Family Involvement Makes a Difference in School Success
Family involvement promotes school success for every child
of every age.
The evidence is clear: Family involvement helps children get ready to enter
school, promotes their school success, and prepares youth for college. This
Research Brief presents findings from HFRP's ongoing, in-depth review of research
and evaluated programs that link family involvement in children's education
to student outcomes.
Family involvement helps children get ready to enter school.
Research Findings:
• Children whose parents read to them at home recognize letters of the
alphabet sooner than those whose parents do not.1
• Children whose parents teach them how to write words are able to identify
letters and connect them to speech sounds.2
• Children whose mothers use complex sentences in their everyday conversations
achieve high scores on literacy-related tasks in kindergarten.3
Evaluated Program:
Raising a Reader
Raising a Reader is a program that provides books for children from birth through
age 5 and encourages parents to read to their children every day. When parents
establish a reading routine with their children, they provide more family bonding
time and an opportunity for their children's vocabulary and preliteracy skills
to grow. Six independent evaluations show that Raising a Reader improves reading
behavior and kindergarten readiness, especially for low-income, non-English
speaking families. Begun in California, Raising a Reader has spread to 24 U.S.
states and three countries.
Family involvement promotes elementary school children's success.
Research Findings:
• Children in grades K–3 whose parents participate in school activities
have high quality work habits and task orientation.4
• Children whose parents provide support with homework perform better
in the classroom.5
• Children whose parents explain educational tasks are more likely to
participate in class, seek help from the teacher when needed, and monitor their
own work.6
Evaluated Program:
Families and Schools Together (FAST)
Families and Schools Together (FAST) is a program designed to build relationships
within families and between families and schools to address childhood problems
such as school failure, violence, and delinquency. Five experimental studies
found that the program made a positive impact on elementary students' health,
social skills, behavior, and academic competence and on parents' parenting skills.
Begun in Wisconsin, the FAST program is now implemented nationally in 45 U.S.
states and internationally in five countries.
Family involvement prepares youth for college.
Research Findings:
• Adolescents whose parents monitor their academic and social activities
have lower rates of delinquency and higher rates of social competence and academic
growth.7
• Youth whose parents are familiar with college preparation requirements
and are engaged in the application process are most likely to graduate high
school and attend college.8
• Youth whose parents have high academic expectations and who offer consistent
encouragement for college have positive student outcomes.9
Evaluated Program:
Parent Institute for Quality Education (PIQE)
PIQE's 9-week training course for parents has successfully reduced high school
drop out rates and college participation for Latino youth living in California.
Specifically, the children of parents who graduated from PIQE in one region
of California achieved a high school graduation rate of 93%, compared to the
national high school graduation rate for Latinos of 53%.10
Moreover, nearly 80% of the Latino youth whose parents participated in PIQE
enrolled in college. This surpasses the national average for college enrollment
in the general population of 62%. PIQE is expanding to Texas and Arizona.
Family involvement supports all children, especially those less likely to
succeed in school.
Research Findings:
• Low-income African American children whose families maintained high
rates of parent participation in elementary school are more likely to complete
high school.11
• Low-income African American children with mothers involved in their
education showed more self-control in unruly and disorganized classrooms than
children whose parents did not provide supportive relationships at home.12
• Latino youth who are academically high achieving have parents who provide
encouragement and emphasize the value of education as a way out of poverty.13
Evaluated Program:
Chicago Child-Parent Centers (CPC)
The CPC program served low-income preschoolers through third graders and promoted
parent involvement through home visits, classroom volunteer opportunities, workshops
and courses, and parent–teacher meetings. Low-income children who participated
in CPC were more prepared for kindergarten and less likely to be referred to
special education. They also tested higher in eighth grade reading, were more
likely to finish high school, and had lower rates of grade retention.14
Family involvement in the CPC program during the early years was associated
with greater parent involvement in the elementary school years, which in turn
was related with positive student outcomes in high school.15
About HFRP
Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP) at the Harvard Graduate School of Education
delivers research evidence and information to a national audience of researchers,
practitioners, and policymakers. Through the dissemination of research, HFRP
has helped shape effective educational policies and practices for disadvantaged
children and youth for over 20 years.
Contact HFRP
HFRP is located at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, 3 Garden Street,
Cambridge, MA 02138. Call us at 617-495-9108, or visit us on the web at www.hfrp.org.
The HFRP Concept of Complementary Learning
HFRP is guided by our concept of complementary learning, based on the
conviction that for children and youth to be successful from birth through adolescence,
there must be an array of linked learning supports around them. See www.complementarylearning.org
for resources on two elements of complementary learning: the linkage between
families and schools and the linkage between out-of-school time programs and
schools.
Citations
1 Nord, C. W.,
Lennon, J., Liu, B., & Chandler, K. (1999). Home literacy activities
and signs of children's emerging literacy, 1993 and 1999. Washington, DC:
US Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement.
