Cranbourne Park Primary School encourages parents to help teach their children.

Comprehensive, organised and lasting family involvement can make a big difference to children's success at school. Please feel free to talk with your child's teacher about how you can help.

Family involvement is most effective when parents work directly with children on learning activities in the home. When parents read with their children, support their work on homework assignments, or tutor them using materials and instructions provided by teachers, they can be particularly effective. Parents don't need to be well-educated themselves to make a difference.

Here are just some of the reasons why parents should actively involve themselves in their child's education:

• When parents are involved in their children's education at home, they do better in school. And when parents are involved in school, children go farther in school — and the schools they go to are better. (Henderson and Berla)

• The family makes critical contributions to student achievement from pre-school through high school. A home environment that encourages learning is more important to student achievement than income, education level or cultural background. (Henderson and Berla)

• In 1994, the US College Board found that reading achievement is more dependent on learning activities in the home than is math or science. Reading aloud to children is the most important activity that parents can do to increase their child's chance of reading success.

• When children and parents talk regularly about school, children perform better academically. (Aston & McLanahan, 1991; Ho & Willms, 1996; Finn, 1993)

• Three kinds of parental involvement at home are consistently associated with higher student achievement (Finn, 1998):

• Parents who read to their children before they enter school give their children a boost toward reading success. Talking to children about books and stories read to them also supports reading achievement. (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. 1996. Developing Engaged Readers in School and Home Communities. Rahway, N.J.: Author.)
• The earlier that parent involvement begins in a child's educational process, the more powerful the effects. (Kathleen Cotton and Karen Reed Wikelund. Parent Involvement in Education, Research You Can Use. US NW Regional Educational Laboratory.)
• Positive results of parental involvement in their children's schooling include improved achievement, reduced absenteeism, improved behavior, and restored confidence among parents in their children's schooling. (Institute for Responsive Education. The Home-School Connection: Selected Partnership Programs in Large Cities. Boston: Author.)

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