The Effects of Interactive Reading Homework and Parent Involvement on Children's Inference Responses

This study examined the effects of (a) interactive reading homework, and (b) parent involvement with children during homework on students' responses to inference questions. Interactive reading homework refers to homework designed to involve both parents and children and to facilitate student reasoning. The participants were 84 parents and 84 second grade students from three Alabama elementary schools. Data were gathered using pre- and post student inference tests, parent behavior checklists, and parent homework questionnaires. The results indicated that interactive reading homework increased both parental involvement during the completion of reading homework assignments and students' ability to draw inferences.     

Why does parents’ involvement in youth’s learning vary across elementary,middle, and high school?

This research examined why parents’ involvement in youth’s learning varies as youth progress through school. 3074 Chinese youths (M age = 13.89 years) in elementary, middle, and high school and their parents reported on parents’ homework assistance and academic socialization. Youth and parents also reported on potential mechanisms underlying variation in these two types of involvement over the school years. Parents’ homework assistance and academic socialization were both higher in elementary than middle school in which they were higher than high school. Youth’s invitations for involvement, along with parents’ involvement role beliefs, involvement self-efficacy, and perceived involvement norms contributed to the tendency for the two types of involvement to be higher in elementary than middle school. Only youth’s invitations and parents’ perceived norms contributed to the tendency for the two to be higher in middle than high school.     

A Model of Homework's Influence on the Performance Evaluations of Elementary School Students

This study was the first to test a model of the influence of homework on classroom performance using a sample of elementary school students. A total of 28 teachers in Grades 2 and 4 took part in the study, along with 428 students and parents. The authors used structural equation modeling to examine relationships among variables. Student norms were positively related to the elimination of distractions from homework by parents. Positive student norms, higher student ability, and positive parent attitudes toward homework were all related to greater parent facilitation. Student's attitude toward homework was unrelated to home and community factors but was related positively to parent attitudes toward homework. Classroom grades were unrelated to student's attitude toward homework but were predicted by how much homework the student completed (even after the use of homework in grading was controlled), by student ability, and by the amount of parent facilitation. More generally, parent facilitation was an important mediator of the relation between student norms, student ability, and parent attitudes toward homework, and the outcome of classroom grades.     

Middle‐School Homework Management: More than just gender and family involvement

The article links student and family characteristics, along with homework characteristics and homework purposes, to homework management as reported by 194 middle‐school students in Grades 5–6. The results revealed that homework management was not related to grade level, amount of parental education, time spent on homework, or extrinsic reasons for doing homework. However, girls and students who received family help reported more frequently managing their homework. In addition, homework interest and whether homework was a favorite activity were positively related to the use of homework management strategies, above and beyond gender and family help. Furthermore, intrinsic reasons for doing homework accounted for an additional, significant percentage of the variance in homework management, with higher levels of intrinsic reasons being positively associated with more frequent use of homework management strategies.     

Parental Involvement in Homework

The article reviews research on parental involvement in student homework. It is focused on understanding: why parents become involved in their children's homework; which activities and strategies they employ in the course of involvement; how their homework involvement influences student outcomes; and which student outcomes are influenced by parents' involvement. Findings suggest that parents involve themselves in student homework because they believe that they should be involved, believe that their involvement will make a positive difference, and perceive that their children or children's teachers want their involvement. Parents' involvement activities take many forms, from establishing structures for homework performance to teaching for understanding and developing student learning strategies. Operating largely through modeling, reinforcement, and instruction, parents' homework involvement appears to influence student success insofar as it supports student attributes related to achievement (e.g., attitudes about homework, perceptions of personal competence, self-regulatory skills). Recommendations for research focused on the processes and outcomes of parents' homework involvement are offered, as are suggestions for school practices to enhance the effectiveness of parental involvement in homework.     

