Parent involvement and the relationship to academic success

This study examined the relationship between parent involvement and academic success at the middle school level and was intended to provide administrators and educators with insight into the relationship parent involvement has with academic success of middle school students. This study was limited to 207 eighth grade students at the Academy for Academics and Arts, Challenger Middle School, and Davis Hills Middle School in Huntsville, Alabama during the 2001–2002 school year. Students and parents were surveyed and responses were placed into levels of low, average, and high parent involvement. Statistical analyses showed a positive correlation between student opinion and parent opinion of parent involvement as it affects academic success. Results of this study also showed that student opinion concerning parent involvement had no impact on the academic success on the Stanford Achievement Test. Through statistical tests, gender, ethnicity, and school attended were not found to have a statistically significant effect on academic achievement based on the level of parent involvement. The results of this study were made available to local school administrators and leaders as they analyze ways and create strategies to increase parent involvement in the middle schools, so that every child reaches their highest potential