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Parental Involvement in Homework
Running head: PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT IN HOMEWORK
Can parental involvement motivate kindergarten students to do their homework?
Omanda Hernandez
Brooklyn College of the City University of New York
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Parental Involvement in Homework
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………………...3
I. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………..……...................………………4
II. PROBLEM STATEMENT……………………………………...…..................……...……....5
III. REVIEW OF LITERATURE………………...………………..............….......………..……5
IV. HYPOTHESIS………………………………………………………………………………22
V. METHODOLOGY…………………………………………………………………………..22
VI. RESULTS…………………………………………………………………………………...25
VII. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS………………………….………………………...27
VIII. REFERENCES …..……………………………………………...…..................................33
IX. APPENDICES……………………………………………………...................…………....37
A. Consent Form…………………………………………....…….................................37
B. Attendance Sheet..………………………………….................................................38
C. Consent Form #2……………………………………………………………………39
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Parental Involvement in Homework
Abstract
This action research project examines the effect of parental involvement on the rate of homework
completion of kindergarten students. The hypothesis was that students whose parents are more
involved in their child’s education, indicated by their involvement in their child’s homework,
would be more diligent in completing homework assignments on a regular basis. In a quasiexperimental design, data on the completion of homework assignments for sixteen kindergarten
students in a public school in Brooklyn was recorded over a two week period. Parents of these
students were then invited to a workshop on the importance of parental involvement in students’
homework (the treatment). The post-test consisted of a repeat of the survey of homework
completion for a two week period following the workshop. Because not all parents attended,
there were two groups, one consisted of those students whose parents attended the workshop and
the other consisted of those students whose parents did not attend. Analysis of the data showed
a substantial correlation between workshop attendance and the increase in homework completion
for those children whose parents attended the workshop.
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I. Introduction
In 2008 I graduated from CUNY Queens College with a Bachelor of Arts in Applied
Linguistics in TESOL and am certified to teach ESL for grades K-12. I have chosen to pursue
my Masters in a childhood education program of study and am currently enrolled at Brooklyn
College majoring in Childhood Education for grades 1-6. Although I love working with students
of all age groups, during my student teaching experiences and observations I realized that I really
enjoyed and wanted to work with younger children in the elementary school setting. I am a
substitute teacher at a public school and have been covering a kindergarten class for a teacher
that is on medical leave. I have been working with these students for quite some time and have
noticed that only a small percentage of the students in this kindergarten class actually do their
homework daily. Therefore, I have chosen to do my action research on the topic of homework
and have decided to further explore this issue.
The school I work in is located in Brooklyn. The school has a total of 601 students.
According to www.schools.nyc.gov, the demographics of the school are African American: 362
(60.2%), American Indian: 1 (0.2%), Asian: 8 (1.3%), Hispanic: 227 (37.8%), and White: 3
(0.5%). There are 45 full time teachers and 91 percent of the students are eligible for discounted
or free lunch. Six percent of the students that attend this school are English language learners.
School Demographics
1%
1%
0%
African American
38%
Hispanic
60%
Asian
White
American Indian
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II. Problem Statement
I have noticed that only a small percentage of the students in a kindergarten class do their
homework on a daily basis. This group happens to be the most advanced in the class. The other
students do their homework as well but not consistently. There are also a few students who
never do their homework. This concerns me as I feel that homework is extremely important,
even in kindergarten. However, I do think it should be given in realistic proportions and should
reinforce what they learn in class. It should also be fun as opposed to overwhelming. I believe
that this issue is happening because either the students do not find the tasks interesting and see
homework as a chore or are not receiving enough parental support with homework assignments.
Therefore, I need to think of ways to motivate these students to do their homework as well as
encourage the parents to get involved. I think developing positive relationships with parents as
well as incorporating technology, educational shows or more hands on assignments will increase
their enthusiasm for doing homework. My research question is: Can parental involvement
motivate kindergarten students to do their homework?
III. Review of Literature:
Katz, Kaplan, and Buzukashvily (2011) researched how parent behaviors were related
to their child’s motivation to do homework. This study was based on the theoretical framework
of Self-determination Theory which is a theory on human motivation. It focuses on the degree to
which a person’s behavior is both self-motivated and based on intrinsic factors or if it stems from
extrinsic factors. One hundred thirty five fourth grade Israeli students and one of each their
parents were all surveyed. The students were surveyed on where their motivation to do
homework stemmed from and the parents were surveyed on their attitudes and motivation to help
with their child’s homework. The research findings suggested that the type of parent motivation
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towards homework, their perceived competence to assist in the homework, and their attitudes
towards homework were associated with their level of support. This level of support was
directly related to the students’ autonomous intrinsic motivation for homework. Those parents
who supported their children and their needs correlated positively to their child’s own
autonomous motivation for completing homework. In addition, the parents own beliefs about the
importance of their involvement affected their motivation for supporting their child with
homework.
This parental autonomous motivation was in fact the strongest predictor of
supportive behavior.
Froiland, Peterson, and Davison (2013) researched the effects of parent expectations, in
kindergarten and 8th grade, for their children’s academic success. They also took a look at the
child’s own expectations in 8th grade. The study involved 7,600 students from across the United
States.
This national sample of kindergarten students were followed from 1998-2006.
It
included children from different cultural backgrounds and socioeconomic status. For the data
collected, parents were required to complete questionnaires at the beginning of kindergarten and
at the end of the 8th grade.
Additionally, students were assessed on their achievement in
kindergarten and 8th grade. The research in this study indicated that home based literacy and
high parent expectations had a positive impact on achievement in kindergarten.
Parent
expectations as of 8th grade also had a direct impact on the child’s success and achievement.
