3. Provide Parents with “Talking Points”
A specific type of parental involvement called academic socialization has been suggested as an effective and developmentally appropriate approach to parental involvement during middle school (Hill & Tyson, 2009). By providing parents with “talking points” to initiate conversations with their child, teachers can help facilitate academic socialization, which can be summarized as a parent’s ability to communicate their expectations about the value of education, connect school to real life events, or encourage goal-setting, by sharing information with parents that help them facilitate meaningful conversations with their child.
In my study, 82 percent of parents indicated that the text messages I sent made it easier for them to have conversations with their child about school. In addition, 62 percent of the parents surveyed reported that they talked with their child more when they received the text messages.
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.
In my study, 82 percent of parents indicated that the text messages I sent made it easier for them to have conversations with their child about school. In addition, 62 percent of the parents surveyed reported that they talked with their child more when they received the text messages.
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.