What Parents Can Do that Matters Most

DOING WHAT MATTERS MOST –  From People for Education

How parents can help their children succeed at school and how schools can support them 

A synopsis of a new report from People for Education
September 2011
People for Education researchers reviewed thirty years of research from Canada, the United States and
England. And the evidence is unequivocal: parents make a difference.
But the kind of involvement that makes the biggest difference to students’ chances for success in
school isn’t what most parents might expect. Chatting with kids about school or even asking questions
about a TV show – helping to connect something kids learned in school to a real world experience –
does more for students’ chances for success than “drill and skill” homework sessions, endless nagging,
or racing off to a school meeting.
Unfortunately, the report also found that EQAO student surveys show that many, if not most, Ontario
students report their parents aren’t doing the things that really make a difference.

HOMEWORK LOW ON THE LIST OF EFFECTIVE PARENT INVOVLEMENT ACTITIVIES  

More important than limiting TV time, volunteering on the school council, or even monitoring
homework, there are four things parents can do that experts agree improve students’ chances for
success:
1. High expectations
High parental expectations have the greatest impact on student achievement. When parents
consistently communicate their belief in their children’s potential and communicate that they expect
them to be able to succeed academically, students do better.
2. Talking about school  
A major study of 25,000 U.S. schoolchildren showed “home discussion”—parents talking with children
about school activities and programs—had a greater impact on academic achievement than monitoring
kids’ homework, parents being at home after school, or limiting TV time or the time students were
allowed to go out during the week.  Home-based involvement doesn’t necessarily involve hands-on help
with homework. Students’ homework in older grades is related to achievement. But a major research
synthesis on parent involvement in homework found, in fact, its effect is “negligible to nonexistent,
except among the youngest students”
3. Attitudes and work habits  
As children grow older, many of the factors that directly affect achievement are out of parents’ control.
Like it or not, parents can’t teach children everything they need to know. Parents’ most critical
influence on school success is in how they shape children’s attitudes, their sense of personal
competence, and work habits including persistence, seeking help, and planning. This means that rather
than trying to directly “teach” their children, the more important work of parents is in helping kids
handle distractions, negotiating crises of confidence, praising for effort and persistence or
constructively handling conflict while being positive about school as a whole.   2
4. Reading together  
Reading is one of the main foundations of all education. And parents’ can make a major difference by
reading and talking about books and stories with their children. Reading with and to children – in any
language – is the best way to turn kids on to reading. But this doesn’t mean pushing children to sound
out words, or that parents should be trying to teach their children to read. Parents’ most important
role is building the comprehension and oral language skills that come through reading with their
children and the conversations parents and kids have about what they’ve read.

EQAO SURVEYS REVEAL A GAP BETWEEN WHAT RESEARCHERS KNOW AND WHAT 

PARENTS AND SCHOOLS DO
A 2009-10 survey by the province’s Educational Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) of 252,218
students grade 3 and 6 students, 15,804 teachers, and 3,466 principals shows that many parents don’t
talk to their kids about school or read with them regularly and many schools struggle to reach parents.
Talking
• Less than half of students in grade 3 (46%) report they talk to a parent or guardian “every day
or almost every day” about their school activities.
• 26% of grade 3 students say they talk about school activities with a parent or guardian either
once or twice a month, or never.
• In grade 6, only 38% of students say they talk about school activities with their parent or
guardian “every day or almost every day.”
• 29% of grade 6 students report they talk about school activities either once or twice a month,
or never.
Reading
• Only 21% of children in grade 3 report that they read together with a parent or guardian “every
day or almost every day.”
• 55% of grade 3 students report either that they never read with a parent or guardian, or that
they do so only once or twice a month.
• By grade 6, only 4% of students report that they read together nearly every day (but 74% say
they read by themselves at least once a week).
The report says that “collaborative relationships with teachers and others at the school are linked to
improved attendance, better student engagement, more positive relationships… and it is easier for kids
to move between home and school with a positive attitude about both.”
The report also says that “invitations from teachers,” two-way communication between the home and
the school, and outreach from the school all have a positive impact on parents’ decisions to participate
in their children’s education at home.
But results from the EQAO surveys show that schools may be more effective at communicating with
parents about school-based activities.
• 86% of principals say they keep all parents informed about school activities, but only 32% say
they feel successful at helping all parents understand student learning goals and outcomes.
• 72% of principals reported that their school has collaborative relationships with parents to
help meet learning goals, but only 55% of grade 3 teachers and 37% of grade 6 teachers say
they regularly (once a month or more) communicate with parents about the learning goals for
the class. 3
• 60% of grade 3 teachers and only 38% of grade 6 teachers say they regularly (once a month or
more) share information with parents about what they can do at home to support their
children’s learning.

TOOL KITS COMING 

To accompany the new report, People for Education, will release a series of tip sheets – for parents,
school councils, teachers and principals – providing concrete actions each can take to support parentsparticipation in their children’s education.
For more information, or to read the full report go to:
www.peopleforeducation.com