However, these expectations stemmed heavily from the expectations held in kindergarten. The
implications of this study are to promote early parent involvement during the early years and also
to boost parent expectations of their child’s achievement. On the contrary to the effects of early
parent involvement in kindergarten, there appeared to be a negative impact of parent
involvement academically during the middle school years.
A more effective involvement
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strategy during the middle school years included more of a verbal involvement in which positive
expectations and support was given as opposed to monitoring and checking the child’s
homework.
Tam and Chan (2009) studied the relationship between parent involvement in homework
and children’s educational achievements in Hong Kong. They stated that in Chinese culture
education is highly revered and therefore Chinese school children are faced with a lot of pressure
to excel academically. Parents usually offer assistance to support their child’s education and
help with the homework process.
The study examined the factors of grade level and
socioeconomic status in affecting parent involvement in homework and how that in turn affected
educational outcomes. This study involved 1,309 pairs of students and parents across 36 schools
in Hong Kong in the primary grade levels.
The data collected included two sets of
questionnaires (one for students and one for parents) and student homework diaries. The results
of the study showed that primary school students in Hong Kong dedicated a substantial amount
of time on homework everyday (170 minutes a day on an average of 5 homework assignments).
In general, Chinese parents dedicated a significant amount of time supervising and assisting their
children with homework. Though the time spent by parents differed greatly as 1/3 of the parents
reported that they had no involvement at all in assisting with homework. The data collected
revealed that parents spent an average of 37 minutes each day with their children on homework.
The parents of junior primary students (grades 1-3) spent approximately 48 minutes helping
them and parents of senior primary students (grades 4-6) spent approximately 25 minutes. When
comparing homework involvement between junior primary students and senior primary students
there were large grade-level differences. Junior primary students and their parents spent more a
lot more time on homework tasks than the senior primary students did with their parents. The
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data also suggests that parents who had primary-school education or below were more likely to
be less involved than those who have attained education at the secondary school level and higher.
Results of this study clearly showed that the benefit of parents' homework involvement varied
according to their social class and the child's grade level. In addition, the gain in student
achievements in relation to the involvement of the parents confirmed the importance of involving
parents in the educational process and bridging a school home connection.
Shumow (2003) investigated and compared the type of support parents gave their
children on two different types of homework tasks. The extent to which parents provided
controlling assistance and the extent to which they provided elaborative assistance was the focus
of this study. Controlling assistance referred to the parent taking more direct charge and control
in the assignment and elaborative assistance referred to having children compare, explain or
reflect on the problem. Nineteen parent child pairs were observed (videotaped) working on two
different types of second grade math homework assignments. One was an arithmetic word
problem and the other one involved spatial reasoning (geometry). Parents were also interviewed
to gain deeper insight. The purpose of this study was to compare the type of parent input given
with respect to the task assigned and to focus on the nature of the task to determine if the task
mattered in the type of support the parents gave their children. The results of this study
suggested that the parents were less controlling in their assistance when it came to the spatial
reasoning task and instead provided more elaboration assistance. Parents took more direct
control when it came to the arithmetic task since they considered it more of a direct and
straightforward question to approach with a clear way to get the answer. However, this type of
parental assistance is not very beneficial to the student in terms of deepening his/her
understanding and learning. The results of the interview indicated that parents drew upon their
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own school experiences when thinking about how to help their child learn. In addition, they
expressed more familiarity with the arithmetic task as opposed to the spatial reasoning task. The
results of the study were consistent with the view that parental assistance did in fact depend on
the perception of the task at hand.
Katz, Kaplan and Gueta (2009) investigated students’ differences in independent
motivation for doing homework in the elementary and junior high school. The study focused on
the role that teacher support played in the students’ motivation for homework and the differences
between this teacher support and that of the child’s needs for motivation to do homework. This
study was also based on the framework of the Self-Determination Theory in which motivation is
said to stem from three psychological needs; autonomy, competence and relatedness. It credits
attainment of this motivation to the context and environment in which children are in, suggesting
that parents and teachers are the main contributors in providing the necessary support for
children to internalize autonomous motivation for doing homework. The participants of this
study came from a junior high school and two elementary schools in Israel which included 71
fourth graders and 108 eighth graders. They were given surveys in their primary language
(Hebrew) and were asked to answer questions about their motivation to do homework, their
needs when it came to homework, and their thoughts about of the type of support their teacher
provided to them based on their needs. The results of this study indicated that the junior high
school students had lower autonomous motivation than did the elementary school students when
it came to doing homework. It also indicated that the junior high school students found their
teachers to be less supportive of their needs than the elementary school students reported.
Lastly, the data suggested that the psychological support teachers provided partially accounted
for the difference in motivation for homework between the students in the two different school
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settings. It is evident from this study that teacher support plays a crucial role in the extent and
type of motivation students will have when it comes to homework. It is interesting to see how
teachers support of autonomy, competence, and relatedness when it comes to homework goes
way beyond the classroom.
Margolis (2005) discussed different ways in which teachers could help struggling
elementary school students with homework. He also addressed the importance of parental
involvement and addressed how teachers could assist parents to help their child improve in
homework. The article suggested that some things teachers could do to improve success in
homework with struggling learners is to make homework interesting and relevant, limit the
number of assignments and make them short, assign work that is challenging but that that
matches the child’s independent abilities and that they are familiar with, provide feedback and
often communicate progress to parents.
