University of Pittsburgh researchers have done some research — and they’ve concluded that “parents should have strong relationships with their children’s teachers throughout high school.”
Hey, how ’bout that?
“Parental involvement” was determined by the “frequency and quality of communication between parents and teachers, how much parents encouraged children to problem-solve on their own, study time scheduled by parents at home and how much parents discussed the importance of education for success.”
The research showed that all types of parental involvement correlated to higher GPAs from seventh- through 11th-graders, and that a “high level of parental structure” particularly benefitted the grades of black students.
While most people know parental involvement through elementary school is important, [Pitt researcher and assistant professor of psychology in education Min-Te] Wang, who also holds a joint appointment in the Department of Psychology, said secondary school can be just as important.
Parents, Wang said, should adapt their methods as their children age and progress through school. What works while students are in elementary school is rarely effective throughout secondary school, he said. Quality communication between parents and teachers, parents challenging students to figure out their own solutions to homework and pressing the importance of education to children’s futures also linked heavily to “lower depressive symptoms” in adolescents.
Seriously — is common sense in that short a supply that we need researchers to tell us that parental involvement and structure are beneficial to children?
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