5.28.2008

Parents Make a Difference

ScienceDaily (May 28, 2008) — New research from the University of New Hampshire shows that students do much better in school when their parents are actively involved in their education.

Researchers Karen Smith Conway, professor of economics at the University of New Hampshire, and her colleague Andrew Houtenville, senior research associate at New Editions Consulting, found that parental involvement has a strong, positive effect on student achievement.

“Parental effort is consistently associated with higher levels of achievement, and the magnitude of the effect of parental effort is substantial. We found that schools would need to increase per-pupil spending by more than $1,000 in order to achieve the same results that are gained with parental involvement,” Conway said. (Full Story at sd)

I wonder if they could invest $500 per student into parent involvement then? The problem is what program would actually increase parent involvement? Parent report cards? Prizes for parents?