The effects of parent involvement on the learning of kindergarten children
Date
1986
Authors
Probst, Annetta Mae
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Abstract
The Effects of Parent Involvement on the Learning of Kindergarten Children
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of parents' involvement in the kindergarten program as receivers of information, volunteer assistants, and teachers of their own children outside the school setting, on their children's performance on the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities (MSCA),1 measuring language and readiness skills. The study compared the performance scores of 32 kindergarten children whose parents volunteered their assistance in the classroom and/or conducted home teaching tasks for a period of 34 weeks, with the scores of 32 children whose parents were not involved in their kindergarten program. The data were analyzed for possible differences as a result of treatment, sex, and attendance in the morning or afternoon kindergarten sessions.
A three-way analysis of variance on the kindergarten children's mean scores revealed there was a statistically significant difference (p = .0004) as a result of the parent involvement treatment. The mean test scores showed the greatest improvement when parents were involved in their children's kindergarten program as both classroom volunteers and teachers of their own children using the home teaching tasks. There were no statistically significant differences (p ( .05) revealed in the mean scores as a result of the variants of sex or attendance in the morning or afternoon kindergarten sessions.
Parents taking part in the study were asked to report their perceptions on the value of their involvement on two questionnaires. A descriptive analysis of the information from the questionnaires revealed that parents perceived their involvement as helpful in learning about the way their children learn, in developing techniques for teaching their children, and in providing information about what the i r children were learning in kindergarten. The educational implications of the findings and some suggestions for further research were discussed.