Parents’ Perceptions and Practices in Homework: Implications for School-Teacher-Parent Partnerships

This study examined parents' perceptions and practices of parental invovlement in their children's homework process to explore how variations in parents' perceptions might explain differences in their practices. Understanding parents’ perceptions and practices of involvement is essential to increasing the effectiveness of parental involvement in their children’s education. However, little is known about parents' perceptions and practices of parental involvement in homework. Based on Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler’s (1995, 1997) theoretical model of the parental involvement process, this study was designed to accomplish two major goals. The first is to examine parents’ perceptions and practices of parental involvement in their children’s homework process. The second is to explore the relationship between parents’ perceptions and practices. Survey research methodology was used for this study. Data collection packages were distributed to parents residing in a large Midwest metropolitan area in the United States. Each package contained a letter to parents, a consent form, and a questionnaire entitled Parent Perceptions and Practices of Homework Involvement (PPPHI). Interested parents were asked to sign the consent form, complete the questionnaire, and return the signed consent and the completed questionnaire to a collection box placed in a designated place. Two hundred and six questionnaires were returned and 175 were used for data analysis and report. The collected data were analyzed through statistical data analysis methods including descriptive statistics (frequency and percentage) and multiple regression. The findings revealed that parents had varied perceptions of their roles and self-efficacy, of school and teacher invitations to become involved in the homework process, of their children’s need for help, of their own parental skills and knowledge, and of their own parental time and energy. Parents participated actively in a variety of homework-related activities which included providing a quiet place to complete homework, monitoring the completion of homework, encouraging their children, instructing their children’s homework, providing resources, and communicating with teachers about homework. Parents’ overall involvement practices were significantly explained by their perceptions of their roles and self-efficacy, by their perceived requests from schools and teachers to participate in the homework process, and by perceptions of their children’s need for help. Different involvement activities were explained by different parental perception variables at varied levels. Findings from this study highlight the importance of building school-teacher-parent partnerships and the significant leading roles that schools and teachers can play in these partnerships.