Abstract
A key finding from the literature on parental involvement is that its effectiveness in bringing about improvements in children’s social and academic achievements holds across ethnicity, gender, and age of the children involved (Eccles & Harold, 1993; Jeynes, 2007). Most of the literature on parental involvement focuses on elementary schools, but the involvement of parents is still regarded as important at secondary school (Wheeler, 1992), and it is widely acknowledged that “Parental involvement has a significant effect on pupil achievement throughout the years of schooling” (DCFS, 2007, p. 5). However, evidence suggests that parental involvement tends to decline throughout the middle school and secondary school years (Hill et al., 2004; Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2005; Spera, 2005). There are at least three possible reasons for this (Chen, 2008; Christenson, 2004). First, middle and secondary schools may not be as welcoming to parents as elementary schools are. Second, parents may be less confident being involved in their children’s education since subject material becomes more challenging as their children progress through middle and secondary schools. Third, as children negotiate adolescence and attempt to become more autonomous, they may be less open to having parents involved with their schools.
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Hornby, G. (2011). Parental Involvement in Middle and Secondary Schools. In: Parental Involvement in Childhood Education. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8379-4_5
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