The Impact on Student’s Academic Performance by Parental Involvement in Online Homeschool

As education transforms with the rise of school choice options in America, there is a need to understand the arguments for and against school choice reforms from the angle of effects on a student’s academic performance so parents can make more informed decisions as school choices will likely continue to expand¹. The purpose of this academic article is to explore the impact on a student’s academic performance based on parental involvement in choosing online education. If parents are actively involved in choosing online homeschooling to fulfill their child’s academic needs, that in and of itself tends to improve the student’s academic performance primarily because of the increased parental involvement in their child’s education. Research suggests that the student's academic performance is likely the driving force behind the parents’ choice².

A Brief History of K–12 Educational Shift in the 21st Century

The National Commission on Excellence in Education in 1983 stated that the U.S. is “A Nation at Risk.” Since then, with presidential initiatives including George W. Bush’s “No Child Left Behind,” Bill Clinton’s “Goals 2000,” and George H.W. Bush’s program “America 2000,” the U.S. government poured millions of dollars and resources into the U.S. public education system. However, all of the efforts yielded little impact on students’ outcomes³. In 2010, the Obama administration sent Congress a blueprint for reform of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, addressing the issues created by “No Child Left Behind” while pursuing high standards and closing the achievement gap. Despite all of the efforts made by the U.S. government, 15-year-old U.S. students are still placed 38th out of 71 countries in math and 24th in science⁴. In October 2016, President Obama’s ConnectEd initiative goal was to enrich K–12 education by providing teachers with high-end technology and training and by empowering students through individualized learning and rich, digital content. With President Trump taking office in 2016, school choice has become the central education policy as Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos stated that families should be free to choose the public, private, charter, magnet, religious, or homeschool option as they see fit⁵. Being re-elected in 2024, President Trump continued strong advocacy for school choice, emphasizing that federal education dollars should follow the student rather than funding a bureaucratic system in Washington. He supports universal school choice, which would allow parents to send their children to public, private, or religious schools of their choice using taxpayer funds. Trump argues that education should be managed at the state level.

Pros and Cons of School Choice

School choice allows parents to find schools that better match their preferences for a particular pedagogical approach or emphasis. It provides a mechanism for students who otherwise would be trapped in chronically underperforming schools to gain access to better educational opportunities. On the contrary, proponents claim that choice results in competition among schools, which ultimately improves both schools of choice and traditional public schools⁶. Those who oppose school choice argue that the top school choice institutions will receive the best students and leave those students who are less likely to succeed academically in lower-performing public schools⁷. While public school educators might be pointing fingers, parents are taking charge of their child’s education through school choice options⁸. In the modern day, schooling has become even more important as a major institution for raising children, and parents want to be in charge of their children’s education.

A Rise of School Choice Options

Since the dawn of the 21st century, various alternatives to public education have become more common such as charter schools, online schools, and religious schools. In 2004, the U.S. Department of Education issued guidance explicitly defining online school as a legal and acceptable alternative school choice⁹. A 2007 national study found that 700,000 American K–12 students were enrolled in at least one online or blended course; the number rose to 1,030,000 in a 2009 follow-up study¹⁰. Homeschooling, which is a particular form of private schooling, has increased from 850,000 in 2001 to 1.75 million in 2013. In 2015, 31 states had voluntary inter-district enrollment policies, which allowed a student to transfer to a public school outside of his or her home district. In private education, by 2015, 43 school vouchers, tax-credit scholarships, and Empowerment Scholarship Account programs accounted for 350,000 students. Competitions among school choice programs created a new movement in K–12 education from parents becoming more involved in their children’s education and pushing schools to improve their performance in the form of higher test scores for students¹¹.

The Result of School Choice Awareness

As educational choices have dramatically increased in the last two decades, unsatisfied parents continue to withdraw their children from public schools and enroll in school choice programs¹². With the information about schools available at the tips of their fingers, parents want to choose a school that will meet their children's needs and prepare them for life. Today’s generation of students need different skills to compete in a high-tech world¹³. Thus, online education has become an invaluable opportunity for homeschooling parents to broaden their child’s education. It provides students the flexibility to learn anywhere at any time and obtain a diploma from an accredited institution. Online students can take advantage of unique course offerings such as specialized courses, world languages, concurrent credits, and Advanced Placement (AP).

