involvement in school, like helping with homework or parents being actively involved in school life, that a student is more likely to succeed (Durisic & Bunijevac, 2017; Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2001; Larocque et al., 2011; Ntekane, 2018; Sapungan & Sapungan, 2014). There are some factors that cannot be controlled that can impact parental involvement. These factors can have an impact on the child and how they will learn. Studies have shown that teachers and parents both have a big influence on how their student will grow and how they learn (Sapungan & Sapungan, 2014). This review will analyze research on parental involvement, the effects of parental involvement, and the socioeconomic status of parents and how the Head Start Program is helpful. These topics will show how parental involvement can help or hurt a child’s educational career.
Parental Involvement
Family or parental involvement is known as the parent’s or caregiver’s investment in the education of their child (Larocque et al., 2011; Menheere & Hooge, 2010). Parental involvement is something that sticks around throughout a child’s whole education career and can shape how a child will do in the rest of their time in school. There are different types of parental or family involvement. There is school involvement, cognitive-intellectual involvement, and personal involvement. Each type of involvement is different and can help a child in different ways. According to Overstreet et al. (2005) School involvement has activities like homework that can involve the parent in their child’s school life. Cognitive-intellectual involvement describes the different types of activities that are stimulating to a child’s mind such as reading with a child. Parental involvement describes knowing what is going on in a child’s educational career and what is doing good or bad for the child. It can be hard for every parent to be involved in their child’s education. In this case schools try to do different things and take in the different factors to try to help parents be more involved. Families with more diverse backgrounds have a harder time being able to be involved because there are certain barriers that can be an issue (Larocque et al., 2011). Even though the barriers can be an issue there is a way around them that can be helped and can help parents be more involved. Joyce Epstein’s model of parental involvement (Epstein , 1987) is a way for schools to try and work around these barriers and help parents and teachers with involvement (Sapungan & Sapungan, 2014).
Effects on Children
As stated before, parental involvement can help a child have a successful educational career (Durisic & Bunijevac, 2017; Hindman et al., 2012; Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2001; Larocque et al., 2011; Malone, 2017; Menheere & Hooge, 2010; Ntekane, 2018; Sapungan & Sapungan, 2014). Sometimes too much of one thing can hurt just as much as not enough. This can be said for relationships between parents and teachers. Sometimes there can be a dynamic that can cause issues with what the parents expect and what the teachers expect. Some teachers or administrators do not know or have the skills needed to involve parents or they may not fully understand how important parental involvement is for children (Flynn, 2007). It is better for everyone when parents and teachers have some type of relationship as communication flows smoothly and the children are able to get the best forms of support and education (Larocque et al., 2011; Sapungan & Sapungan, 2014). Sometimes there are instances where a parent may not be able to help because they did not get the best education, or they did not do great in school and fear not being able to help their child succeed (Menheere & Hooge, 2010). There are some factors people cannot control, and those factors shape how a child will grow and how they may succeed. There are more positive effects of parental involvement that have been found than negative. These can actually benefit the child, parent, and teacher. Children tend to like school and prosper better, parents know more of what is going on in schools and understand the teachers better, and there is more respect and community involvement in schools (Sapungan & Sapungan, 2014). There are more outside factors that can play a different role in the lives of everyone involved, but parental involvement plays a big role in the beginning of a child’s life and can have a lasting impact.
Socioeconomic Status and the Head Start Program
Socioeconomic status is a position that is determined socially by salary, employment, and education (Hook, Lawson, & Farah, 2013). Sometimes the amount of money or wealth a person has can play a big role in the educational opportunities of their children (Malone, 2017). Money plays a big factor in everyday life and is needed for almost anything. Socioeconomic status of parents can play a part in a child’s education. Parents with more money have more time to be involved with their children. These parents have more time on their hands because they do not need many jobs to be able to support their families (Malone, 2017 ; Ntekane, 2018). Parents with a lower socioeconomic status can have certain factors that make it harder for them to be involved with their children at any age. Some parents may not be well educated, or they have not had enough free time to be able to help their children (Malone, 2017). For younger children there are government-run programs that can help parents with education. Things like the Head Start program, which are like a preschool program but are for people with low income. These programs are there for the parents that are not able to send their children to a traditional preschool. Head Start is aimed at helping get parents involved with their children (Hindman et al., 2012 ; Montialoux, 2016). These programs can help be a long-term form of involvement for parents as Head Start encourages family or parent involvement from the start (Hindman et al., 2012 ; Montialoux, 2016). Like traditional schools, there is the parent teacher dynamic that can make or break a child’s education. With parents having trust in the educators, involvement can improve.
