Good parenting is more important than good schooling in determining your child's academic results, says new research

Unscholarly mush.  Most likely the effects reported were all just an IQ artifact --  but IQ is not mentioned  -- which makes the study a load of bollocks.  Its conclusions are probably correct  -- but are mediated by IQ.  The attentive parents were probably smarter and passed on their smarts genetically.  The authors were all sociologists however so would probably die rather than mention IQ

Good parenting is more important than a good school to a child’s academic success, according to a study.  Youngsters do best when their parents help them with homework, emphasise the importance of education and attend school events, researchers found.

Children with supportive parents – even if they attend poor quality schools – tend to outperform pupils at good schools whose parents take little interest in their education.

The findings prompted the researchers to warn that improving social mobility cannot be achieved only by ‘fixing’ the school system.  Initiatives were also needed which aimed to enhance parents’ involvement.

Researchers examined information on 10,585 teenagers drawn from 1,000 randomly selected secondary schools in the US. The study considered their academic performance and the quality of parental involvement in their lives – so-called ‘family social capital’ – as well as the quality of their schools – ‘school social capital’.

Parents were considered to be passing on high levels of social capital if they regularly checked homework, talked about school with their children and attended parents’ evenings and other events.  These are thought to be ways parents pass on knowledge and values to their children.

Meanwhile, schools with high social capital ensured the classroom environment was conducive to learning and kept truancy and disruptive behaviour to a minimum.  They also offered plenty of extra-curricular activities and made regular contact with parents.   Teachers at these schools reported high morale.

The researchers, from North Carolina State University, found that while good schools did help to raise achievement, the influence of families was stronger.

Teenagers with high levels of family capital but low school capital tended to do better in exams than pupils with high school capital but low family capital, according to the study, published in the journal Research and Social Stratification and Mobility.

Dr Toby Parcel, who led the study, said: ‘While both school and family involvement are important, the role of family involvement is stronger when it comes to academic success.’

She said the findings emphasised the crucial role parents play in children’s education.  ‘Our study shows that parents need to be aware of how important they are, and invest time in their children – checking homework, attending school events and letting kids know school is important.  That’s where the payoff is.’

Dr Parcel said attempts to ‘fix’ schools ignored decades of research highlighting the importance of families.

‘Our findings ... suggest that efforts to increase social capital at school, such as initiatives to reduce class size or attempts to create parent-school programmes and ties, would probably have a beneficial effect on students,’ she said.

‘However we also find that family social capital has a stronger influence on child achievement than does school social capital.’

Parents heavily involved in their children’s education are often called ‘helicopter parents’, because they hover around, or ‘tiger mothers’, because they push them to achieve high academic standards.

The research suggests the approaches are, at least in part, vindicated.

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Does Capital at Home Matter More than Capital at School?: Social Capital Effects on Academic Achievement

By Mikaela J. Dufura et al.

Abstract

A relatively neglected problem is how individuals derive social capital from more than one context and the extent to which they benefit from the capital in each. We examine whether social capital created at home and at school has differing effects on child academic achievement. We hypothesize that children derive social capital from both their families and their schools and that capital from each context promotes achievement. Using data from the National Longitudinal Education Study and structural equation modeling, we show that capital from each context is helpful, with social capital in the family more influential than social capital at school. We discuss the implications of these findings for research on child achievement and for studies of inequality generally.

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Texan students treated like cattle

San Antonio schools have become very enthusiastic about RFID tagging students. One student reportedly claims to have been told "No tag. No vote for homecoming king and queen."

The lovely thing about technology is that it helps you control children.

They need to be controlled. Otherwise, they will run amok and do all sorts of dreadful things, like go to the restroom, smoke cigarettes, or kiss each other.

Hanging IDs with RFID chips around students' necks isn't exactly new. Some Texas schools have been enjoying it for some time.

However, recently, the Northside Independent Schools District in San Antonio encountered a little consternation when it announced its foray into the idea -- one that is reportedly being instituted to combat truancy (and therefore make the schools more money).

Now that the IDs are in force, a counter-force has emerged: civil disobedience.

I would like to identify MySanAntonio.com as suggesting that most kids happily accept the new tags, as their path through school (if they show up) is made simpler and quicker. For example, in the lunch queue.

However, it does report that one parent, Steven Hernandez, object to his daughter wearing any type of badge on religious grounds. Her school, John Jay High School, reportedly offered to take the RFID chip out, but Hernandez still believes that the words of the Book of Revelation don't allow for such a blasphemous thing.

Specifically -- an objection that was also raised by a Louisiana parent to school palm scanners -- it's the "mark of the beast" aspect that concerns him.

What some might find truly beastly, though, is that his daughter, Andrea, claims that she was told by a teacher that without the ID badge, she couldn't vote for homecoming king and queen. At least that's what Catholic Online reports.

Some might find it odd that Hernandez also reportedly claimed that the school only wanted to co-operate with his feelings if he stopped publicly criticizing the tagging.

His daughter told The Alex Jones Channel that the tags don't make her feel safer.

"I feel completely unsafe knowing that this can be hacked by pedophiles and dangerous offenders," she said.  She added: "I walk home. Dangerous offenders can pick up on my signal."

Perhaps this is a mere skirmish. Perhaps, like so many who now expose most of themselves through one form of technology or another, everyone will just get used to it.

Until something really bad happens, that is.

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School Bus Driver Fired After Reportedly Telling Student He Should Have Been Aborted Over Family’s Romney Sign‏

The hate never stops with Leftists

A Wisconsin school bus driver has been fired after reportedly telling a 12-year-old boy he should have been aborted because his family had a Mitt Romney yard sign.

Bus company Durham School Services said in a statement that the driver in New Berlin, Wis. “engaged in a political debate with students” on Monday and “made an inappropriate remark to a child.”

“Durham immediately removed the driver from service pending an investigation, which resulted in the termination of the driver,” the statement said.

WISN 1130 cited blog Freedom Eden, which said the 78-year-old female driver had “been harassing the boy, making rude comments to him related to politics.” When the boy responded that President Barack Obama supports abortion, the driver allegedly replied, “Maybe your mom should have chosen abortion for you.”

Durham spokesman Blaine Krage told TheBlaze he could not confirm the exact comment the driver made, saying only it was during a “debate about politics.”

“There was a political debate and then the driver did make that inappropriate remark and then we took appropriate action,” Krage said.

He said the boy’s mother complained after the incident took place.

Krage added that the driver had been with the company for more than 20 years and had never received any complaints before.

Full statement from Durham School Services:

    “Durham School Services was notified by a parent on Tuesday, Oct. 9, that a bus driver in New Berlin, Wisconsin, engaged in a political debate with students the previous day and made an inappropriate remark to a child. Durham immediately removed the driver from service pending an investigation, which resulted in the termination of the driver. Prior to this incident, the driver had an incident free record while serving the community as a Durham school bus driver for more than 20 years. Notwithstanding, the driver’s remark was insensitive and inappropriate. Durham has apologized to the family. We remain strongly committed to the safe transportation of students in the community.”

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