Parental Rights in Choosing an Education for their Child

Historically, the right of parents to choose an education for their child was declared at the United Nations General Assembly: Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children¹⁴. The child is not a mere creature of the state; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for life. The state may require that all children of proper age attend school, that teachers would be of a good moral character and patriotic disposition, that certain studies essential to good citizenship must be taught, and that nothing be taught that is manifestly inimical to the public welfare¹⁵. Homeschooling families share a common belief that the education of children is primarily their right and responsibility¹⁶. Nowadays parents want the freedom to choose the best education for their child and have an opportunity to be actively involved in their child's education.

State Requirements for Homeschooling

In 2011, the Homeschool Legal Defense Association announced that all fifty states permit homeschooling. They state that the three main requirements for homeschooling that are required are very similar to private education: curriculum, attendance status, and record-keeping. However, the laws and regulations for homeschooling differ: (1) States and territories with no requirements for parents to initiate contact with the state’s Department of Education; (2) States and territories with minimal requirements on homeschooling and require only parental notification to the state’s Department of Education; (3) States and territories with moderate requirements regarding notification, assessment scores, and/or professional evaluation of student progress to the state’s Department of Education; (4) States and territories with strict regulations regarding notification, assessment scores, professional evaluation, and other requirements¹⁷. To minimize the burden of these regulations, parents may consider online education for their children.

The Benefits of Homeschooling and Online Education

Homeschooling was one of the solutions for parents for decades since home education provides parents the opportunity to teach moral and religious principles to their children¹⁸. Homeschool education’s history serves as a valuable tool for protecting school choice because it illustrates the importance of home education in American society¹⁹. In 2015, based on the Census Bureau data, 1,642,027 school-age children were homeschooled, which is 2.70 percent of all school-age students. Homeschooling parents who live in a state where the homeschool regulations are strict can utilize accredited online schools to minimize the burdensome record-keeping involved in homeschooling because online schools help meet most of the general requirements. Online schools can partner with parents to deliver to students both personal accountability through parental involvement and the one-on-one qualified teaching with which many homeschooling parents may need assistance.

Online Education

Online education is one of the fastest-growing educational systems in America today²⁰. First, it gained popularity for advanced learners and then for the at-risk population²¹. The research suggests that there is a need for school choice, primarily due to the benefits from increased competition among schools for the students’ benefit²². Online schooling serves students who may have some barriers to attendance at a brick-and-mortar school such as a disability or participation in sports at the professional level. It is a safe haven for students who are bullied in traditional schools. Even minority students benefit from the online school²³. The other benefit is that online school is not reliant on a physical location; it is available anywhere with internet connectivity 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Online students could have a broader range of access to courses, since smaller brick-and-mortar private schools may not be able to offer a class if the classroom size is insufficient.

Parental Involvement in Online Homeschooling

Parental involvement is vital to children being successful in online school, even though their roles might vary based on the emotional and mental level of their child. Research stated that parental involvement has a positive impact on their child’s learning. Similarly, students viewed parents’ interactions as significantly motivational²⁴. Online students thrive in an online environment if parents are available to monitor, mentor, and motivate their children on a daily basis. Since online students can generally complete all of their assignments within regular school hours, no after-school homework is required and thus frees up their afternoon for other social activities, such as music, sports, recreational activities, and valuable time with their family.

The Benefits of Parental Involvement

As online learning has grown, it becomes clear that not only do students need to learn how to work online, but parents must learn how to assist their children. Parental involvement boosts their child’s ability to acquire and practice skills necessary to be successful in online learning. Another benefit of parental involvement states that when parents choose a school for their child, that in and of itself tends to increase parental involvement because now it is their decision and their responsibility²⁵. Parental involvement has a positive impact on their child’s learning, especially in online settings, where parents provide the primary level of support to ensure the learner is kept on task²⁶. Understanding how a parent can impact academic performance through various activities will help focus further study in this area.

The Impact of Parental Involvement

Parental involvement boosts their child’s ability to acquire and practice skills necessary to be successful in online learning, including perseverance, organization, internal control, technology skills, and time management. When parents worked to learn the content alongside their children, it created an atmosphere of learning experiences. Knowing that their parents and teachers worked together to support their learning was also reassuring to students. Specifically, parents of online students have more opportunities to interact with their child’s learning than parents of students in a traditional brick-and-mortar environment²⁷. Active parental involvement and participation in their child’s education is a key factor in achieving successful educational outcomes²⁸. Nowadays, parents recognize education as the key to a better future and a more productive life for their children. Parental involvement is effective when parents assume the teacher's role in providing guidance in taking notes, reviewing materials for quizzes and tests, and checking on comprehension.

