The Effect of Family Engagement on Parents\u27 Abilities to Help Their Children with Math

The purpose of this study was to ascertain if parents’ reported participation in specific math intervention strategies increased their abilities to help their children with math. The five math intervention strategies were Everyday Math Online Tools and Games, Star Math Reports/Home Connect from Renaissance Learning, HomeworkNOW, Study Island, and Family Math Nights. This research also served to examine if there was an association between parents’ participation in the five math intervention strategies and parents’ reported demographics. Parents of students in Grades 1 through 5 in a large, urban rim school district were surveyed. Survey respondents encompassed 694 parents. Descriptive statistics were conducted. The math intervention strategy that had the most parent participation was Study Island. Everyday Math Online Tools and Games and Star Math Reports/Home Connect from Renaissance Learning were identified as the most helpful. Chi-square analyses were performed to determine if there was an association between whether or not parents participated in each program and the school and grade of the child as well as the parent’s gender, race or ethnicity, and marital status. There was a statistically significant association revealed between whether or not parents participated in each of the five math programs and the school the child attends. A statistically significant association was shown between whether or not parents participated in each of the five math programs and the parent’s race–ethnicity. Study Island, which had the most parent participation, had the most significant associations