Parent and Family Involvement in Education, from the National Household Education Surveys Program of 2012. First Look. NCES 2013-028.Rev
Author: Noel, Amber
Date: 2015-05-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Parent Participation,Family Involvement,Family School Relationship,Parents as Teachers,Kindergarten,Elementary Secondary Education,Communication Strategies,Homework,Poverty,Socioeconomic Influences,Educational Attainment,Questionnaires,Surveys,Parent Teacher Cooperation,Meetings,Volunteers,Public Schools,Academic Aspiration,Expectation,Field Trips,Private Schools,School Size,Geographic Location,Gender Differences,Racial Differences,Ethnic Groups,Parent Background,Language Usage,English,English Language Learners,Parent Attitudes,Educational Methods,Family Characteristics

This report presents data on students in the United States attending kindergarten through grade 12. The main focus of the report is on parent and family involvement in the students' education during the 2011-12 school year as reported by the students' parents. It also includes the percentage of students who participated in selected family activities. Demographic information about students and families is presented, including students' poverty status and parents' education and language spoken at home, as well as school characteristics, such as school size and school type. The data for this report come from the National Household Education Surveys Program of 2012 (NHES:2012), Parent and Family Involvement in Education (PFI) Survey. The PFI survey is designed for students who are enrolled in kindergarten through grade 12 or are homeschooled for equivalent grades and asks questions about various aspects of parent involvement in education, such as help with homework, family activities, and parent involvement at school. For homeschooled students, the survey asks questions related to the student's homeschooling experiences, the sources of the curriculum, and the reasons for homeschooling. This report (NCES 2013-028.REV) is revised from an earlier version (NCES 2013-028) that was released in August 2013. This updated version is based on estimates that utilize the final NHES:2012 data, for which survey weights have been corrected. The correction in survey weights led to small changes in the estimates presented, typically of one to two percentage points. Findings include: (1) Eighty-seven percent of students in kindergarten through grade 12 had parents who reported receiving newsletters, memos, e-mail, or notices addressed to all parents from their child's school; 57 percent of students had parents who reported receiving notes or e-mail from the school specifically about their child; and 41 percent of students had parents who reported that the school had contacted them by telephone (table 1); (2) The most common school-related activity that parents reported participating in during the school year was attending a general school or a parent-teacher organization or association (PTO/PTA) meeting (87 percent). Seventy-six percent of students had parents who reported attending a regularly scheduled parent-teacher conference; 74 percent had parents who attended a school or class event; 42 percent had parents who volunteered or served on a school committee; 58 percent had parents who participated in school fundraising; and 33 percent had parents who met with a guidance counselor (table 2).; (3) Seventy-seven percent of students attending public, assigned schools and 76 percent of students attending public, chosen schools had parents who felt that the amount of homework their child is assigned is &quot;about right&quot; compared with 85 percent of students attending private, religious schools (table 3); (4) According to their parents, 96 percent of students in kindergarten through grade 12 did homework outside of school. Among those students who did homework outside of school, 86 percent had a place set aside for homework in their home, and 67 percent had an adult in the household who checked that their homework was done (table 4); (5) One percent of students in grades 6 through 12 had parents who said that they did not expect their child to complete high school; 9 percent were not expected to pursue education after high school completion; 8 percent were expected to attend vocational or technical school after high school; 17 percent were expected to attend 2 or more years of college; 28 percent were expected to finish a 4- or 5-year college degree; and 36 percent were expected to earn a graduate or professional degree (table 5); and (6) According to parents, a higher percentage of students attended a community, religious,or ethnic event (54 percent) in the past month than visited a library (39 percent); visited a bookstore (38 percent); went to a play, concert, or other live show (31 percent); visited an art gallery, a museum, or a historical site (21 percent); or visited a zoo or an aquarium(19 percent); or attended an athletic or sporting event (42 percent) (table 6). The following are appended: (1) Technical Notes; (2) Glossary; and (3) Standard Error Tables. [For an updated version of this report, &quot;Parent and Family Involvement in Education, from the National Household Education Surveys Program of 2012: First Look. NCES 2013-028.REV2,&quot; see ED582111. There is an error in the standard error estimates presented in table C-1. The correction was made to the standard errors reported for the estimated total number of students in kindergarten through grade 12 by school, student, and family characteristics in the updated report.]