In addition, he emphasizes the importance in
establishing a partnership with parents to agree on academic expectations for the child. Teachers
could help parents develop a plan for completing homework tasks daily that works for their
family. Sometimes problems occur when parents try to assist their child with homework and
Margolis clearly stated that if this happens parents should not assist the child as it will just
heighten frustrations and negative emotions about homework. Instead the parent could help in
other ways. For example, provide a nice quiet environment in which the child can complete
his/her homework tasks. Margolis stressed the importance of “following through” with parents.
This is extremely important because it establishes trust. Parents will believe that the teacher’s
intentions in helping are genuine and that the teacher cares about the child. Ultimately it is
crucial to make the parents feel comfortable and build trust in order to really create a strong
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partnership and school-home connection.
This will increase the likelihood of success in
homework amongst struggling students.
Vatterot (2010) explored the characteristics of good homework. She discussed the five
main elements that homework should have to be considered good homework. She mentioned
that the attributes of good homework included the homework having a clear purpose, being
efficient in that it demonstrates students’ learning, establishing ownership by allowing students
to personalize it and make choices, carefully set up so that students can complete the homework
tasks independently which will give students a sense of competence, and lastly the homework
should be appealing and enjoyable. Vatterot expressed her concern over teachers assigning
homework that entailed rote learning as opposed to homework tasks that strengthened and
deepened understanding. She introduced ways that a teacher could make a homework task more
meaningful. For example, instead of asking students to write down the definitions of fifteen
science vocabulary words, you could ask the students to use each word in a sentence or story to
demonstrate understanding of the word. You could differentiate by asking other students to read
the three sentences below a word and have them mark the sentence that used the vocabulary
word in the appropriate context.
Understanding how we can modify homework to really
reinforce learning and what new approaches we could use to assign homework is extremely
important in getting students not only to do the homework but to do it well.
Jacobson (2004) reviewed the increasing amount of homework that 6-8 year olds have
been receiving and the burden that it has put on students and parents alike. Some parents have
had a hard time getting their children to do the homework and have complained that these daily
homework assignments have become overwhelming for their kindergartners to do. Other parents
have expressed how their child’s enthusiasm has dwindled since homework has become more of
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a chore than an exciting activity. Despite this, appreciation has been voiced by parents for seeing
the work that was being sent home and knowing what was expected of their child. One teacher
shared her thoughts on the importance of homework and explained that not only does it help
make a connection between home and school but it gives the students a sense of responsibility.
Another discussed the importance of parental involvement in setting up a routine for their
children. Homework tasks do not have to be paper based in order to be relevant and meaningful.
Educators in the field expressed that homework should be set up to reinforce what was learned in
the school day and can be made fun and engaging through various creative activities.
One
educator stated that the way to prepare students for long hours of homework in ninth grade was
not by giving hours of homework in kindergarten.
Hoover-Dempsey, Battiato, Walker, Reed, DeJong, and Jones (2001) researched parental
involvement in homework. They combined findings from various studies to provide suggestions
for research and practice. They focused on various aspects of parental involvement such as what
motivates parents to become involved in their children’s homework tasks, what strategies they
use, how their involvement in homework tasks affects student outcomes and which outcomes are
influenced by that involvement. Results indicated that parents are involved in assisting in
homework because they think they should be involved and they feel that their involvement will
make a positive impact. In addition, they involve themselves because they feel their child and
teacher want and expect them to be involved. Role construction is a motivator for parental
involvement and it reflects how the parent’s experiences affect their perception in the importance
of involvement in their child’s education. Schools and teachers can take different types of action
to strengthen and empower each of these motivational factors in parental perception of
involvement in student homework. Parent activities and involvement take many forms. Some
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parents do the basics, such as provide an atmosphere conducive to learning and homework
completion in the home and interact with the teacher about homework. Others take a more
active role in homework involvement in which they actively engage in the homework process
and focus on completion and if it was done properly. There have been mixed findings in student
achievement since students are also affected by factors outside of parent control such as the
classroom environment. However, the most positive visible outcome is in student attitudes.
Parental involvement positively influences students’ attitudes about school and homework and
boosts their perception of self-competence. It is also linked to more positive behavior in the
school environment.
Elish-Piper, Almburg, Di Domenico, Henry, Morley, and Sokolinski (2012) researched
parental involvement in reading and suggested ways in which teachers can create partnerships
with parents and involve them in their children’s reading to promote literacy development. They
stressed the importance of parents and teachers coming together for the benefit of the child and
establishing a good relationship through communication. One such way to do this was through
home visits in which a teacher could interact with and better understand the student and his or
her family. A homework approach to involve parents in their child’s literacy was called “Adult
Conversations” in which the child and parent would discuss a book that the child selected and
was reading. The student would then write a few sentences about their conversation and the
parents would sign the work. This assignment eventually led into some parent/child reading
pairs in which parents actually ended up reading alongside their child as opposed to just doing
the conversation required. Another big idea was getting students to be independent learners and
being able to identify what motivated them. Motivation is crucial to success and one of the most
challenging tasks educators must do is to determine what exactly motivates their students and
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gets them going and what resources can be provided to them and their families. The big ideas
shared in this article are not universal and will not apply to all families, but they are a useful
means in which we can look at how to interact with our students’ families. Ultimately, if
teachers can really engage and support students and their families in meaningful ways and bridge
these two systems of home and school together they can make a difference in literacy
development and their lives.
Battle-Bailey (2004) described how using a concept she developed called IRH
(Interactive Reading Homework) could work to promote parent involvement in student
homework. In IRH, parents and students are required to work together to complete a reading
homework task. The parents listen to their child read and discuss reading vocabulary lists with
them as well as engage in discussions about the reading.
