Parental Involvement in Students' Education During Middle School and High School. Report No. 18

摘要

This project analyzes data from the parent component of the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 to investigate changes in family educational involvement between students' eighth and twelfth grades. Findings show that the patterns of parental involvement in adolescents' education change between the two grades. During high school, parents become less involved with monitoring students' individual behaviors and more concerned with their learning opportunities at school. By students' eighth grade, nearly all parents had postsecondary expectations, but few had taken specific actions to secure funds for college. During adolescents' senior year in high school, most parents report frequent discussions with them concerning postsecondary schools. At that time, parents also report that they have some knowledge about financial aid. A high proportion of twelfth graders' parents expect to finance their child's further education through scholarships and grants, but fewer had applied for such programs before students high school graduation. Consistent between-grade differences exist in the ways in which parents from different racial/ethnic backgrounds get involved with their adolescents' education and in their approach towards financing postsecondary education.