Parental Involvement as a Protective Factor During the Transition to High School

ABSTRACT

The authors investigated whether student-perceived parental involvement predicts improvement in academic, behavioral, and relational outcomes for low-achieving adolescents. With a sample of 59 racially diverse 9th-grade students, the authors measured 3 dimensions of parental involvement: direct participation, academic encouragement, and expectations for grades and attainment. Analyses revealed associations between 2 types of parental involvement and outcomes, which held after considering student gender and race. Students whose parents had higher expectations about grades and attainment had higher grade point averages and were rated as more academically engaged by their teachers. Students who reported that their parents were more academically encouraging experienced more care from their teachers. Results suggest certain types of parental involvement may be more effective than others in supporting low-achieving adolescents’ school performance.     

Parental involvement and Chinese elementary students’ achievement goals: the moderating role of parenting style

Past research has revealed direct effects of parental involvement and parenting style on children’s achievement goals separately, however, it is necessary to investigate the interactive mechanism in an integrated way. This study examined the relations between children’s perception of different dimensions of parental involvement (i.e. home-based involvement, school-based involvement and academic socialisation) and their achievement goals, and the moderating role of parenting style (i.e. parental autonomy support vs. psychological control). Participants were 614 Chinese fourth and fifth grades students. Results showed that home-based involvement was positively associated with performance-approach goals, school-based involvement was positively associated with mastery goals, and academic socialisation was positively associated with both mastery and performance-approach goals. Parental psychological control moderated the relationships between performance-approach goals and two types of parental involvement: Academic socialisation and home-based involvement. These findings underscored the need of taking a multidimensional approach in conceptualising parental involvement, and that parental involvement should be expressed in an appropriate context of parenting style.     

Competency beliefs,positive affect,and gender stereotypes of elementary students and their parents about science versus other school subjects

Iowa students and parents completed related attitude and belief questionnaires about school subjects. Grade K–3 students received simpler questionnaires than did Grade 4–6 students or parents. Among Grade 4–6 children, girls perceived higher competence in reading than did boys, but boys perceived higher competence in physical science. All children perceived physical science competence lower than reading or math competence. Parents perceived boys as more competent in science. Girls like reading more than boys did; boys and girls did not differ in liking of science. Grade 4–6 children also expected lower grades in and attached lower importance to physical science than to reading. Parents perceived science as more important for boys and expected higher performance of boys. Jobs related to math or science were seen as more male dominated. These results provided a more comprehensive picture of attitudes and beliefs about science in the elementary school than had existed and suggested that attitudinal gender differences related to physical science begin to develop by the earliest elementary school years. Policy implications are that intervention programs designed to promote gender equity should be extended to the early elementary school years and also should address parental attitudes. Additional implications for policy and research are discussed. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 36: 719–747, 1999     

Quality of parental support and students’ emotions during homework: Moderating effects of students’ motivational orientations

Two studies investigated the relationship between, parental support, students’ motivational orientations, and students’ emotions during homework. It was assumed that intrinsically motivated students would feel better when parents provided much learning autonomy, while extrinsically motivated students would experience more positive affect when directive parental support was given. In study I, students (N=181) reported their emotions after having read two vignettes (autonomy-supportive vs. directive parental support). In study II, 38 students reported their motivation, the perceived quality of parental support, and their emotions after each of 21 homework sessions. Results of extreme group comparisons (intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation) partly supported the assumed Aptitude-Treatment-Interaction: Even when students’ academic self-concept was controlled, extrinsically motivated students tended to report more negative affect than intrinsically motivated students under autonomy-supportive conditions; for directive parental support, the reverse trend was discovered. Consequences for homework interventions are discussed.     

Partnership Programs in U.S. Schools: Their Development and Relationship to Family Involvement Outcomes

This study examined data from over 300 U.S. schools on their efforts to develop high quality programs of school, family, and community partnerships. Analyses show that elementary schools, schools with greater support from parents, teachers, and the community; and schools that evaluated progress reported higher quality partnership programs over time. Higher quality programs were associated with wider implementation of parent-child interactive homework, higher levels of parent volunteering, and more parents on school decision-making committees. Results identify factors that could help schools develop quality partnership programs and suggest that these programs translate into higher levels of family involvement in students’ learning.     