Battle-Bailey indicates that an
increased amount in the homework load does not necessarily have a positive impact on student
outcomes. On the contrary, they can have negative effects since it increases stress levels in the
family. She mentions a few ways to foster parental involvement such as conducting teacherparent workshops to enhance reading proficiency for students. Teachers can model and share
techniques used in the classroom as a means for parents to support and help their children at
home. Battle-Bailey suggests that teachers must design interactive constructivist homework that
meets certain components.
component of IRH.
For example, she states that parent interests are an important
She claims that parent interest will enhance student interest and will
therefore give them more motivation to complete homework assignments. She also mentions
how the IRH approach should be sensitive to and appropriate for different student populations.
This article supports the notion that parental involvement improves student achievement.
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Therefore, teachers need to be able to create meaningful homework assignments that strengthen
parent involvement and the home-school connection.
Domina (2005) used data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979
(NLSY79) to research the relationship between six types of parental involvement on students’
achievement and behavior. She studied 1,445 children of the original NLSY79 respondents that
were enrolled in elementary school in 1996. These children were in the fourth grade and below.
She looked at the activities parents involved themselves in and what effects they had. The parent
involvement activities consisted of whether the parents attended PTA meetings, met with
teachers, volunteered in or outside the classroom, how often they helped with homework and
how often they checked homework.
The findings of this study indicated that parental
involvement did not directly increase and improve children’s learning, but did have a positive
impact on preventing behavior problems.
The data also suggested that while parental
involvement of parents with higher socioeconomic status may not have much of an impact,
parental involvement of parents with lower socioeconomic status did have more of an effect on
the child.
Bower and Griffin (2011) conducted a case study in order to determine the effectiveness
of the Epstein Model of parent involvement strategies in a low income, high minority urban
elementary school. The Epstein Model is a framework for parental involvement that identifies
six different types of parental involvement such as school involvement, positive conditions in the
home, communication, learning activities in the home, community partnerships and partnerships
with the school on decision making.
The participants consisted of five teachers and two
administrators. The data collected included interviews for each of the participants, observations
and field notes.
The school in this study implemented various strategies and techniques to
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involve parents such as make personal calls to invite parents to events, hold family workshops
and develop meaningful homework and learning activities for parents to do with their children.
Yet they failed to get the results and involvement from parents they wished to attain. The results
of this study indicated that the schools and teacher were not building strong relationships with
parents because they continued to use strategies that perhaps favored more traditional parent
involvement activities. It suggested new strategies be developed that would work effectively for
low socioeconomic and minority families. The Epstein Model may not reflect the type of parent
involvement they saught and therefore new ways of getting parents to collaborate with the school
and with each other needed to be sought out. This school did not have a school counselor which
could have been a reason for such low parental involvement. School counselors are trained to
work with families and know how to build strong relationships, so the lack of a counselor could
have contributed to this lack of parental involvement and lack of support for each other.
Knollman and Wild (2007) investigated the relationship between parental support,
student motivation and student feelings during homework in two studies. They hypothesized that
intrinsically motivated students would have positive feelings when parents provided learning
autonomy, as opposed to direct instruction, and that extrinsically motivated students would have
more positive emotions during homework when more direct parental support was provided. The
original sample for the studies consisted of 181 sixth graders and their families in West
Germany. The first study consisted of two groups of students. The first group consisted of 27
students who were categorized as having intrinsic orientation of motivation and the second group
consisted of 25 students who had extrinsic motivation. Students were given questionnaires to
determine their motivational orientation. The participants’ emotions were assessed through
reading two stories with a hypothetical situation. They were asked to share which emotion they
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would most likely experience in each situation. The results indicated that neither motivational
orientation was associated with more or less positive emotions in the direct instruction
circumstance. However, as hypothesized, there was a positive correlation between positive
student feelings and intrinsic motivation in the autonomy supportive condition. In the second
study, 38 students from the original sample of 181 were asked to complete homework diaries
over the course of 21 days. Those that recorded receiving parental help were selected and
separated into two groups (intrinsic or extrinsic) and each contained 32 students. They were
asked to rate the amount of help they received from their parents and they quality of the help.
The results indicated that intrinsic motivation positively correlated with happy feelings of joy
and pride. Negative correlations were found with pride and joy but not with anger or anxiety for
those with extrinsic motivation. Students with an extrinsic motivational orientation appeared to
feel better and more comfortable when parents provided a more structured and organized
learning environment.
Bailey, Godbey and Clark (2011) introduced a new homework approach created to
improve students’ literacy skills by encouraging parents to work with their children.
The
kindergarten students were not completing or returning their weekly homework packets, which
was very frustrating for the teachers.
Through informal conversations with parents they
concluded that the homework was not being done because students did not find the homework
interesting and parents felt helpless trying to help their children. In addition, parents did not see
any point of the homework.
As a result, the goal was to create interactive homework
assignments that involved parents and that strengthened students’ literacy skills through
authentic activities that promoted discovery and exploration. Godbey and her colleagues felt that
the best way to involve parents was to incorporate these literacy activities on a weekly
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homework sheet referred to as Literacy on the Lap and through family literacy nights. These
homework sheets were created with each student’s needs in mind. They differentiated the types
of activities that were put on the activity list taking into consideration their students’ different
personalities, their different levels, and the different multiple intelligences and how they learned.
An example of an activity that could be found on the sheet would be for the parent and child to
sing a nursery rhyme or song together and to write down rhyming words by playing a rhyming
game. This new homework approach began in September 2009. In November 2009, surveys
were sent out to the parents to see how they felt about the new homework approach
implemented. Results of the surveys indicated that parents and their children liked having
options in the homework selection and were very pleased with the homework. Both student and
parent attitudes changed towards homework. Students were so eager to bring in and show their
homework that the teachers decided to set up a bulletin board called “Hooray for Homework”
which displayed and celebrated the students work.
