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Statistics in Brief: Parents and Schools: Partners in Student Learning
NCES: 96913
October 1996

Summary

Advocates for family-school partnerships in education believe that increasing family involvement will not only help to achieve the specific parent participation goal, but also will significantly help efforts to meet the other seven goals. These views are supported by research showing that when families and schools work together, students achieve higher academic performance. In the recently published Strong Families, Strong Schools (U. S. Department of Education 1994), the authors conclude that when parents are involved in their children's learning, the children earn higher grades and test scores, and they stay in school longer. The most significant ways that parents can influence this learning are through the attitudes, values, and materials found in the home environment. "Three factors over which parents exercise authority-- student absenteeism, variety of reading materials in the home, and excessive television watching-- explain nearly 90 percent of the differences in performance between high-and low-achieving states". The authors also claim that when parents are involved in a variety of ways at school, the performance of all children in the school tends to improve.

Increasing family involvement in children's learning has become a special focus in all school reform efforts. In addition to the information presented in this report, the Survey on Family and School Partnerships in Public School, K-8 gathered other data regarding the efforts elementary schools are making to actively engage parents and families in partnerships that support the academic work of children. School respondents provided information concerning school-to-home and home-to-school communication, volunteer opportunities for parents, the various resources schools make available to assist parents, the provision of information about school activities and student progress, and perceived barriers to parent involvement. These issues will be examined in a forthcoming analytical report, scheduled for release by the end of the year.

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