Exploring the Impact of Parents’ Engagement on Student Educational Performance

Abstract

The parental involvement is an important factor in the establishment of effective family-school interactions that promote the empowerment of parents, the increase of academic performance among students and encourage parents to be willing to participate on behalf of children in learning. Nonetheless, having uneven parental involvement in state-operated schools is a serious problem that influences the academic performance of students. The aim of the research was to uncover the perception of parent, teacher and students on the issue of parental contribution, and the perception of parents on their role of facilitating the academic development of their children. The model of parental involvement by Epstein (2007) Newman N., North Cutt A., Farmer A, &Black B.,(2019) Epstein Model of parental involvement parent perception in urban schools informed the study as it provides 6 possible types of contribution: parenting, communication and volunteerism, learning at home, ability to make decisions, and community collaboration. The findings showed that parents had differing views regarding the effectiveness of the practices of parental involvement implemented at schools, as well as Moll fund of the knowledge theory influenced them. The study covered four primary RQs to analyze the parental, teacher and student views regarding parental involvement in the three dimensional way, and the role of the parent in ensuring their children succeed in their academic performance. The qualitative research methodology was adopted and data collection was done using semi structured interviews where 12 interviewees were chosen using stratified sample. The data were analyzed using open and thematic-coding. The outcome meant that parental involvement has been inconsistent, and it has mostly been due to the lack of awareness on the behavior of the school, time factor, and the parents disagreement in schedules. These findings made it possible to recommend that the school should establish more explicit communication values and engage parents more both at home and in school. These observations can result in positive social change by providing support on initiatives that enhance parental involvement, making decisions on parent engagement, and foster a culture of collaboration among all the parties to aid the success of students.