Parental Involvement, Student Active Engagement, and the "Secondary Slump" Phenomenon in a Barbadian Secondary School

• In Event: We Can Do It: Valuing Families' and Communities' Voices Shaping Educational Systems

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between parental involvement and a proximal student academic outcome - active engagement, for a cohort of 160 students on their transition to secondary school and at three subsequent time periods. Results provide clear evidence of the ‘secondary slump’ phenomenon with a consistent decline in each of the four parental involvement subscales (parent modeling, parent instruction, parent encouragement, parent reinforcement). A similar pattern of decline emerged for students’ level of active engagement across the three years of the study. Discussion of these results focused on a revision of the parental involvement instrument to include items which are more reflective of today’s increased use of the Internet and social media to facilitate interactions between parents and schools.

Authors

• Ian Alwyn Marshall, The University of the West Indies - Cave Hill

• Mary Grace-Anne Jackman, University of the West Indies - Barbados