| Xitao Fan
Utah State University
Parental involvement: Its dimensions and longitudinal effect on academic achievement of high school students.
FINAL REPORT:
Study 1: Parental Involvement and Students' Academic Achievement: A Meta-Analysis
The idea that parental involvement has positive influence on students' academic achievement is so intuitively appealing that the society in general, and educators in particular, have considered parental involvement as the remedy for many problems in education. The vast proportion of the literature in this area, however, is qualitative without empirical data. Among the empirical studies that have investigated the issue quantitatively, there appears to be considerable inconsistencies. A meta-analysis was conducted to synthesize the quantitative literature about the relationship between parental involvement and students' academic achievement. The findings reveal a moderate, and practically meaningful, relationship between parental involvement and academic achievement. Using moderator analysis, it was revealed that parental aspiration/expectation for children's education achievement has the strongest relationship, while parental home supervision has the weakest relationship, with students' academic achievement. In addition, the relationship is stronger when academic achievement is represented by a global indicator than by a subject-specific indicator. Limitations of the study are noted, and suggestions are made for future studies.
Study 2: Parental Involvement and Students' Academic Achievement: A Growth Modeling Analysis
The major research objective of this study is to assess the effect of parental involvement on students' academic growth during the high school years. The National Education Lonaitudinal Studv of 1988 (NELS:88) data were used, and the latent growth curve analysis within the framework of structural equation modeling was the major analytic tool for accomplishing the research objectives. The major findings of the study are (a) parental involvement appeared to be multi-dimensional; (b) ethnic group samples reported comparable degree of parental involvement; (c) parent aspiration for their children's education attainment stood out for its consistent and positive effect on students' academic growth; and (d) the effect, or lack thereof, of parental involvement appeared to be consistent across ethnic group samples and across data sources (student vs. parent data). Plausible reasons for the consistent effect of parents' aspiration on students' academic achievement were discussed. Some suggestions were made for the observation that some parental involvement dimensions showed negative, though generally small, effects on students' academic growth. Some major limitations of the study are also noted.
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