Parental Involvement with Students in Need

In regards to students with special needs or disabilities, parent education is imperative to ensure that parents possess the skills necessary, including instructional methods, to take the primary role in supporting their child’s learning in a fully online environment²⁹. Online education may not be appropriate for all learners, yet having the ability to modify curriculum, making special adaptations for individual learners, and maintaining sufficient parental involvement would provide an opportunity for good results. Students who need extra support, self-pacing, or who cannot attend school physically can benefit from virtual schooling³⁰. Recently, many online schools have added credit recovery as a way to provide failing or at-risk students with an alternative to traditional credit recovery courses³¹.

Parents as Role Models for their Child in Online School

The Parental Involvement Mechanism Model demonstrated the influence of parental involvement on students’ academic performances in online learning³². Parental involvement was defined by using four factors: encouragement, modeling, reinforcement, and instruction. Parental encouragement helped students believe learning goals were attainable. Parents also served as good role models who valued education and reinforced setting goals and managing time, which motivated students to be more responsible for learning and to persevere to achieve goals. Lastly, parental instruction helped students obtain effective educational strategies to be successful learners in an online school. Parents indicate that knowledge of student progress gave them the tools they needed to assist their children.

Students’ Academic Performance in School Choice Programs

Numerous polls showed parents participating in school choice programs across the nation tend to be far more satisfied with their child’s school than are public school parents³³. Parental involvement in student academic activities is especially important for student academic achievement considering the lack of physical presence of teachers and the amount of time students spend on learning at home. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos noted at the annual CAPE (2017) summit that one of her priorities was to advance parental choice in education in a significant way that would “help parents and children who are trapped all too often in places that don’t work for them” (p. 2). Research indicated that 30 of the 42 studies conclude that increased competitive pressure results in statistically significant achievement gains for students in core subject areas³⁴.

Online Social and Emotional Learning and Impact on Students’ Academic Performance

Students are more likely to display increased engagement when parents, teachers, and peers become engaged. Online education reinforces the five core social-emotional learning competencies: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making³⁵. Notably, researchers found that the incorporation of character education and social-emotional learning in the curriculum resulted in a positive effect on students’ achievements in school, work, and life³⁶. In regards to religious schools, pastors believe that active parent participation in school functions, including increased dialogue between parents and teachers, benefits children³⁷.

Summary & Suggestion for Parents

The current public school education system was developed more than a hundred years ago and was designed to meet the needs of the Industrial Revolution. In the current world, teaching and learning are moving from brick-and-mortar to the online world and from 30 students in the class to one student who connects to others virtually. The Information Age has facilitated a reinvention of nearly every industry except for education. It is time to unhinge ourselves from many of the assumptions that undergird how we deliver instruction and begin to design new models that are better able to leverage talent, time, and technology to meet the unique needs of each student³⁸.

Throughout my educational experience, I have learned the importance of parents being leaders in their children’s lives: leading them by example, being consistent in discipline, instilling good study habits, and building good relationships that would sustain life circumstances. The Bible advises parents to lead by example, “Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Deuteronomy 11:19). Leadership involves influence; without influence, leadership does not exist³⁹. I see parents as leaders in their children’s education and thus empowering parents in this leadership role is essential, so additional research is needed to dive into parental leadership in regards to their children’s education.

When finding the right school for your student, consider Enlightium Academy. Enlightium was founded in 2003 and since then has been developed, recognized, and accredited as an innovator in home education and online learning by Cognia and the Association of Christian School International (ACSI). Families across the U.S. and around the world have partnered with Enlightium Academy to prepare their students for a meaningful future. At Enlightium, we partner with parents so students can become passionate independent learners. We offer college preparatory courses, including Advanced Placement (AP), Honors, and STEM courses. Guided by experienced counselors, students can select the package that best fits their academic, college, and career desires.

Enlightium Academy is a private Christian online school that serves homeschooling families by offering a Bible-based, flexible, accredited, teacher-supported, and affordable education from the comfort of your home. For any other questions about Enlightium, please call (509) 319-2288, or visit EnlightiumSchool.com.

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