Fathers matter a great deal when it comes to helping their children succeed in school and this study should encourage millions of American fathers to step up to the plate and make a difference in their children's education. A ccording to the study, fathers can be a positive force in their children's education, and when they do get involved, their children are more likely to get mostly A's in school. The study also shows that fathers in two-parent families are less likely than mothers to be very involved in their children's schools.
Dads make a powerful difference in defining expectations and challenging children to do their best.
O verall, children in two-parent families where the father is are highly involved get better grades, enjoy school more and are less likely to repeat a grade, compared with those in which only mothers are highly involved. T he findings come from a new report, Fathers' Involvement in Their Children's Schools , which provides data from the National Center for Education Statistics's 1996 National Household Education Survey of the parents of 16,910 kindergartners through 12th-graders. The report emphasizes fathers' involvement in their children's schools, but information on mothers' involvement is also included. A ccording to the study, mothers and fathers are more likely to be highly involved in their children's schools if the schools welcome parental involvement and make it easy for parents to be involved. Parental involvement is also higher if classroom and school discipline are maintained and if teachers and students respect one another.