Parental Involvement in Your Child’s Education
March 13, 2025
What Is Parental Involvement, and How Is It Different From Parental Engagement?
Parental involvement is the active, ongoing participation of a parent or primary caregiver in the education of a child. Parents can demonstrate involvement at home by:
- reading with children;
- helping with homework;
- discussing school events;
- attending school functions, including parent-teacher meetings; and
- volunteering in classrooms.
While both parental involvement and parental engagement in school support student success, they have important differences.
Involvement is the first step towards engagement. It includes participation in school events or activities, with teachers providing learning resources and information about their student’s grades. With involvement, teachers hold the primary responsibility to set educational goals.
But while teachers can offer advice, families and caregivers have important information about their children that teachers may not know. So a student’s learning experience is enriched when both bring their perspectives to the table.
With engagement, home and school come together as a team. Schools empower parents and caregivers by providing them with ways to actively participate, promoting them as important voices in the school and removing barriers to engagement. Examples include encouraging families to join the family-teacher association or arranging virtual family-teacher meetings for families with transportation issues.
Research has found that the earlier educators establish family engagement, the more effective they are in raising student performance.It Benefits Students
Children whose families are engaged in their education are more likely to:
- earn higher grades and score higher on tests;
- graduate from high school and college;
- develop self-confidence and motivation in the classroom; and
- have better social skills and classroom behavior.
In one study, researchers looked at longitudinal data on math achievement and found that effectively encouraging families to support students’ math learning at home was associated with higher percentages of students who scored at or above proficiency on standardized math achievement tests.
Students whose parents are involved in school are also less likely to suffer from low self-esteem or develop behavioral issues, researchers say.
And classrooms with engaged families perform better as a whole, meaning that the benefits affect virtually all students in a classroom.
Decades of research have made one thing clear: parental involvement in education improves student attendance, social skills and behavior. It also helps children adapt better to school.
In one instance, researchers looking at children’s academic and social development across first, third and fifth grade found that improvements in parental involvement are associated with fewer “problem behaviors” in students and improvements in social skills. Researchers also found that children with highly involved parents had “enhanced social functioning” and fewer behavior problems.
Because it improves classroom culture and conditions, parent involvement also benefits teachers. Knowing more about a student helps teachers prepare better and knowing that they have parents’ support ensures that teachers feel equipped to take academic risks and push for students to learn more.
Posted By the Annie E. Casey Foundation