Parental Involvement in Monitoring Students’ Academic Performance

Abstract

The present study was undertaken to determine the level of parental involvement in monitoring the academic performance of students at the senior high level within Kassena Nankana Municipality in the upper East Region of Ghana. Three research questions were formulated for the study. Purposive and random sampling technique were adopted for sampling the participants for the study. Participants of the study included 50 parents, 100 teachers and 100 students. Self-developed questionnaire was used for collecting data from the sampled parents, teachers and students. Cronbach alpha was used to determine the reliability of the items. Data collected from the participants were analyzed using descriptive statistics (percentage, mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (ANOVA). The results of the study proved that the level at which parents participate in monitoring the academic performance of students at the senior high school is very low within the municipality. The results of the study also indicated that poverty, low level of education, single parenting, work load of parents, negative attitude of teachers and parents toward each other and large family size are the major barriers of parental involvement in monitoring students’ academic performance. It was recommended that parents should spend enough time with children at home and discuss with them about their academic performance, Parents should communicate frequently with teachers in order to know the academic performance of their children, Management of senior high schools within the municipality should discuss with parents on the importance of parental involvement in education and Parents-Teachers Association meetings should be organized frequently at least once every semester since it is one of the best means through which teachers can get access to parents and interact with them.