Improving Student Test Grades, Homework Participation, Lab Grades and Attendance Levels By Implementing a Program of Electronic Parental Notification Letters Richard Lieb SEYS 778 – Professor Brian Murfin “The more the family members engage in their children’s education, the more likely the student will navigate school successfully. (Sheldon, 2007)”
Thesis Presentation
Nov 11, 2014
Richard Lieb - Presentation on Academic Performance and Parental Notification
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Improving Student Test Grades, HomeworkParticipation, Lab Grades and Attendance Levels By Implementing a Program of Electronic Parental Notification Letters
Richard Lieb
SEYS 778 – Professor Brian Murfin
“The more the family members engage in their children’s education, the more likely the student will navigate school successfully. (Sheldon, 2007)”
Review of Literature – Poor Homework Performance and High Absences lead to Poor Academic Performance.
Studies (Couts,2004) have shown that an increasing number of secondary students complete no homework assignments at all.
Students average 4-5 hours of homework per week and 28 hours of television viewing (Walberg, Paschal & Weinstein, 1985)
Review of Literature
Numerous studies (Epstein & Sheldon, 2002; Epstein & Sheldon, 2004 Roby, 2004; Sheldon, 2007 ) have consistently shown that students who do not attend school regularly have poorer academic performance than students who do regularly attend.
High school absenteeism is a very strong predictor of dropping out (Epstein & Sheldon, 2002).
Review of Literature – Solution is Parental Involvement
Research (Sheldon, 2007) has shown that students who have parents that provide high expectations for their children and participate in their children’s education have better overall performance and lower absence rates.
Burkett and Helm (1989) showed a significant reduction in absences when automated phone calls were placed to immediately inform parents of student absences.
Review of Literature
Sheldon and Epstein (2002; 2004; Sheldon, 2007) concluded that a comprehensive program of parental involvement, including contact parental contact, significantly improved attendance levels and academic performance.
Question One
How does a program of parental notification through the electronic means of e-mail and text messaging effect student performance in Homework, Lab Grades and Test Grades and Reduce Absences?
Question Two
Will the program be well received by the parents?
Hypothesis
Homework, Lab Grades, Test Grades and Attendance levels will all improve after parents receive a series of parental notification e-mails, text messages. The program will be well received by parents.
Methods – Pretest Period
1) First three weeks of term, students’ homework participation, lab grades, test grades and absences were recorded with no intervention.
2) Email addresses and text messaging numbers were collected from parents by means of sending home a letter and phone calls.
Methods – Test Period
3) Students were informed that their parents would be receiving weekly notification of their performance.
4) Parental Notifications were sent out weekly for four weeks.
Methods
Notifications took on three different forms:
-Text Message
-Regular Mail (For parents who could not be contacted.)
Sample email included Brief explanation of
the project. Students’ Homework
scores, Lab Grade, Test Score and Number of Absences.
Additional Information such as Open School Night Dates, etc.
March 22, 2009 To the parent or guardian of As part of a graduate school research project, I will be sending
you weekly progress reports for the next month of how__ is doing in Living Environment class. The reports will include number of absences, number of homework assignments completed, lab grades and test grades. Below is the progress report for 3/1609-3/20/09.
Number of Homework Assignments Completed: 1/2Lab #6: 100Test Grade: N/ANumber of Absences Recorded: 0 I look forward to greeting you this week during Open School .
Open School will take place Thursday March 26th from 6:00 P.M. - 8:30 P.M and Friday March 27th from 12:00 P.M. – 2:30 P.M.
If you have any questions concerning these scores, please feel
free to e-mail [email protected]. Thank you, Richard LiebLiving Environment FDR
Text Message
Text Message Included:
Date of Report Students’
Homework scores, Lab Grade, Test Score and Number of Absences.
Contact E-mail
Report
3-15 – 3/22
HW – 2/4
Test – 84
Lab – 100
Absences – 1
Questions? [email protected]
Limited to 150 Characters
Letter
Sample letter included Brief explanation of
the project. Students’ Homework
scores, Lab Grade, Test Score and Number of Absences.
Additional Information such as Open School Night Dates, etc.