Importance
Parental involvement is important when it comes to a child’s education. Parents are a child’s first source of knowledge and parents help guide their children throughout their lives. Children need some type of stimulation to be able to help them learn and grow more at home and at school. Parental involvement has been seen as a good thing, but sometimes issues can stem from teachers or parents and cause issues for both parties (Durisic & Bunijevac, 2017; Epstein, 1987; Hindman et al., 2012; Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2001; Larocque et al., 2011; Malone, 2017; Menheere & Hooge, 2010; Ntekane, 2018; Sapungan & Sapungan, 2014). There are some things that people cannot control that can possibly hinder said involvement. These factors are not always a parent’s fault. Some parents may not have a full education, or they may not have the best socioeconomic status. These factors can lead to less parental involvement, but schools will try to take steps to be able to help said parents when it is needed. Government-run programs, like Head Start, are also there to help those parents that do not have the best financial status. These programs can help parents get more involved and make sure they are on track to help their children. Parental involvement helps children learn new skills and will let said children learn easier both at home and at school. It is important to get parents and families involved early on in a child’s life to help the learning process and keep children on the track of success.
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 close-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 family involvement. The item from the questionnaire that was used to operationalize this was, “How much were you involved in the activity?”. The answer choices for this item were, “On a scale from 0-10, 0 being not at all and 10 being a great amount”. The independent variable for this study is parental worktime. The item from the questionnaire that was used to operationalize this was, “On average, how many hours a week do you work?”. The answer choices for this question were, “0-10 hours”, “11-20 hours”, “21-30 hours”, “31-40 hours”, “41-50 hours”, “51 or more hours”. 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, Can activities encourage family/parent involvement?, inductive open coding was used to determine reoccurring themes in the participant’s responses.
Findings
Quantitative Findings
For the quantitative findings themes section the following variables were analyzed using descriptive statistics: Parental work responsibility and parent involvement with their child. For parental work responsibility, one respondent reported having to work zero to ten hours. One respondent reported having to work twenty-one to thirty hours. Seven respondents reported having to work thirty-one to forty hours. Two respondents reported having to work forty-one to fifty hours. These findings can be seen in figure 1.
Figure 1.
Parental Work Responsibility
The dependent variable is Parent Involvement measured on a scale from 0 to 10. The mean parent involvement score was 8.3. The median score was 8. The mode score was 10. The standard deviation is 1.7. This can be seen in table 1.
Table 1.
Parent involvement
| Mean | Median | Mode | S.D | |
| Level of Involvement | 8.3 | 8 | 10 | 1.7 |
A bivariate analysis was run. The bivariate analysis is the mean of the factors. The mean for zero to then hours was 10. The mean for twenty-one to thirty hours was 10. The mean for thirty-one to forty hours was 7.5. The mean for forty-one to fifty hours was 10. This can be seen in table 2. This relates back to the literature review because it shows that parents that work less are more likely to be more involved because they have more time to do things with their children (Malone, 2017 ; Ntekane, 2018).
Table 2.
Mean Parent Involvement by Parent’s Work Responsibility
| Work Responsibility | Mean |
| 0-10 Hours | 10 |
| 21-30 Hours | 10 |
| 31-40 Hours | 7.5 |
| 41-50 Hours | 10 |
Qualitative Findings
Eleven Family Fun Time surveys were coded. Out of the surveys three themes emerged from the coding. The themes were: spending time together, learning new activities, and reading together. These themes were used to help understand parental involvement in the Family Fun Time activities.