Tunstall and Bull (2011) expressed concern about homework not reflecting a 21st century
strategy in education for kindergartners.
They felt teachers should aim to use the same
technology they incorporated into the classroom in homework. The participants of this study
included 18 kindergarten students from an elementary school in the United States. Six of the
students did not have access to the internet, so they were given the same files on a DVD.
Students were required to access lessons online and create their own nursery rhyme videos
through a program called Camtasia. The purpose of the study was to determine how the students
felt about using multimedia in homework and if the use of multimedia effected the completion of
homework. Students took pre and post surveys for data collection. The research findings
indicated that the use of multimedia and technology had a positive impact on student learning at
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home and in school. Teacher observations showed that there was a heightened increase is
student enthusiasm for classroom activities that consisted of videos and it improved collaboration
and teamwork. The students expressed that using multimedia at home was fun. In addition, the
use of multimedia increased parental involvement during homework since parents were required
to assist in accessing online resources and DVD’s. The use of multimedia with kindergarten
students yielded positive results all around in promoting homework completion and participation.
Olsen and Drake (2009) found that students had limited experiences with nature and did
not regularly receive homework in science as much as they did with math or reading. They
provided various strategies teachers could use to engage families in student learning experiences
in the subject of science and recommended ways we could encourage our students to explore the
natural world around them. A few of the ways they suggested we could do this is by assigning
science homework that fostered curiosity in nature. For example, we could send students
outdoors with a relative to complete a fun science related task such as collect and classify rocks
or leaves. Teachers could also host a family science night where you could excite families about
science by conducting some fun science activities. Another important way to strengthen science
teaching and learning in the classroom is by learning about parent and family experiences. For
example, you could send questionnaires home asking families about their interests or hobbies or
anything they do in their daily lives that might be related to science. A parent might share that
his/her favorite hobby is scuba diving or fishing. This information could be used to make
science learning in the classroom more meaningful for the students by connecting it to their
families and their lives. A unit on underwater ecosystems could be a wonderful place to
incorporate those family experiences.
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Sheridan (2009) addressed homework in relation to students that have attention and
learning problems. She discussed the importance of homework and how certain behavioral
problems, such as lack of control and issues with attention conflict with students’ academic
success. Homework is meant to support and enhance student learning but can have a negative
impact on students and families who are unable to create the conditions and routines where
effective homework can take place. Input, output, process, and ecological variables are all
important when considering the interventions that will enhance student academic ability.
Sheridan stresses the important role that parents play and should have in the process of
homework intervention asking where the “home” in homework is. She claims that parental
figures are absent from these interventions and should not be because they need to be part of
strengthening and improving the environment that children learn in especially when they are the
ones that control that environment.
Xu (2013) found it surprising that many studies have put more emphasis on the role that
teachers and parents play in homework and not on the role that children play on their own
homework processes. However, he mentions that parents and teachers can help the child develop
their own homework management strategies. He examined five of the major challenges students
face when doing homework and discussed several ways students could deal with these
challenges to improve their homework effectiveness. The challenges consisted of creating a
good comfortable environment for homework completion, time management issues, handling
distractions, staying motivated and coping with negative feelings while doing homework. One
of the most important qualities students need to acquire is that of self-regulation, in which they
self-regulate their own study habits. Students need to be able to choose a quiet place, organize
their work, and remove items that may pose a distraction while they complete their assignments.
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Additionally, rather than telling children when they need to complete their homework, parents
and teachers should allow them to set up their own routine. Another useful strategy is positive
self-talk, which teachers and parents could model for children. Self-talk consists of reassuring
yourself and telling yourself that you can do something. These simple and practical techniques
could really make a difference in a child’s attitude towards homework.
Tsai and Jiang (2013) felt that most of the literature available on the topic of homework
reflected parent and teacher perspectives rather than children. Therefore, they conducted a cross
cultural study among Chinese and American third graders regarding their opinions on
homework. Gaining insight into student thoughts on homework can greatly help teachers gauge
their instructional efforts and methods to promote student completion of homework.
The
participants of this study included 30 Chinese third graders in China and 22 American third
graders in the United States. Of these students, 29 were boys and 23 were girls. Students were
given a survey to complete and student responses from China were scanned and emailed back to
the researcher. The research results indicated that Chinese students received more homework
and spent more time doing homework than the American students.
There were no major
differences between the two groups in their responses. The majority of the third graders from
both countries expressed positive attitudes towards homework. They expressed that the amount
of homework they received was fair and not difficult to complete. However, the Chinese
students liked homework more than their American counterparts despite the fact that they
received more of it. One limitation of this study was that it was conducted with a small sample
of students and therefore cannot be generalized.
22
Parental Involvement in Homework
IV. Hypothesis
The hypothesis examined in this research project is that students whose parents are more
involved in their child’s education, indicated by their involvement in their child’s homework,
would be more diligent in completing homework assignments on a regular basis.
V. Methodology
This study utilized a quasi-experimental design based on natural observation. I examined
the rate of homework completion of 16 students in one kindergarten class over a 2 week period.
This was my pre-test data. Parents were invited to attend a workshop on the importance of
parental involvement in homework and I kept a record of those parents who attended. This
workshop was my treatment to improve the rate of homework completion. For my post-test data,
I examined the rate of homework completion during a 2 week period following the workshop to
determine if students whose parents attended the workshop improved their rate of homework
completion.
