Key Facts on Family
and Community Involvement in Children's Learning
Experts say that it often takes eight reminders or notices for someone to say finally, "Hey, I've heard of that." You and your partners will want to talk up your America Goes Back to School event(s) and partnership wherever you go. The key facts can be used to help make the case for family and community involvement in education in your community. You may want to consider creating your own talking points, tailored to your events and partnership, for speakers to use in your community.
There is a need for family and community involvement, including during out-of-school hours.
Seven in ten Americans say that improving the quality of public schools would be a very effective way to help kids.
Seven in ten young people say that when meeting friends, they hang out without anything specific to do. Seven in ten do not belong to any club or organization outside of school.
Youth between the ages of 12 and 17 are most at risk of committing violent acts and being victims between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.--a time when they are not in school.
Research and experience show us what a difference family and community involvement makes in children's learning. Here are some key facts you can use to illustrate how important family and community involvement is to the children in your community:
Students who have one or both parents involved are more likely to get As and less likely to be suspended or expelled or to repeat a grade.
The difference in 8th-grade test scores between low-performing and high-performing states can be attributed to three factors over which parents can exercise authority: absenteeism, availability of reading materials in the home, and television watching.
Teachers say the "single most important thing public schools need to help students learn" is involved parents.
Almost half of all Americans say they would be very comfortable volunteering to be a mentor or to help in some way at a local school. Yet only one-third of Americans say they regularly participate in volunteer groups that do charity work or community service.
Over 60 percent of Americans believe that most parents face times when they need help raising their kids. People are more likely to believe that such parents are simply overwhelmed, not irresponsible.
