School and home connections and children's kindergarten achievement gains: The mediating role of family involvement
Highlights
► Schools’ efforts to communicate with and engage families predicted greater family involvement in school and higher levels of student achievement in reading and math at the end of kindergarten. ► On average, family involvement at school and parents’ educational expectations were associated with gains in reading and math achievement in kindergarten. ► Family involvement did not completely mediate the relationship between school outreach efforts and children's math and reading achievement gains, only family involvement at school was a partial mediator of the influence of school outreach efforts on achievement gains for reading and math.
Section snippets
Family involvement theory and children's academic achievement
This study adopted a multidimensional definition of involvement, consistent with current research and theory. These definitions include Epstein's (2001), framework of six types of family and community involvement (parenting, communication, volunteering, learning at home, decision making, and collaborating with the community) and Grolnick's (Grolnick et al., 1997, Grolnick and Slowiaczek, 1994) three dimensions of involvement (cognitive, affective, and school-based). Others distinguish between
School outreach to families and students and families outcomes
Researchers have shown that schools are critical influences on family involvement. Parents are more likely to be involved in their child's education when the school or teachers make a stronger effort to engage them in their children's learning (Deslandes and Bertrand, 2005, Epstein, 2001, Green et al., 2007, Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2005, Sheldon and Van Voorhis, 2004). When educators foster stronger links with families by being responsive to and communicative with parents, families are expected
Research questions and hypotheses
This study built on previous research to analyze the influences of practices designed to engage families in their children's education on parental behaviors and students’ academic gains. Three research questions and hypotheses guided this study:
- 1)
To what extent is school outreach to families associated with family involvement (family involvement at home, in school, and parents’ educational expectations)? Based on prior research, we hypothesized that school outreach would be positively associated
Method
The data came from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS-K) Kindergarten Class of 1998–1999, sponsored by the National Center of Education Statistics. ECLS-K focused on young children's cognitive and non-cognitive growth and collected information from students, parents, teachers, and administrators. Using a multistage probability sampling design, ECLS-K included a nationally representative sample of about 21,000 kindergarteners in over 1000 schools. For more details of the ECLS-K study,
Association between school outreach to parents and involvement
Table 2 includes the three models that give attention to different indicators of family involvement: family involvement in educational activities at home, family involvement in school-related activities, and parents’ educational expectations. The main independent variable of interest in all these models is: principals’ report of school outreach to parents. Regression estimates are reported as unstandardized coefficients in the table. Level-1 (student and family variables) and level-2 (school
Discussion
Researchers and policy makers have debated whether educational disparities are intrinsically related to the home environment or to the quality of the school a child attends. This study aimed to contribute to this discussion by examining the extent to which school outreach to parents and family involvement are associated with reading and math achievement gains in kindergarten, and the extent to which family involvement explains the relationship between school outreach to involve families and
Acknowledgements
This research was partially supported by a grant from the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development to the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships. Additional research support was provided by the Summer Faculty Fellowship program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. We appreciate the thoughtful comments of Joyce Epstein and the excellent research assistance of Amy Pucino. Opinions are the authors’ and do not necessarily reflect those of the funding
References (79)
- et al.
The detailed age trajectory of oral vocabulary knowledge: Differences by class and race
Social Science Research
(2004) - et al.
Longitudinal effects of parent involvement on high school grades: Similarities and differences across gender and ethnic groups
Journal of School Psychology
(1998) - et al.
A multidimensional, multi-level examination of mother and father involvement among culturally diverse Head Start families
Journal of School Psychology
(2008) - et al.
The contribution of the responsive classroom approach on children's academic achievement: Results from a three year longitudinal study
Journal of School Psychology
(2007) - et al.
On the efficacy of reading to preschoolers
Developmental Review
(1994) - et al.
Early mathematical experiences: Observing young black and white children's everyday activities
Early Childhood Research Quarterly
(2004) - et al.
First-grade classroom behavior: Its short- and long-term consequences for school performance
Child Development
(1993) - et al.
Parent involvement in education: Toward an understanding of parents’ decision making
The Journal of Educational Research
(2007) - et al.
The ecology of developmental processes
Expanding knowledge of parental involvement in children's secondary education: Connections with high school seniors’ academic success
Social Psychology of Education
(2001)
Educational investment, family context, and children's math and reading growth from kindergarten through third grade
Sociology of Education
Economically disadvantaged children's transitions into elementary school: Linking family processes, school contexts, and educational policy
American Educational Research Journal
Parents’ attitudes and practices of involvement in inner-city elementary and middle schools
The influence of parental education and family income on child achievement: The direct role of parental expectations and the home environment
Journal of Family Psychology
Race difference in parental influences on child achievement: Multiple pathways to success
Merrill-Palmer Quarterly
Family involvement in school and low-income children's literacy: Longitudinal associations between and within families
Journal of Educational Psychology
Motivation of parent involvement in secondary-level schooling
The Journal of Educational Research
Leveling the home advantage: Assessing the effectiveness of parental involvement in elementary school
Sociology of Education
Are schools the great equalizer? Cognitive inequality during the summer months and the school year
American Sociological Review
Centering predictor variables in cross-sectional multilevel models: A new look at an old issue
Psychological Methods
Children's achievement in early elementary school: Longitudinal effects of parental involvement, expectations, and quality of assistance
Journal of Educational Psychology
Children, schools, & inequality
School and family partnerships: Preparing educators and improving schools
Present and accounted for: Improving student attendance through family and community involvement
The Journal of Educational Research
Moving forward: Ideas for research on school, family, and community partnerships
Effects of parental involvement in developing competent readers in first grade
Reading Psychology
Parental involvement and students’ academic achievement: A meta-analysis
Educational Psychology Review
Multiple dimensions of family involvement and their relations to behavioral and learning competencies for urban, low-income children
School Psychology Review
Family involvement questionnaire: A multivariate assessment of family participation in early childhood education
Journal of Educational Psychology
The social competence of Latino kindergartners and growth in mathematical understanding
Developmental Psychology
Partnering with families to foster early achievement in reading and mathematics
Cause or effect? A longitudinal study of immigrant Latino parents’ aspirations and expectations, and their children's school performance
American Educational Research Journal
Educational expectations of Asian American youths: Determinants and ethnic differences
Sociology of Education
Parents’ motivation for involvement in children's education: An empirical test of a theoretical model of parental involvement
Journal of Educational Psychology
Predictors of parent involvement in children's schooling
Journal of Educational Psychology
Parents’ involvement in children's schooling: A multidimensional conceptualization and motivational model
Child Development
Academic trajectories from first to twelfth grades: Growth curves according to multiple risk and early child factors
Developmental Psychology
A new wave of evidence: The impact of school, family, and community connections on student achievement
Parent academic involvement as related to school behavior, achievement, and aspirations: Demographic variations across adolescence
Child Development
Cited by (215)
The Ties That Bind: An Examination of School-Family Relationships and Middle School Discipline in New York City
2024, Educational ResearcherImpacts of South Asian's culture, income, education and expectations on parental involvement in children's academic achievement
2024, International Journal of Comparative Education and DevelopmentQuality in early childhood education and care: A theoretical research synthesis and an integral framework of pedagogical quality
2024, Zeitschrift fur ErziehungswissenschaftBalancing acts: Parental coping and adaptation during COVID-19 in Türkiye
2024, Journal of Childhood, Education and Society