Abstract:

This study sought to examine the extent to which different forms of parental involvement impact student achievement in Reading, Mathematics, and Science. Defined as the combination of dedication and active effort made by parents for their children, parental involvement in children's academic and non-academic lives has an impact on self-esteem, learning outcomes, standardized testing, and job success. However, school principals survey data from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2018 and 2022 showed a significant decline in the percentage of parents involved in education in several countries including the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Using the 2022 PISA student questionnaire data which included 10 items on parental involvement rated on a Likert scale ranging from 1 (never or almost never) to 5 (every day or almost every day), this study analyzed the responses of 9832 Emirati 15-year-old students, 53% of whom were female, with the IBM SPSS Statistics Version 29.0 and the IEA IDB Analyzer. Results indicate that students who had regular interactions with their parents about their school performance performed considerably better in reading, mathematics, and science than students with lesser parental interactions; students who shared their school achievement with their parents more regularly scored around 59 points higher in reading, 36 points in mathematics, and 37 points in science than those who did not; finally, students who received parental support also showed better attitudes toward school and learning. In sum, the synthesized findings from this study indicate that parental involvement, regardless of form, has a significant impact on student academic achievement. These results suggest that fostering strong parent-school partnerships and encouraging active parental engagement in their children’s education, both at home and at school, can be powerful strategies for enhancing student performance across key academic domains.

Keywords:

Parental involvement, PISA, Academic Achievement, UAE.