PARENTS REPORTED INVOLVEMENT IN STUDENTS HOMEWORK - STRATEGIES AND PRACTICES

In this study we examined homework, the most common point of intersect ion among parent, child, and school activities related to formal learn ing, in interviews with 69 parents of first-through fifth-grade studen ts. Analyses revealed rich information about parents' thinking, strate gies, and actions related to homework. Their ideas generally clustered around 5 major themes: concern for children's unique characteristics as balanced with school demands, questions about appropriate levels of independent work by children, efforts to structure homework activitie s, direct involvement in homework tasks, and reflections on the person al meanings of perceived success and failure in helping children with homework. Findings suggested that students' homework represented a com plex and multidimensional set of tasks for parents, for which they oft en felt ill-prepared, by both limitations in knowledge and competing d emands for their time and energy. Strategies for involving parents mor e effectively in students' homework are suggested, based on the genera l finding that parents want to be involved more effectively in their c hildren's school learning.