The Symbolic design is OXO in which the initial O represents the rate of homework
completion prior to treatment. This is the pre-test data. The X represents the Homework
Workshop for parents, in which parents are reminded of the importance of homework and their
involvement in the educational process. This is the treatment phase of the study. The second O
represents the rate of homework completion post treatment, i.e. the rate of homework completion
of those students whose parents attended the workshop. This is the post-test data.
My rationale for this design stemmed from the belief that young children benefit from
support and positive reinforcement at home to complete homework tasks. Parents play a key role
in motivating their children at that age in establishing homework habits. Therefore, inviting
23
Parental Involvement in Homework
parents to the school to discuss the importance of parental involvement in homework should lead
to improved rate of homework completion.
In the course of this research I considered the threats to the internal and external validity
of the research that could possibly affect the results. The internal validity threats are as follows:
History: This may prove to be a threat to internal validity because an event that is not part of the
treatment or research study may cause students to not complete their homework which may have
nothing to do with parental involvement. For example, a change in classroom teacher, absence
(although students can make up homework), or a power outage at home may affect their
homework completion.
Maturation: This can have an effect on my particular research question in that over the research
period students may become more involved with their teachers and may become more interested
in doing homework regardless of whether their parents are involved or not. Conversely, they may
lose interest in doing homework if they do not receive positive reinforcement from their teacher
for completing assignments. Utilizing a brief survey period will minimize this threat.
Selection-Maturation Interaction: This could be a threat to validity since in the group I am
examining students do have different maturation rates that could affect their ability and interest
in doing homework.
The threats to external threats to validity are the following:
Generalizable Conditions: In my study I believe that threats in this area are minimized for my
study but do exist in generalizing the results to other settings. For example, rater differences are
eliminated by having only one rater in my study but replicating the study in another setting with
another rater may introduce some inconsistency. This would be minimized by using the same
instruments in which the rater is primarily a recorder and has little opportunity to introduce bias.
24
Parental Involvement in Homework
The difference in setting can affect validity since the approach of the teaching personal rather, or
in addition to, the variable that I am examining as part of my hypothesis may be significant.
Selection Treatment Interaction: This is a real threat to external validity as the sample is likely to
be self-selecting rather than random.
In my study, those parents willing to submit to the
treatment/intervention are likely to be the most interested and motivated. To avoid this threat, I
will attempt to involve all the parents/guardians of children in the class.
Experimenter Effects: This always presents a threat when there is interaction between the
researcher and the subjects. I will try to minimize the passive elements by using instruments that
will limit interaction between the researcher and the subjects. By using objective measures, I
will minimize the active elements of possible researcher bias.
In order to answer my research question I used empirical data on homework completion
both before and after treatment to identify and compare homework trends in the classroom both
before and after treatment. The participants in my research were 16 kindergarten students,
whose homework completion was examined, and their parents, who were asked to attend a
workshop whose goal it was to encourage parents to become more involved in their children’s
homework and the educational process.
The instruments include the grade book, recorded on an on-line data base called
Skedula/Pupil Path, which contains data on homework completion for each student. I used this
data to assess how homework completion had either improved or worsened over the course of
the semester after parental involvement techniques.
The additional instrument was the
attendance sheet for the workshop conducted for parents on the importance of homework. This
data was necessary to determine whether the rate of homework completion improved for those
students whose parents attended the workshop. I obtained written consent from each parent
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Parental Involvement in Homework
participating in the study and have notified them that there would be no identifying information
included in the study and all results of the study would be kept confidential. No information
about them would be disclosed at any time prior to, during or after the research.
VI. Results
The results of my research indicated that the students whose parents attended the
workshop did in fact improve in completing homework tasks. Each of the 16 students were
assigned a number (1-16). The attached graphs show the results in homework done over the two
weeks before and after the workshop. The first graph shows the results of all students, whether
parents attended the workshop or not, and second graph shows the results for only those students
whose parents attended the workshop.
Student #
Pre-tx
Post-tx
1
3
5
2
4
4
3
3
5
4
5
6
5
4
4
6
2
5
7
7
8
8
5
6
9
8
7
10
0
4
11
5
8
12
7
8
13
4
7
14
8
10
15
10
10
16
6
9
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Parental Involvement in Homework
Treatment Results
Homework Completed
12
10
8
6
Pre-treatment
4
Post-treatment
2
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Students
Treatment Results
12
Homework Completed
10
8
6
Pre-treatment
Post-treatment
4
2
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Students Whose Parents Attended Workshop
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Parental Involvement in Homework
Parent Workshop Effect on Student Homework
12
Post-treatment
10
8
6
4
2
0
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Pre-treatment
rxy = .95 (.949719)
You can tell from correlation graph above that there is a very strong correlation between increase
in homework completion of students, and parent workshop attendance.
VII. Discussion and Implications
The hypothesis, developed based on personal observation and supported by a review of
the literature, was validated by the research, i.e. that students whose parents are involved in their
education are more likely to complete their homework. The research project attempted to prove
this hypothesis by examining a kindergarten classroom of sixteen students in which there was
significant variability in rates of homework completion among the students.
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Parental Involvement in Homework
The nine children whose parents attended all demonstrated a significant increase in the
rate of homework completion. Interestingly, four of the seven children whose parents did not
attend also demonstrated an improvement in their rate of homework completion, although the
increase was not as dramatic. Two of the children whose parents did not attend showed the same
rate pre and post treatment and one child experienced a small decrease although this student had
a good rate of completion before the treatment.
There are a number of factors to be considered regarding the results, many of which have
been the subject of other research and discussed in the literature. One factor is the question of
the reason that students whose parents attended the workshop did homework more regularly.
