Children's mathematics achievement: The role of parents' perceptions and their involvement in homework.

Abstract

Two studies examined the accuracy of parents’ assessment of their children’s mathematics performance and how this relates to the time parents spend on children’s homework. Fourth, 5th, and 6th graders completed a mathematics test. Their parents then predicted their child’s test performance. Parents overestimated their children’s mathematics scores (Study 1: 17.13%; Study 2: 14.40%). The time parents spent helping their children with mathematics homework was unrelated to children’s mathematics performance, parents’ predictions of their children’s mathematics performance, and the accuracy of parents’ predictions of their children’s mathematics performance. Although increasing parents’ knowledge of their children’s mathematics competency should remediate poor mathematics performance of U.S. children, neither homework nor traditional report cards effectively inform parents regarding their children’s mathematics performance. How do parental perceptions of their children’s mathematics performance and parents’ involvement in children’s homework affect children’s mathematics performance? The interaction of these three variables has not been examined in the research on mathematics performance. The focus here specifically on mathematics ability is important given the relatively poor math ability of U.S. children in the face of the relatively high level of parental satisfaction with children’s mathematics achievement in America. The poor mathematics performance of U.S. children relative to children of other nations is well documented. In a study assessing the mathematical achievement of 13-year-olds in Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, and the United States, U.S. students had the lowest mean scores of any country in the study (LaPointe, Mead, & Phillips, 1989). Several studies comparing U.S., Japanese, and Chinese students have also reported the rela