Out-of-School Learning and Family Involvement

Family Involvement at Home

How families structure their children's time outside of school and the degree to which they actively support children's learning have positive implications for student outcomes. Recent meta-analyses [Page 1637]and literature review studies have concluded that children's home environment and their interactions with parents are an important influence on a wide range of student outcomes. This research suggests that the positive effects of family involvement at home begin before children enter school and continue through high school.

Much of the research on the effects of family involvement at home has used family characteristics such as race, income, and structure as covariates that need to be “accounted for” rather than explored in depth. In studies that have looked at the relationship between family involvement at home and student outcomes within family groups (e.g., White, Black, Hispanic), researchers have found consistent patterns in the relationship between involvement at home and student achievement. Seehee Hong and Hsiu-Zu Ho found that the relationship between family involvement and high school achievement was mediated by students' motivation-related beliefs regardless of racial or ethnic background. These studies suggest the positive effects of family involvement are not limited to students from any given background or family type.

Although students from different racial/ethnic backgrounds appear to be similarly affected by the involvement of their parents, some groups tend to be more involved than others. Low-income immigrant Latino families, for example, tend to read with their young children less than families from other ethnic backgrounds. Also, single-parent families and lower-income families tend to be less involved than other family types. These differences are important and help explain differences in student achievement.

Family income has also been shown to be an important characteristic that differentiates the role parents assume in their children's schooling. Annette Lareau, in her study of working- and upper-class families, argued that higher income parents actively structure their children's lives to foster higher student achievement. She referred to this childrearing approach as concerted cultivation. In contrast, Lareau described the parenting approach of working-class parents as one in which family members do little to intervene in the amount and type of school-related experiences to which children are exposed. In an empirical test of Lareau's theory, Cheadle showed that students from families in which concerted cultivation was more prevalent began kindergarten with higher levels of reading and mathematics achievement. He also found that concerted cultivation partially explained Black–White and Hispanic–White achievement gaps in reading and mathematics.

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