Parental involvement and academic achievement of gifted children at selected science high schools

• Main Author: Co, Jeanette Yu
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2008
• Subjects: Education, Secondary—Parent participation; Gifted children—Education; Academic achievement; Gifted Education
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/6950
• Institution: De La Salle University

This descriptive study analyzed the current level of parental involvement and academic achievement of gifted students in selected science high schools. Specifically, the study sought to find out the attitude of both the parents and teachers towards the school and parental involvement. It also aimed to determine how parental involvement practices in terms of parenting, communicating, volunteering, learning at home, decision-making, and collaborating with community vary according to students’ academic achievement. The extent by which the schools practiced parental involvement was also explored. Data were gathered using a survey questionnaire which was sourced directly from the publisher and entitled, “High School and Family Partnerships: Questionnaires for Teachers, Parents, and Students” developed by Epstein, Connors, and Salinas (1993). There were 125 parents and 22 teachers who participated in this study. The resulting data from the survey questionnaire were tallied, analyzed, and interpreted using statistical treatment. Findings revealed that both parents and teachers exhibited a generally positive attitude towards the school and parental involvement. Parental involvement taken as a whole, parents of low, average, and high achievers all exhibited moderate involvement when it came to the education of their gifted children. Specifically though, parenting and learning at home were the types of parental involvement that parents conducted the most while volunteering and communicating were the typologies they conducted the least. This is consistent with the perception of the teachers that parents should be most concerned about parenting and learning at home and least concerned with volunteering and decision-making. Lastly, both parents and teachers perceived that their respective schools could still improve on their current state of parental involvement programs especially in terms of volunteering and decision-making. It is recommended that school administrators and teachers need to maintain two-way communication lines between the school and the parents and create opportunities to increase parents’ involvement in their children’s education. Parents should be encouraged to become actively involved in school by offering them more diverse and challenging ways to meet their wide range of involvement needs. Developing a school-based parent education program which will include concept and skill building activities addressing volunteering, parenting, and decision-making concerns can provide an excellent groundwork towards creating a more positive, trusting, and well-established home-school collaboration. Teachers should also be given in-service training on how to involve families to pave the way for a fruitful partnership with all families. Further studies that focus on the quality of involvement rather than the frequency or extent of involvement will add valuable knowledge to the research on parental involvement practices. Case studies examining the parental involvement practices and programs of science high schools are also worthwhile undertakings.