Request for Electronic Contact Information
Space for parent signature
March 22, 2009To the parent or guardian ofAs part of a graduate school research project, I will be sending you weekly
progress reports for the next month of how _____ is doing in Living Environment. The reports will include number of absences, number of homework assignments completed, lab grades and test grades. Below is the progress report for 3/16/09-3/20/09
Number of Homework Assignments Completed: 0/2Lab Grades: 85Test Grade: N/ANumber of Absences Recorded: 0If you have any questions concerning these scores, please feel free to e-
mail [email protected] would like to send these reports to you by either e-mail or text message.
Please fill in the information below to receive these reports electronically.
E-mail address____________________________ORCell Phone_______________________ Cell Phone
Carrier________________I look forward to greeting you this week during Open School. Open School
will take place Thursday March 26th from 6:00 P.M. - 8:30 P.M and Friday March 27th from 12:00 P.M. – 2:30 P.M.
Please sign this form and have ____ return it to Mr. Lieb.Thank you,Richard LiebLiving Environment FDRParent Signature: _________________________Comments:
Total of each Communication Type
Breakdown of Communication Types
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Types of Communication
Nu
mb
er o
f S
tud
ents
Totals 66 20 46
Email Text Letters
Parental Survey
Final Week of the Study, a short three question survey was e-mailed to all parents receiving e-mail.
Sample
Sample consisted of one Living Environment B Class. N = 33
Students were Fluent English Speakers, though not all of their parents were.
Class makeup: 18 Freshman 15 Sophomores
Analysis
Student Averages were calculated for Homework, Test Scores, Lab Scores and Number of Absences for the Pretest and Test periods and compared for significance using a One Way ANOVA.
Comparison of MeansComparison of Means Between Pretest and Test
Periods(Absences represented as a percentage of days missed)
0
20
40
60
80
100
Pretest
Test
Pretest 79.24 49.55 44.78 10.82
Test 83.11 43.82 35.98 14.39
Labs Test Homework Absences
One Way ANOVA Tests
Alpha = .05
One Way ANOVA Tests
Alpha = .05
Results by Communication TypeComparison of Means By Communication Type
*Absences represent percent of days student absent
020406080
100120
Labs
Tes
t
Hom
ewor
k
Abs
ence
s
Labs
Tes
t
Hom
ewor
k
Abs
ence
s
Labs
Tes
t
Hom
ewor
k
Abs
ence
s
Email Letters Texts
Pretest
Test
All differences tested for significance using One Way ANOVA with Alpha = .05 and found to NOT be Significant.
Results of Parental Survey
Out of eighteen e-mails surveys sent, nine were returned. Return Rate = 50%
Results showed parents have a positive attitude towards program.
Survey Results – Very Positive!
Survey Question One
I would rate my opinion of the parental notification program as:
Favorable
Strongly Favorable
Survey Question Two
I would rate my attitude towards participating in a program like this in the future as:
Undecided
Favorable
Strongly Favorable
Survey Question Three
I would rate my attitude towards consistent parental involvement with my child's schoolwork as:
Favorable
Strongly Favorable
Limitations
Short Study PeriodUnderestimated the amount of time
needed to collect parent dataTest period only four weeks
Small Sample Size• No Control Group Available
• Other Classes were ELL students or Different Skill Level
Limitations
Differing Material Material at the beginning of the term is
basically review During the test period students were
exposed to new material such as homeostasis unit.
General Nature of the Semester Students generally start out attending
more and turning in homework and this decreases as semester progresses.
Limitations
Students who most needed intervention received letters.School may have incorrect addressLetters may be intercepted by
student. Text Messaging Limited Number of
Characters and did not allow for parental reply.
Reason to be Positive
Parental survey showed parents have a positive attitude towards this type of study.
Anecdotal Success with a few studentsDue to notification, parent realized
that the student was not completing homework because he failed to purchase workbook.
Reason to be Positive
Parent made me aware of difficulties in the students life including a long commute and overload of extra curricular activities. We made arrangements for student to make up missed work.
Two Parents notified me that they were made aware of absences they didn’t know about.
Future Study
Speak to principal about making e-mail address collection standard practice school wide as this enhanced communication between me and the parents.
Implement program over the long term making better use of technology.
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