The Impact of Parental Involvement and Expectations on Elementary School Students' Academic Achievement

Abstract

This study is a correlational research that aims to define the relationship between parental involvement, parental expectations and elementary school students’ academic success. In defining the sample of the study, it was aimed to ensure the diversity of socioeconomic level and sociocultural status. Totally, 420 parents have voluntarily participated in the research after the purpose of the study explained to them. The data was gathered with the Scale for School and Family Involvement in Elementary Schools, subscale of parents developed by Sheldon and Epstein’s (2007) which has been adapted into Turkish by Oğuz (2012). While there was only one dependent variable of the study (academic success), there are six independent variables (parents’ educational status, family SES, parents’ gender, child’s gender, parental involvement, parental expectation). Within the research, independent samples t-test and Chi-square independence test were used. Moreover, logistic regression analysis was performed in order to define the power of predictability of the variables. Results showed that, there are not significantly statistical relations between academic success and parents’ gender, children’s gender, parental involvement at school. On the other hand, it has been concluded that parents’ educational status, family SES, parental expectation and parental involvement at home are significantly correlated with children’s academic success. It was seen that the most important predictor of a child’s academic success is parental expectations. Based on the results, recommendations were developed for parents, schools and researchers.