Parent Involvement Critical For Students

— Parents plus schools equal student success, Dr. James Marshall, assistant professor of family life with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.

“Schools were created to help parents in the teaching of their children, not be a substitute for parental direction and involvement,” Marshall said. “Parents should be involved in their children’s education from the first day.”

“Parents who are disconnected emotionally or physically from their children won’t have much effect in helping children succeed,” he said. “Loving and spending time with children are the most important starting points for helping them to succeed in school.”

Rewarding children for doing well in school can be a great motivator for success,” Marshall said.“Of course, all parents want their children to be self-motivated to do well in school.”

Parents can help children develop self-motivation over time through “value nurturing.”

It works by parents asking the child, on a consistent basis, “How does it make you feel to know you have done so well on your most recent report card or on that spelling test ?”

Parents might also say something such as, “You must feel very proud to have done so well on your report card.”

Questions or statements such as these help the child to begin to formulate his or her own internal reasons and motivations for doing well in school, whether you reward them or not, he says.

Sometimes what teachers and/or parents think may be a learning disability in a child can be something as simple as a child needing glasses to see better. Other times, it may be something more complex. If a parent thinks a problem exists, they should begin by using the resources available at the child’s school.

“Occasionally walking a child into school, picking them up from school, attending parent-teacher conferences or participating in school activities or the PTA are excellent ways parents can keep communication lines open between home and school,” Marshall says.

Parents who are willing to put forth this effort can help their children be more successful in school, he says.

For more information on child care and education, contact your county extension agent.

Opinion, Pages 10 on 01/13/2010