Parental involvement that makes a difference in middle school!

There are varying ideas about what parental involvement is. Essentially it is two things: The infrastructures and efforts school use to involve parents and the voluntary actions parents take to support their children in meeting academic and behavioral expectations.

What you may not know is that while all types of involvement are beneficial, they are not beneficial in the same ways. Hill and Taylor (2009) hypothesized that parental involvement that increases middle school student’s autonomy will be more impactful on academic achievement than other types of home and school-based involvement. To test this theory they examined 50 empirical studies published between 1985 and 2006, representing 127 correlations and 82 beta coefficients for the relationship between specific types of parental involvement and academic outcomes (Hill & Taylor). 

Hill and Taylor (2009) found help with homework to be negatively associated with student academic achievement, while the types of parental involvement that led to students being autonomous, understanding the purposes and goals of academic performances; providing strategies the student can use; and communicating expectations about involvement were most positively associated with academic achievement. 

Help with homework in middle school is negatively related to academic outcomes. Why? It may be for a variety of reason including: a student's need to advocate for themselves in school by asking questions or for extra-help, lack of familiarity with standards, lack of skills to complete the work, and student may achieve better results when they get help directly from the teacher who can model and guide the student to meet their expectations. 

What does this all mean and what can you do? Anything that you can do to increase your middle-school child's independence, do it. 

1. Give them strategies for asking for help. This can include notes to teachers, asking friends, or staying after school for help. 
2. Provide them with resources they can access anytime on their own, should they need them including website, encyclopedias, family and friends. 
3. Teach them specific learning strategies. More on learning strategies http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/srs/cresource/#content. 
4. Communicate to them the goal of the standards.
5. Help them to be organized. Teachers are human and sometimes forget to give credit for a paper or to review an important concept. If the student is organized they can refute any missed items, study better for test, and think clearer. 

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