Katz, Kaplan and Buzukashvily (2011) discussed the factor of motivation: to what degree is
doing homework self-motivated or the result of external factors, particularly the attitude of the
parents. They found that that parents’ attitude and their perceived competence to assist in
homework determined their level of support and the students’ motivation to do homework. In a
study of parent expectations, Froiland, Peterson and Davison (2013) found that high parent
expectations had a direct effect on the child’s success and achievement.
Another factor is the level of education of the parents, their attitude toward education and
their perceived ability to assist their children, also discussed by Katz, Kaplan and Buzukashvily
(2011). In a study of junior and senior primary students conducted in Hong Kong, Tam and
Chan (2009) found that parents with lower levels of education were less likely to be involved in
their children’s homework and the disparity increased as the children progressed to higher grade
levels. Bower and Griffin (2011) concluded that in low income, high minority areas, traditional
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Parental Involvement in Homework
methods of parent involvement were not effective and suggested that new strategies be
developed to work with low socioeconomic and minority families.
The type of involvement is another factor to be considered. Were the parents of children
whose rate of homework completion improved actually helping to complete the assignment or
were they simply encouraging or did they offer rewards or punishment and what are the longer
term implications of the type of involvement?
Shumow (2003) investigated the type of
involvement, comparing controlling assistance, in which parents took charge, with elaborative
assistance in which the parents provided a conducive atmosphere and encouraged the children
think about the given problem. He found that parent involvement, of either type, positively
affects students’ attitudes and behavior. Domina (2005) also looked at the types of parental
involvement including how often they checked and helped with homework. This study, contrary
to most other studies I reviewed, found that parental involvement did not directly improve
children’s learning but had a positive effect on preventing behavior problems.
An additional factor is the motivation of parents to become involved, how it influences
their type of involvement and, in contrast to a study mentioned above which discussed the impact
of parent expectations on students, the expectations that parents have of themselves and their
perception of the expectations others have of them. Hoover-Dempsey et al. (2001) investigated
these issues. They found that parental involvement has a positive effect on students’ attitudes
toward school and homework, enhances their sense of competence and results in more positive
behavior in school.
Elish-Piper et al. (2012) investigated the importance of teachers forming partnerships
with parents whose involvement helps to promote literacy development. The home-school
30
Parental Involvement in Homework
connection could have been a factor in my study in that the students were aware that their parents
had come to the school to discuss homework which would signify that parents as well as teachers
consider homework important.
Other studies, including Margolis (2005), Battle-Bailey (2004), Knollman and Wild
(2007), and Bailey, Godbey and Clark (2011) all found parent involvement important for
promoting academic achievement and positive feeling about school and motivation to succeed.
Sheridan also found parental involvement important in students who have attention and learning
problems particularly since they control the learning environment.
Although my study was, by necessity, very limited in scope, duration and sample
population, due in part to limitations on time and access to subjects, many implications can be
drawn from it regarding both the importance of parental involvement in homework and areas for
further research. Homework itself is important for a number of reasons. In school, the teacher
presents a model for learning but true learning takes place only with practice and repetition.
Repetition, it has been said, is the essence of learning. This is true in all areas of learning from
the practice necessary to develop the ability to play a musical instrument or to learn a language
to the practice necessary to solve mathematical problems with different variables once the
paradigm is acquired.
Reading and solving problems allows students to acquire
information/knowledge and also exposes students to new ideas and encourages them to think
creatively and independently. In addition, completing homework on a regular basis enables
students to develop good work habits, take responsibility for their own learning and to develop
competence not only in the subject area but in managing their time and acting in a responsible
manner by completing required tasks on time. It offers a great opportunity for parents, who are
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Parental Involvement in Homework
the child’s first educators, to continue to be involved in their child’s education once they enter
school. This not only helps the child to learn but enhances the parent-child relationship as the
parent helps the child and remains aware of the child’s progress.
With regard to my study, there are many areas on which further research could shed light
that might help develop strategies and means for greater and more effective parent involvement.
One question that arose was the reason that there seemed to be an overall improvement in
homework completion including those among some students whose parents did not attend the
workshop. Since all parents were invited, did those who did not attend perhaps see the invitation
as an indication that this was something about which the school was concerned and did they then
speak to their children about homework? In other words, did the mere act of inviting parents to a
workshop have a positive affect? Perhaps holding the workshop stressed the importance that the
school and teacher gives to homework and created an expectation to which the students
themselves responded. Or perhaps improved school behavior is infectious and when some
students observe other students improving, they do not want to lag behind.
There are other factors that can perhaps be productively investigated. Why, for example,
did some parents not attend? Is it due to factors like not having a baby sitter or having to work
or not having the time or not feeling comfortable in the school or due to a language barrier? If
this was investigated, whatever barriers existed could be taken into consideration in trying to
encourage parental involvement in school activities.
I noted that the parents of three of the students who had a relatively high rate of
completion did not attend. Perhaps they judged it was not necessary in their case because they
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Parental Involvement in Homework
were checking their children’s homework and knew they were doing it. If this was found to be
so, perhaps they could be an example and possibly help other parents in this area.
Another area of curiosity is how attending the workshops translated into behavior of the
parents who attended. Did they help more, just check the homework more, were they more
encouraging or more punitive in their approach or a combination of these methods? Knowing
this information could be useful in gauging the longer term effects of the treatment as well as
informing the planning of additional workshops or other interventions to encourage parental
involvement. It would also be interesting to conduct a longitudinal study to see how the results
varied over time and the extent to which follow-up workshops or other interventions would be
helpful.
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Parental Involvement in Homework
References
Bailey, J.P., Godbey, R. & Pertl-Clark, A. (2011). Hooray for homework: making homework
fun! California Reader, 44 (3), 38-45. Retrieved from
http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/61252682/hooray-homework-makinghomework-fun
Battle-Bailey, L. (2004). Interactive homework for increasing parent involvement and student
reading achievement.
