Examining Parental Involvement in Elementary Education: Disparities, Dynamics, and Implications

Abstract

Parental involvement in a child's education constitutes a multifaceted phenomenon encompassing diverse practices and attitudes toward their children's educational journey. This quantitative research, utilizing a descriptive survey design, aims to investigate the impact of parental involvement on elementary students' academic performance. Employing Joyce Epstein's revised (2010) Framework of Six Types of Parental Involvement, this study seeks to gauge the extent of parental engagement in their children's educational activities, particularly in the context of developing countries. Four schools, including two public and two private institutions, were chosen from Karachi district East. A total of 250 students, evenly distributed between genders, were selected as respondents. Each participant completed a research questionnaire to examine the correlation between parental involvement, categorized into six types following Epstein's framework, and student achievement. Findings revealed a positive association between parental involvement and student academic success. However, the applicability of Epstein's (2010) Framework in studying parental involvement in developing nations like Pakistan was found to be limited.