U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
            OFFICE OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH AND IMPROVEMENT

                          ISSUES IN EDUCATION


                  PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT IN EDUCATION

For years education research has demonstrated that parental
involvement is one of the real keys to success in school.

Indeed, when the President and the governors adopted the six
national education goals, they knew that to achieve these goals
parents would have to be essential partners.

Schools alone cannot educate children, particularly if parents
display a lack of interest in what their children do in school. If
we want children to have high expectations about learning, then all
of us--especially parents--must regularly send those signals.

But these messages are not being sent, and when they are, they
often are not being received. One way for parents to send that
message is to be actively involved in their children's schooling.
However, the level of parental involvement, both with their
school children and their children's schools, is frighteningly low.

This is confirmed by data from a new nationally representative
survey of 25,000 American eighth-graders, their parents, their
teachers, and their principals. The study was produced by the
Education Department's Office of Educational Research and
Improvement. It is called the National Education Longitudinal Study
of 1988--NELS:88 for short--and it will follow these same 25,000
youngsters every 2 years as they move into high school and college
or the labor market.

The first survey was conducted in the spring of their
eighth-grade year.

PARENTS & CHILDREN

We know that parental interest in school work and frequent
communication of the value of school are important. But the NELS:88
data show:

o    Although three-quarters (79 percent) of parents said they
     talked regularly about their eighth-grader's school
     experiences, half of the students (48 percent) said they had
     such discussions less than twice since the school year began.
     And one child in nine said he or she never had such a
     conversation.

o    Nearly two-thirds (62 percent) of students said they never or
     rarely discussed their classes or school programs with their
     parents.

o    One-quarter (26 percent) of students said their parents rarely
     or never checked their homework, while 57 percent of parents
     said they rarely (once or twice a month) or never helped their
     child with homework.

o    Although a majority of parents (62 percent) said they had
     rules about how many hours their children could watch
     television on weekdays, the same percentage of children said
     their parents rarely or never limited their TV watching.

PARENTS & SCHOOLS

Research shows that effective schools are ones that involve
parents in their children's learning and school life. But the
NELS:88 data show:

o    Only half (50 percent) of the parents had attended a school
     meeting since the beginning of the school year, and fewer than
     3 in 10 (29 percent) had visited their children's classes.

o    Nearly half (48 percent) of the parents said they had not
     contacted the school about their child's academic performance.

o    Nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of parents said they never had
     talked to school officials about the academic program being
     pursued by their eighth-grade child.

o    About one-third (32 percent) of eighth-grade parents belong to
     a parent-teacher organization. Membership rates are lowest for
     Hispanics (16 percent) and American Indians (17 percent), two
     groups that are lagging badly in achievement and that are
     dropping out at far higher rates than other ethnic groups.

INVOLVING PARENTS

The NELS:88 findings reveal startling communication gaps among
American adolescents, their parents and their schools. Not only are
students communicating infrequently with their parents about
school, but the data also show they rarely get advice from
counselors or teachers.

As James Coleman, professor of sociology at the University of
Chicago, has said, "They have no one to talk to . . . . Our
society's children have become public goods. They are no one's
private property, and no one is motivated to take responsibility
for them."

"As a nation and as individuals we must take that responsibility,"
said Christopher T. Cross, Assistant Secretary of Education for
Research and Improvement. "We can no longer afford to have parents
disengaged from the education of their children. We cannot expect
others to perform those duties, and we cannot expect children to do
well without the guidance, the tutoring, the nurturing, and the
commitment of parents. To do less is to consign our nation to an
ever-accelerating decline into economic and educational oblivion."

Achievement of not only our national goals but also state and
community education goals will not happen without significantly
more parental involvement. The NELS:88 data show clearly what is
not happening among adolescents, their parents, and their
communities.

Other educational research has shown the importance of parents'
involvement for the educational success of their children. To make
that happen:

o    Parents need to be made aware of just how important it is for
     them to talk to their children about school work and to become
     more involved with their children's school life.

o    Parents need to tell their children school is important by
     setting and enforcing rules on homework and television
     watching. And, they need to make sure their children get to
     school on time.

o    Schools and communities need to work to create more
     involvement by parents and, in some cases, create programs to
     help parents navigate their children through school.

o    Schools need to encourage parent participation through regular
     personal contact with all parents, including sending written
     notes home about children's school performance and holding
     school meetings at times convenient for working parents.

REFERENCES:

U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and
Improvement, National Center for Education Statistics. A PROFILE OF
THE AMERICAN EIGHTH GRADER, Washington, D.C.: 1990. Stock number
065-000-00404-6; $9; Superintendent of Documents, GPO, Washington,
DC 20402-9325. For more information call: 1-800-424-1616.

Bacon, Kenneth H.  "Many Educators View Involved Parents as Key to
Children's Success in School."  WALL STREET JOURNAL, July 31, 1990.

Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development.  TURNING POINTS, PREPARING
AMERICAN YOUTH FOR THE 21ST CENTURY, Washington, D.C.:  1989.  For more
information call:  202-265-9080.

National Governors' Association.  EDUCATING AMERICA:  STATE STRATEGIES
FOR ACHIEVING THE NATIONAL EDUCATION GOALS, Washington, D.C.:  1990.
For more information call:  202-624-5330