Childhood Education, 81 (1), 36-40.
Retrieved from
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00094056.2004.10521292#.UZfMmTAeKM
Bower, H. A., & Griffin, D. (2011). Can the epstein model of parental involvement work in a
high-minority, high-poverty elementary school? A case study.
Professional School
Counseling, 15 (2), 77-87. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.5330/PSC.n.2011-15.77
Domina, T. (2005).
Leveling the home advantage: assessing the effectiveness of parental
involvement in elementary school. Sociology of Education, 78 (3), 233-249. Retrieved
from http://soe.sagepub.com/content/78/3/233.abstract
Elish-Piper, L., Almburg, A. T., Di Domenico, P., Henry, M. P., Morley, S., & Sokolinski, S.
(2012). Parent involvement in reading. Illinois Reading Council Journal, 40 (3), 55-61.
Retrived from http://www.illinoisreadingcouncil.org/irchome.html
Froiland, J. M., Peterson, A., & Davison, M. L. (2013). The long-term effects of early parent
involvement and parent expectation in the USA. School Psychology International, 34
(1), 33-50. Retrieved from http://spi.sagepub.com/content/34/1/33
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Hoover-Dempsey, K. V., Battiato, A. C., Walker, J. M. T., Reed, R. P., DeJong, J. M., & Jones,
K. P. (2001). Parent involvement in homework. Educational Psychologist, 36 (3), 195209. Retrieved from
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/peabody/family-school/papers/homework.pdfM HPOSERLK.
Jacobson, L. (2004). Little ones' homework burden rises. Education Week. 23 (18), 1-12.
Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2004/01/14/18homework.h23.html
Katz, I., Kaplan, A., & Buzukashvily, T. (2011). The role of parents' motivation in students'
autonomous motivation for doing homework. Learning and Individual Differences, 21
(4), 376–386. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2011.04.001
Katz, I., Kaplan, A., & Gueta, G. (2009). Students’ Needs, teachers’ support, and motivation for
doing homework: a cross-sectional study. The Journal of Experimental Education, 78
(2), 246–267. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00220970903292868
Knollman, M., Wild, E. (2007). Quality of parental support and students' emotions during
homework: moderating effects of students' motivational orientations. European Journal
of Psychology of Education, 22 (1), 63-76. Retrieved from
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF03173689
Margolis, H. (2005). Resolving struggling learners’ homework difficulties: working with
elementary school learners and parents. Preventing School Failure, 50 (1), 5-12.
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Olsen, J. K. & Drake, C. (2009). The home connection: Science and Children, 46 (7), 52-55.
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http://esc.tricountyesc.org/cos/scienceresources/9-Article-The-Home-ConnectionHelping-parents-and-families-help-your-students.pdf
Sheridan, S. M. (2009).
Homework interventions for children with attention and learning
problems: where is the “home” in “homework?” School Psychology Review, 38, (3), 334337. Retrieved from http://www.nasponline.org/publications/spr/spr383index.aspx
Shumow, L. (2003). The task matters: parental assistance to children doing different homework
assignments. School Community Journal, 13 (2), 7-23. Retrieved from
http://www.adi.org/journal/fw03/Shumow%20Fall03.pdf
Tam, V. C., & Chan, R.M. (2009). Parental involvement in primary children's homework in
Hong Kong. School Community Journal, 19 (2), 81-100. Retrieved from
http://www.adi.org/journal/fw09/TamChanFall2009.pdf
Tsai, K. C., & Jiang, H. Y. (2013). Chinese and American third grade students’ perceptions of
homework. International Journal of Economy, Management and Social Sciences, 2 (6),
212-216. Retrieved from http://www.tijournals.com
Tunstall, M., & Bull, P.H. (2011). Using multimedia with kindergarten to increase homework
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Vatterott, C. (2010). Five hallmarks of good homework. Educational Leadership, 68 (1), 10-15.
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Xu, J. (2013).
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IV. Appendices
Appendix A: Consent Form
September 20, 2013
Dear Parent(s)/Guardian(s),
For a research project on the topic of parent involvement in students’ homework, I will be
collecting data on homework submitted and will also offer a workshop to instruct parents and
families on the importance of assisting in homework.
The Parent Workshop will be held on October 4, 2013. Reminders will be sent home prior to the
workshop. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. I look forward
to seeing you all at the Workshop!
You may contact me through any of the following ways:



School telephone number 718-277-6116
Cell phone number 347-608-3302 (Feel free to text)
Send a note with your child to school
Sincerely,
Ms. Hernandez
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Parental Involvement in Homework
Appendix B: Attendance Sheet
Parental Involvement Workshop Attendance Sheet
October 4, 2013
Elenny Almonte
Arrancha Burgos
Pablo Calderon
Tyrese Charles
Kristy Cruz
Mya Faison
Justin Hardy
Carlos Marquez
Rolando Martinez
Sanya Nunez
Jaylen Peart
Melvin Peoples
Dejanaze Sherman
Amaiya Terrell
Mikel Wilson
De Jon Cruz
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Parental Involvement in Homework
Appendix C: Consent Form #2
November 24, 2013
Dear Parent(s)/Guardian(s),
Thank you to all who attended the Homework Workshop last month. I am asking you to please
sign and return the attached consent slip giving permission to use any data collected for research
purposes. It is the official NYC Department of Education consent form which also gives
permission to use photographs and videotapes for educational purposes.
Please sign and return it as soon as possible. Please feel free to contact me if you have any
questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Ms. Hernandez