Of the eleven surveys, four respondents stated they enjoyed spending time together. Respondent 1 stated, “These activities made it so easy and stress free to do something together!” This shows that the family had fun together and were able to spend time doing the activity together. Respondent 2 stated, “Spending time together,” as something they enjoyed from the activities. This shows that the family did spend some time together will doing the activity. Respondent 3 stated, “The family time we spent together.” The respondent then goes on to state how much happy their child was doing the activities. This shows that the family enjoyed the time they spent doing the activities. Respondent 6 stated, “Being together and helping each other.” This shows that the family spent time helping with and doing the activities with their child.
Of the eleven surveys, three respondents stated they enjoyed learning new activities. Respondent 2 stated, “Learning new thing,” as one of the parts of the activities their family enjoyed. Learning new things helps children stay interested and want to do more activities. Respondent 4 stated, “My kids were able to learn a lot.” As part of something their family enjoyed. When children are able to learn more with fun activities they stay involved and want to keep doing said activities. Respondent 4 also stated that, “learning new activities.” Was one of their favorite ways to spend time with their child. This helps the child as they have fun ways to spend time with their family and a fun way to learn more as they grow.
Of the eleven surveys, four respondents stated they read together with their child as other activities they do. Respondent 1 stated, “#1 is singing and dancing together!! Cooking, arts and crafts, reading, going for walks.” as their favorite ways to spend time with their child. This is beneficial in the sense of their child learning to read, and the parent/family being involved often. Respondent 3 stated, “Reading, going 4 wheeling, playing” was also their favorite ways to spend time with their child. Reading helps children create a bond with their family as they are spending quality time together. Respondent 6 stated, “Reading and playing house and painting.” Were their favorite ways to spend time with their child. Doing multiple activities helps children stay involved and parents want to be involved more. Respondent 9 stated, “Reading, playing, exploring, and museums.” As their favorite ways to spend time with their child. It is always important to do many thing to keep children involved and interested as this can help them as they are growing and learning.
These surveys show references of spending time together, learning new things, and reading as forms of parent involvement. Of the surveys given back, most parents/families were pretty involved in the activities unless directed otherwise. This shows that there is a lot of potential for parental involvement when given the chance. There are some extra factors that can come into play that can hinder parental involvement, but overall, most of the respondents to the survey were involved in the activities. It was shown that some families enjoyed spending the time together and some enjoyed learning new activities. It was also shown that outside of these activities, some families enjoy reading as a way to spend time with their children. These activities helped to show how involved some families are and how some families will make the time to do certain things if they are sent home from school. Parental involvement is helpful as children are able to create those bonds with their families and they are able to have someone help them along the way.
Conclusion
In this study, it was shown that parents that were involved in the activities provided already had some level of previous involvement with their children. Not every family completed the surveys, but of the 11 back most had a high level of involvement with their children. Most of the families had different activities that they do at home to stay involved with their children, like reading or playing outside. Some families are more involved than others, but there are factors that cause this.
There were some limitations to this study. There was only a 22% response rate. Out of the 51 sent surveys only 11 came back. COVID-19 can be partly to blame for this as the students in Head Start were not in person for the 2020-2021 year. Parents were trying to get back to their routine. The school also had not done a lot of parent involved activities or programs, yet which seemed to be a slight deterrent. There has also been a national staffing shortage which makes it harder for the teachers already there to be able to keep up with so much work and so many activities. Also, in previous years a five-dollar certificate was given as incentive to finish the survey. This year books were given out instead which seemed to hinder the survey responses.
The findings from this research show that parents are being involved with their child at a younger age. This is helpful as there is not a lot if research on younger aged children and parental involvement. This can be beneficial to future research as more is needed for this topic and as everything changes in people’s lives more research will be needed to show the changes. A few things could have been done different. There could have been a different incentive to try and get the surveys back. Books are good for children, but they seemed to be less effective in getting responses from families. The activities could have been sent earlier in the year which gives parents more time to do them and not feel rushed to have them done and the surveys back. Weekly reminders can be sent to do the surveys and the surveys could be offered digitally at the beginning of the process to help those who do not like filling out paper surveys. Having more options for the families can help get the wanted results as it can be hard to obtain them. The research done was to help researches see how involved families in the area are and to try and determine better ways to get families involved and keep them involved.
References
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