Is Parental Involvement Good for Gilmer County Students?

The Gilmer County school system reached out to parents this past week as part of the 2013-14 Parental Involvement Plan. Each school has specific goals and strategies that change from year to year. The program is designed to gather feedback from parents and incorporate that feedback into the academic process. Multiple studies have shown that parental involvement correlates with student performance. The notion is not only self-evident, but almost pushed to the point of being cliche. But a friendly reminder can’t be harmful; after all, parents and teachers are only human and it is far too easy for us to be content with our child’s education and maintain the status quo.

From the Harvard Family Research Project

The results of the meta-analysis indicate that parental involvement is associated with higher student achievement outcomes. These findings emerged consistently whether the outcome measures were grades, standardized test scores, or a variety of other measures, including teacher ratings. This trend holds not only for parental involvement overall but for most components of parental involvement that were examined in the meta-analysis. Moreover, the pattern holds not only for the overall student population but for minority students as well. For the overall population of students, on average, the achievement scores of children with highly involved parents was higher than children with less involved parents.

Georgia schools present numerous opportunities throughout the year where parents can meet with administration, staff, and faculty members. Gilmer County participates in a program called PowerSchool The program is designed to give parents instant access to reports like attendance and discipline.

Research shows that parents and their children benefit from these programs Surveys let the schools know what the parents think about their children’s education and provide the schools with information and potential areas of improvement.

Gilmer High school assistant principal Melinda Fonteboa expressed the importance of the Parental Involvement Plan.

“We’re continuously working towards improving parent/teacher cooperation…The feedback generated by these surveys is exceedingly helpful to us.”

As with anything, the level of parental involvement should be specifically catered to their child’s situation. There may be instances where the parent needs to become heavily involved, and other times when the parent should give their child some space. The schools have programs in place that encourage parent participation on all levels. Don’t be afraid to contact your child’s school and ask their teachers about your involvement in your child’s educational process. The potential value is great and the process is highly encouraged by the schools.