How parents influence their children’s school performance

Parents can play an important role in their children's success in school. Image: Julia M Cameron / Pexels Educational expectations have a positive impact Parents can have a strong impact on the performance and motivation of their children by communicating positive expectations and taking part in school activities. By contrast, parental involvement in learning activities at home has relatively little effect and, in the case of homework monitoring, can actually be harmful. These are some of the results of the largest-ever synthesis of research on parental influence, incorporating numerous meta-studies. It offers many ideas on how schools can encourage parental involvement and thus improve the performance of disadvantaged children. Many scientific investigations, including the PISA studies, have shown that pupils' performance is closely linked to family factors. Their influence can even outweigh such factors as class size or educational spending.