Wright, Lori

English

UNH Scholars' Repository

University of New HampshireUniversity of New Hampshire Scholars' RepositoryMedia Relations Administrative Offices5-27-2008Parental Involvement Strongly Impacts StudentAchievement, New Research FindsLori WrightUNH Media RelationsFollow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/newsThis News Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Administrative Offices at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It hasbeen accepted for inclusion in Media Relations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For moreinformation, please contact nicole.hentz@unh.edu.Recommended CitationWright, Lori, "Parental Involvement Strongly Impacts Student Achievement, New Research Finds" (2008). UNH Today. 459.https://scholars.unh.edu/news/459Parental Involvement Strongly Impacts Student Achievement, New Research Findshttp://www.unh.edu/delete/news/cj_nr/2008/may/lw27parents.cfm.html[9/9/2016 8:42:08 AM] Parental Involvement Strongly Impacts StudentAchievement, New Research FindsMedia Contact:  Lori Wright 603-862-0574UNH Media RelationsMay 27, 2008EDITORS AND REPORTERS: Karen Smith Conway can be reached for interviews atkaren.conway@unh.edu. The full study is available athttp://www.unh.edu/news/docs/Conway_May08.pdf.DURHAM, N.H. - New research from the University of New Hampshire shows that students domuch better in school when their parents are actively involved in their education.Researchers Karen Smith Conway, professor of economics at the University of NewHampshire, and her colleague Andrew Houtenville, senior research associate at New EditionsConsulting, found that parental involvement has a strong, positive effect on studentachievement.The research is reported in "Parental Effort, School Resources, and Student Achievement,"which appears in the spring 2008 issue of the Journal of Human Resources."Parental effort is consistently associated with higher levels of achievement, and themagnitude of the effect of parental effort is substantial. We found that schools would need toincrease per-pupil spending by more than $1,000 in order to achieve the same results thatare gained with parental involvement," Conway said.Parents seemed particularly interested in the academic achievements of their daughters. Theresearchers found parents spent more time talking to their daughters about their school workduring dinnertime discussions.1. "There are a number of theories about why girls seem to garner more attention fromtheir parents than boys. One possibility is that girls are more communicative with theirparents so these conversations about academics are easier for parents to have withtheir daughters," Conway said. The researchers also found that parents may reduce their efforts when school resourcesincrease, thus diminishing the effects of improved school resources.1. "As an economist, I look for reactions to a specific action so it is not surprising to methat parents may scale back their involvement with their child's education when aschool adds resources. As a result, increasing school resources may not be as effectiveas we expect since they may diminish parental involvement," Conway said. Parental Involvement Strongly Impacts Student Achievement, New Research Findshttp://www.unh.edu/delete/news/cj_nr/2008/may/lw27parents.cfm.html[9/9/2016 8:42:08 AM]The researchers used national data from more than 10,000 eighth-grade students in publicand private schools, their parents, teachers, and school administrators. The researchers wereparticularly interested in how frequently parents discussed activities or events of particularinterest to the child, discussed things the child studied in class, discussed selecting courses orprograms at school, attended a school meeting, and volunteered at the child's school.To evaluate school resources, the researchers looked at per-pupil expenditures oninstructional salaries and a set of five school characteristics: student-teacher ratio, lowestsalary received by a teacher, percentage of teachers with a master's or a doctoral degree,percentage of the student body not in the school's subsidized lunch program,and percentageof nonminority students in the student body.-30-

Parental Involvement Strongly Impacts Student Achievement, New Research Finds

https://scholars.unh.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1458&amp;context=news

Parental Involvement Strongly Impacts Student Achievement, New Research Finds

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

UNH Scholars' Repository