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Psychology
Grades Improve When Parent Is Involved
Teachers encourage parents to be involved with their children's homework. Research by LAS psychologists show that such advice is right on target for at-risk students. An 18-month study of 166 fourth, fifth, and sixth graders by psychologist Eva Pomerantz and doctoral student Missa Murry Eaton showed that low-achieving elementary students raised both their daily and long-term performance when their parents, which was usually the mothers, got involved.
The researchers' analysis of the children's grades in English, math, reading, science, social studies, and spelling showed that after parents began monitoring their homework or helping them solve problems, poor students turned into average ones. The parental supervision did not, however, transform them into high achievers.
Past research shows that parental "meddling" has the opposite effect on students who are already doing well. Pomerantz says these students see the control tactics as undermining their autonomy. But for the low-achieving students, the parental involvement affirms the importance of school.
"They are teaching their children the skills that are necessary to do well," says Pomerantz. "Even though this contrapproach may not foster a love of school, it is making kids work harder to meet the standards."
Fall 2001