Early Identification of Student Performance and Effort Using an Online Homework System: A Pilot Study

Two distinct student groups, in terms of academic performance, were identified early in the semester as either being under-performing students or over-performing students using an online homework system. The students who are identified as under-performing received, on average, lower grades than their fellow students but spent more time completing the homework assignments. These students are great candidates for targeted advertisement of student resources such as tutoring services. The students who are identified in the over-performing student population received higher grades than their fellow students, but spent less time completing the homework assignments. These students are great candidates for honors programs, independent research projects, and peer-tutoring programs. Incorporating these evaluation criteria to online homework systems will allow instructors to quickly identify students in these academic student populations.     

Principal Leadership for Special Education: An Ethical Framework

A constructive home-school relationship is an integral component of a child's educational success. Parents must be equal partners in this relationship. One way to find out what parents' needs are is to ask them. Bryan (1992) asked parents of students in different class settings (regular, resource, and self-contained) for their opinions about homework, testing, and grading practices. On the back of each survey, a space was provided for additional comments. We analyzed unstructured parental comments regarding homework, tests, and grades using qualitative meth- odology to identify patterns. The comments contained eight broad themes: (a) complaints, (b) traditional beliefs about education, (c) alternative beliefs about education, (d) communication issues, (e) beliefs about involvement, (f) stress factors, (g) involvement depends on child characteristics, and (h) compliments. Although some differences emerged between parents of children in resource and self-contained classrooms and parents of children in regular classrooms, parent comments across groups were more similar than different. We discuss homework as a means to bridge home and school and suggest further research in the realm of home-school expectations and communication.     

Gender and Homework Management Reported by High School Students

This study linked gender and grade level to five features of homework management reported by 426 high school students (setting an appropriate work environment, managing time, and controlling attention, motivation, and potentially interfering emotions). In addition, it linked gender and grade level to relevant homework behaviours and affective reactions toward homework. The results revealed that grade level (grades 9–10 vs. grades 11–12) did not relate to any of the above homework measures. On the other hand, compared with boys, girls more frequently reported working to manage their workspace, budget their time, and monitor their emotions. They also reported that they spent more time doing homework, were less likely to come to class without homework, and considered homework less boring.     

Homework as serious family business: power and subjectivity in negotiations about school assignments in Swedish families

Most previous research on parental involvement in children's homework has focused on the pedagogical advantages or disadvantages of school assignments while neglecting the practice in its social context, family life. By studying parent–child homework negotiations in Swedish families, this paper examines how family members position themselves and each other in relation to Swedish discourses on homework and parental involvement. The study shows that parents want their children to do homework independently. It is hard for the parents to take up another subject position than that of a ‘responsible parent’ who helps the child with homework or controls that it is done. Thereby, the child is simultaneously positioned as ‘irresponsible’ whether that is the case or not.     

Homework self-regulation: Grade,gender, and achievement-level differences

The study examined differences in students' reported homework value, motivation, and metacognitive strategy use during homework completion among two grades, gender, and three achievement levels. Differences among six homework self-regulation constructs (utility value, intrinsic value, effort, persistence, planning, and self-checking) were also examined. Participants were 330 seventh and 407 eleventh graders from a metropolitan city in China. Chinese students' reported self-regulated learning during homework declined from middle to high school. Whereas students rated utility value and effort high, intrinsic value and self-checking were rated low. Male and female students did not differ in homework self-regulation. Achievement-level differences in homework self-regulation were found in seventh graders, but not in eleventh graders. The pattern of Chinese students' reported homework value, motivation, and metacognitive strategy use were discussed, and instructional implications were offered.     

Homework involvement among Hong Kong primary school students

One component of the curriculum reform in Hong Kong focuses on the use of homework in consolidating learning, deepening understanding and constructing knowledge. This study examines the profile of Hong Kong primary school students' homework involvement, and investigates the relationships between time involvement and academic attributes, namely interest in homework, interest in academic subjects, academic efficacy, and efficacy for self-regulated learning. The sample comprised 2,361 primary school students representing all six grade levels in Hong Kong. Data was collected using questionnaires and homework diaries. Results showed heavy homework involvement among primary school students in Hong Kong, especially at the senior primary level. Differential patterns across levels were observed for the relationship between homework involvement and academic attributes. Specifically, junior primary students' study-related interests and efficacies were found to decline with increasing time involvement, whereas inverted U-shape relationships were observed among senior primary students. There was concern for students with high time involvement as they received more homework and they worked slower. They were less likely to perceive the positive functions of homework, and showed poorer study-related interests and efficacy beliefs. The findings of this study provide crucial information for school personnel and educators in Hong Kong in developing homework strategies and policies that enhance teaching and learning.     