Available at nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2000026
2 Haney, M. H.,
& Hill, J. (2004). Relationships between parent-teaching activities and
emergent literacy in preschool children. Early Child Development and Care,
17(3), 215–228.
3 Britto, P. R.,
& Brooks-Gunn, J. (2001). Beyond shared book reading: Dimensions of home
literacy and low-income African American preschoolers' skills. In J. Brooks-Gunn
& P. R. Britto (Eds.), New directions for child and adolescent development:
Vol. 92. The role of family literacy environments in promoting young children's
emerging literacy skills (pp. 73–93). New York: Jossey-Bass; Tabors,
P. O., Roach, K. A., & Snow, C. E. (2001). Home language and literacy environment:
Final results. In D. K. Dickinson & P. O. Tabors (Eds.), Beginning literacy
with language (pp. 111–138). Cambridge, MA: Paul Brookes Publishing.
4 Izzo, C. V., Weissberg,
R. P., Kasprow, W. J., & Fendrich, M. (1999). A longitudinal assessment
of teacher perceptions of parent involvement in children's education and school
performance. American Journal of Community Psychology, 27(6), 817–839.
5 Hoover-Dempsey,
K. V., Battiato, A. C., Walker, J. M. T., Reed, R. P., DeLong, J. M., &
Jones, K. P. (2001). Parental involvement in homework. Educational Psychologist,
36, 195–210; Walker, J. M. T., Hoover-Dempsey, K. V., Whetsel, D. R.,
& Green, C. L. (2004). Parental involvement in homework: A review of
current research and its implications for teachers, after school program staff,
and parent leaders. Retrieved April 11, 2005, from Harvard University, Harvard
Family Research Project website, http://www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/projects/fine/resources/research/homework.html
6 Stright, A. D.,
Neitzel, C., Sears, K. G., & Hoke-Sinex, L. (2001). Instruction begins in
the home: Relations between parental instruction and children's self-regulation
in the classroom. Journal of Educational Psychology, 93(3), 456–466.
7 Catsambis, S.
(2001). Expanding knowledge of parental involvement in children's secondary
education: Connections with high school seniors' academic success. Social
Psychology of Education, 5(2), 149–177; Falbo, T., Lein, L., &
Amador, N. A. (2001). Parental involvement during the transition to high school.
Journal of Adolescent Research, 16, 511–529; Rankin, B., & Quane,
J. M. (2002). Social contexts and urban adolescent outcomes: The interrelated
effects of neighborhoods, families, and peers on African-American youth. Social
Problems, 49(1), 79–100; Rodriguez, J. L. (2002). Family environment
and achievement among three generations of Mexican American high school students.
Applied Developmental Science, 6, 88–94; Sartor, C. E., & Youniss,
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B. G., & Crump, A. D. (2003). Association of parental involvement and social
competence with school adjustment and engagement among sixth graders. Journal
of School Health, 73(3), 121–126; Simpson, A. R. (2001). Raising
teens: A synthesis of research and a foundation for action. Boston: Center
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8 Auerbach, S. (2004).
Engaging Latino parents in supporting college pathways: Lessons from a college
access program. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education 3(2), 125–145.
9 Ma, X. (2001).
Participation in advanced mathematics: Do expectation and influence of students,
peers, teachers and parents matter? Contemporary Educational Psychology,
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Mexican Americans' education expectations: Longitudinal effects of variables
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10 Vidano, G.,
& Sahafi, M. (2004). Parent Institute for Quality Education: Organization
Special Report on PIQE's Performance Evaluation. Available at http://www.piqe.org/Assets/SpecialPrj/PiqeSDSU.htm
11 Barnard, W.
M. (2004). Parent involvement in elementary school and educational attainment.
Children & Youth Services Review, 26(1), 39–62.
12 Brody, G. H.,
Dorsey, S., Forehand, R., & Armistead, L. (2002). Unique and protective
contributions of parenting and classroom processes to the adjustment of African-American
children living in single-parent families. Child Development, 73(1),
274–286.
13 Ceballo, R.
(2004). From Barrios to Yale: The role of parenting strategies in Latino families.
Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 25(2), 171–186; Gandara,
P. (1995). Over the ivy walls: The educational mobility of low-income Chicanos.
Albany: State University of New York Press.
14 Barnard, 2004;
Clements, M. A., Reynolds, A., J., & Hickey, E. (2004). Site-level predictors
of children's school and social competence in the Chicago Child-Parent Centers.
Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 19, 273–296; Graue, E., Clements,
M. A., Reynolds, A. J., & Niles, M. D. (2004). More than teacher directed
or child initiated: Preschool curriculum type, parent involvement and children's
outcomes in the Child-Parent Centers. Education Policy Analysis Archives,
12(72), 1–38. Available at http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v12n72/v12n72.pdf;
Miedel, W. T., & Reynolds, A. J. (1999). Parent involvement in early intervention
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15 Ou, S. (2005).
Pathways of long-term effects of an early intervention program on educational
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