Educational Success

What one factor most influences student success? Many educators single out the importance of parent engagement in their child's education as the strongest contributor to a child's motivation to do well in school. More than 85 studies document the benefits for students, families and schools resulting from active parent participation in their child's education. Among the benefits cited are:

• higher grades and test scores
• better school attendance
• improved student attitudes and behavior
• improved homework completion rates
• higher rates of high school graduation and college attendance.

But while parent participation significantly impacts student achievement, surveys of sixth-12th graders across the country conducted by Search Institute found that only 29 percent of students reported their parents are actively involved in helping them succeed in school. Parent involvement in schools has been identified as one of the 40 building blocks - or developmental assets - of healthy youth development. The "40 developmental assets" are the positive relationships, opportunities, skills and values that research shows youth need in order to make wise decisions and choose positive paths. Assets for Colorado Youth, a statewide initiative supporting community efforts to build developmental assets for youth, is partnering with educators and parent groups to strengthen the home-school connection. By integrating the developmental asset framework, school communities are discovering a powerful tool for strengthening relationships between parents, school staff and students.

María Guajardo Lucero, executive director of Assets for Colorado Youth and co-author of The Power of Parents: Parent Engagement in Schools and the Developmental Assets, says, "Applying the asset framework to parent engagement provides school communities with a common language for supporting positive youth development and for ensuring students feel connected and cared about in their schools." According to The Power of Parents, parent engagement in asset-building schools is manifested through the following values and behaviors:

• parents' presence and ideas are welcome
• collaboration focuses on strengths and places high expectations on all parties
• parents are engaged in meaningful activities that enhance the learning process
• the connection between the classroom and home is clearly defined
• all adults support a culture of "success for all children"
• parents, students and school staff experience mutual respect
• students are valued and viewed as resources
• school staff and parents share a vision of themselves as partners
• cultural competence is a unifying force
• asset building is a way of living

Parent engagement, grounded in the strength-based asset perspective, creates a win-win situation for families and schools.