Homework: a cross-cultural examination

Cultural differences in the amount of time spent on homework and in beliefs and attitudes about homework were investigated through interviews with more than 3,500 elementary school children, their mothers, and their teachers. The children lived in 5 cities: Beijing, Chicago, Minneapolis, Sendai (Japan), and Taipei. Chinese children were assigned more homework and spent more time on homework than Japanese children, who in turn were assigned more and spent more time on homework than American children. Chinese children also received more help from family members with their homework than American and Japanese children. Chinese children were found to have more positive attitudes about homework than American children; Japanese children's attitudes were between those of the Chinese and American children. Relations between amount of time spent on homework by children, amount of time parents spent assisting their children with homework, and children's achievement were also explored. The views of both parents and teachers about the value of homework are discussed.     

New Zealand students' perceptions of parental involvement in learning and schooling

This study investigated the relation between multidimensional aspects of high school students' perceptions of their parental involvement and their achievement. It explored differences in socio-economic backgrounds, ethnicity, gender, and higher and lower achieving students, and a structural model was developed to further investigate these relations. A parental involvement questionnaire and measures of efficacy, liking and achievement in mathematics and reading were administered to a sample of 1,554 New Zealand high school students from 59 schools. In the view of students, there is support for parents to be talking to their children about learning and schooling and having high expectations of them and their future in learning, especially for lower achieving students. Students who claim that their parents are talking with their teachers or attending school meetings are more likely to have lower achievement. The implications from this study relate to developing student self-regulation for learning in home, providing more surface than deeper learning as homework, and assisting parents to learn the language of learning and schooling.     

A Little Autonomy Support Goes a Long Way: Daily Autonomy-Supportive Parenting,Child Well-Being,Parental Need Fulfillment,and Change in Child,Family, and Parent Adjustment Across the Adaptation to the COVID-19 Pandemic

This study examined the effects of daily parental autonomy support on changes in child behavior, family environment, and parental well-being across 3 weeks during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. Day-to-day associations among autonomy-supportive parenting, parental need fulfillment, and child well-being were also assessed. Parents (longitudinal N = 469; M_age = 42.93, SD_age = 6.40) of school children (6–19 years) reported on adjustment measures at two measurement occasions and completed up to 21 daily online questionnaires in the weeks between these assessments. Results from dynamic structural equation models suggested reciprocal positive relations among autonomy-supportive parenting and parental need fulfillment. Daily parental autonomy support, parental need fulfillment, and child well-being partially predicted change in adjustment measures highlighting the central role of daily parenting for children’s adjustment during the pandemic.     

Technology Programs...for All or for Some?

The 1990s have been a decade of great spending and great introspection, particularly when it comes to educational allocations. Citizens, corporations, and public officials are becoming increasingly inquisitive about where their money is going and if the dollars spent are making a difference. For 5 years, the multimillion-dollar Delaware Technology Innovation Challenge project has implemented Lightspan^TM educational software in the classrooms and homes of elementary school students. Program goals are to increase parent involvement, generate more time for learning, and improve student achievement. On the surface, the program seems to have met its goals. Parents report being more involved in their child's education. Students and parents describe the time spent on the software at home as not replacing traditional homework, but rather television watching. And, student achievement in both reading and mathematics has increased at rates higher than would be expected. However, a closer examination of evaluation results reveals the program has worked best for lower achieving students; students who scored below the 50th percentile in fall testing had much greater achievement gains than their higher scoring peers. This paper investigates whether evaluation findings are reflective of the program's implementation or rather reveal a limitation of the technology.