Increasing Parental Involvement in Low Performing Schools

Parental involvement is said to be one of the key factors in ensuring educational success for children. And while proponents of the "No Child Left Behind" legislation assert that increasing parental involvement will solve the problems encountered by low performing schools it seems, perhaps, that the challenges facing low income parents which may contribute to their lack of participating in the education of their children are often overlooked. Rather than continuing to criticize low income parents as unconcerned "slackers" perhaps all would benefit from a thorough examination of the obstacles preventing greater involvement and the development of potential solutions which would enable parents and educators to work together to overcome these obstacles.

A study conducted by the non-profit organization, Computers for Youth, found that one of the major obstacles to greater involvement by low income parents is simply lack of time. Often forced to work multiple jobs or take overnight shifts because of the increased income to be gained from shift differentials, low income parents generally have little free time to attend school events, assist children with homework or attend parent-teacher conferences.

As a middle class parent with a regular 9 to 5 schedule and paid vacation and personal time, it is easy for me to attend evening events at my child's school or request an hour or two of personal time each semester in order to attend parent-teacher conferences during the regular school day. It is easy to forget that the low income parent, working multiple jobs with constantly shifting work schedules and little or no flexibility regarding time off does not have these luxuries.

Other practical challenges might include such things as lack of transportation and lack of child care for other children in the household. For low income parents without automobiles and living in areas where public transportation may not be widely available simply getting to school events and conferences can be extremely difficult. While a middle income parent might think nothing of calling a taxi to attend a school event when a personal automobile is not available, we should remember that this simple act may be cost prohibitive for the low income parent on a very limited budget. Likewise, hiring a babysitter to look after other children in the household while attending school events and parent-teacher conferences might seem like a small feat to a middle income parent, but in a low income household these extra resources may simply not exist.

Low income immigrant parents may face language barriers that make them reluctant to participate in school events and cultural barriers may cause low income parents of certain ethnic backgrounds to feel uncomfortable discussing their child's academic hurdles with a teacher of a different cultural background.

Finally, some low income parents may have experienced their own academic difficulties and feel embarrassed, intimidated and ill-prepared to assist their children with homework.

Rather than simply lecturing low income parents in order to "educate" them on why their involvement is so critical to their child's success, perhaps a better approach would be to address some of the identified roadblocks in much more practical terms.

Many Head Start programs around the country have taken the approach of not only providing early childhood educational intervention for the pre-school student but also for the entire family as well. In Peoria, Illinois, for example the Peoria Citizen's Committee for Economic Opportunity, Inc. has partnered with Head Start by offering food service and free child care to parents attending school events and parent-teacher conferences. These joint endeavors are actually taking steps to remove some of the practical barriers to greater participation by low income parents. Access to alcohol rehab and other substance abuse rehabilitation and prevention programs have also been provided in an effort to assist parents in resolving their own issues so that they may eventually become more involved in the educational goals of their children.

Perhaps community groups and churches could work in conjunction with schools to provide assistance such as free transportation to school events, language interpretation services for non-English speaking parents, or even providing used computers and computer training to low income students and their families.

Exposing low income parents and their students to enrichment activities at local libraries, museums and cultural events might be another role that community organizations and churches could undertake to help parents become more accustomed to participating in educational activities with their children when they might not have the resources or the inclination to do so on their own.

Parent mentoring programs, in which low income parents are paired with middle and upper income parents from similar ethnic and cultural backgrounds could go a long way in providing the low income parents with sound role models for involvement in education and help lessen feelings of intimidation among parents who may have bad academic experiences in their own pasts which prevent them from becoming more involved.

Charities, community organizations and the religious community should take the initiative in providing the practical, hands-on assistance that will encourage and facilitate increased levels of participation by low income parents in the education of their children.

References:

Kallen, Tsikalas and Stock, Elisabeth. Real World Research: How Do Low Income Parents Support Their Children's Education. Computers for Youth, March 4, 2005.

Peoria Citizen's Committee for Economic Opportunity, Inc., www.pcceo.org.