As a new year begins, many people begin to think about changes they would like to make in their lives and new leaves they would like to turn over. We call these New Year's resolutions. Often these resolutions are surface issues. We eat our way through Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Eve knowing that this year, like all recent years, we will resolve to lose weight, eat smarter, and exercise more. While these are good resolutions, they are often short lived. We shed the 20 pounds added over the holiday season and declare victory, leaving our resolution behind and slipping quickly back into our former bad habits.
This year, I would like to challenge you to look deeper into your resolution making and make some resolutions regarding your involvement in your child's education. A recent focus of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 is parental involvement in the educational process (U.S. Department of Education, 2005). Research suggests (Secord, 2009) that parents who enroll their children in private schools are already somewhat involved in their child's education, but chances are, there is more room for involvement than your current level of involvement.
Parental involvement at Ignite Christian Academy begins with regular communication with your child in regard to the educational process. This communication should be more than just talking about the educational process; there should be active involvement in your child's work. Log in to the student application daily or weekly to determine for yourself the progress that your child is making. If you notice high lesson scores paired with low quiz and test scores, this is an indication that there may be a problem. Take some time to sit with your child as he learns. You will see habits (good and bad) that your child is making a part of daily study activity. Below are some specific questions to ask yourself as you sit with your child for an hour, morning, or day of study.
• Is your child reading the questions first or the lesson first? The lesson should always be read before looking at the questions. The child who is reading for understanding the first time will be able to answer surface questions after one read through of the material. After the first read, the student should answer only the questions he is confident of. He should carefully read the questions he is unsure of, and then go back and reread the lesson before returning to answer those questions. If your child is reading the questions first, chances are that the lesson is not being read carefully, but only to find the answers. Learning is then hindered because the student is more concerned with getting the correct answers than comprehending the knowledge, concepts, and skills within that lesson.
• Is your child taking notes as he reads? As we read, we remember what we purpose to remember. Your child should read with paper and pen in hand, jotting down notes concerning facts, information, or concepts that he feels important. This begins the process of cementing that knowledge in his mind where it will be when he needs to remember it for the questions, quizzes, and tests. Taking notes will improve comprehension and will increase your child's achievement on standardized testing (MAP, ACT, SAT) scores.
• Is your child carefully reading the questions and all answer choices prior to selecting an answer? A student should be able to defend every answer selected or typed. As you sit with your child, ask why he chose a certain answer. The answer may or may not be correct, but if the student knows the answer, he will be confident in his defense of that answer. Because he has verbalized his defense of the answer, the knowledge is being positioned in his long-term memory. If the student cannot confidently defend the answer, the information, concept, or skill has not yet been fully grasped. This lack of confidence indicates that this particular area has not yet been mastered.
• How close does your child come to meeting the pass threshold of a lesson on the first attempt? If the child has followed the above procedure, he should be meeting the pass threshold (80%) or getting close to it on the first submission of answers. If your child is consistently scoring low and having to repeat lessons, this is an indication that his comprehension skills are low or that he is misusing the curriculum. This would be a good time to teach your child some note taking strategies (Cornell Note-Taking System is a good one) that will assist in comprehension and committing knowledge and skills to long-term memory.
This year, resolve to be actively involved in your child's education process. Make it a point to check up on your child regularly. If research proves to be true, your child's academic achievement will benefit because of your active involvement (Ediger, 2008; Hill & Tyson, 2009).
Deborah Secord
Assistant Principal
Ediger, M. (2008, Spring). Psychology of parental involvement in reading. Reading Improvement, 45(1), 46-52.
Hill, N. E. & Tyson, D. F. (2009). Parental involvement in middle school: A meta-analytic assessment of the strategies that promote
achievement. Developmental psychology, 45(3), 740-763.
Secord, D. K. (2009). Quantity of parental involvement: The influence of the level of educational attainment of elementary private
school parents. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Liberty University.
U.S. Department of Education. (2005). Facts and terms every parent should know about NCLB. Retrieved on October 8, 2007, from
http://ed.gov/nclb/overview/intro/parents/parentfacts.html.