Lots of folks are making resolutions for the approaching year, and there are lots of elementary children whose parents can help them improve disappointing grades in the New Year. Parents need to make a resolution to help and follow through. Elementary children usually have the advantage of not having had time to establish failing patterns. If they have had serious problems from the beginning, have a conference with school personnel to see what they might have to offer.
Parents and Planning for Better Grades
Start with a calm discussion with the child to get his view of the problem. For a child to want to pass is essential. Apathy or a defeatist attitude may require professional help. But assuming the child has a successful school career so far and has been showing dropping grades recently, look for reasons at home first.
Have there been recent traumatic events in the child’s life like a separation or divorce or a death or illness of a loved one? Situations like these can require professional counseling.
Having eliminated family or relationship problems, the parents should investigate their roles in the solution. Try to determine if homework is a problem. Does the child have a routine for homework such as an established, quiet location and a specific time for homework? Parents should be available to assist, but not complete the homework for the child.
Do the Right Things and Avoid the Wrong
Does the amount of time being spent on homework seem excessive? The most generally accepted rule of thumb for assigning homework is that teachers should assign ten minutes per night per grade level – that would mean a total of ten minutes in the first grade, twenty minutes in the seconds, and so on. This is not a law, however, and is not even a recognized policy by many teachers.
Some teachers believe that homework helps children establish responsibility, although valid evidence that such is the case is weak. Parents are the major influence for helping children become responsible by actively working on teaching responsible behavior and through modeling responsible behavior.
Parents might inspect samples of the child’s work for consistent types of errors, incomplete work, or other clues with which parent could assist. A tutor, perhaps a student in the neighborhood, can help.
Parental self-examination is always justified. Do parents offer encouragement and interest? Are samples of school work posted on the refrigerator and other places in the house? Does the child gain positive attention for successful school work?
There are some definite practices to avoid:
- Don’t be negative and preachy about failure.
- Don’t fail to check if homework is being assigned and completed. Don’t accuse children of being stupid, lazy, or some other hurtful label.
- Don’t miss parent conferences or other opportunities to visit the school and show interest.
- Don’t fail to have a procedure to regularly sit down with the child and look at his school work.
- Don’t accept or encourage passing the blame to the teacher – always verify.
- Try not to offer material rewards for progress, instead parents should give their time to go to a park or a movie.
- Do not expect “extra credit” to solve the basic problem.
There is an important “do list” as well:
- Communicate with the teacher about concerns. If too much homework, or anything else, is a problem contact the teacher.
- Request a visit to the classroom and observe the child in a learning situation.
- Unless the teacher is clearly unreasonable, show support for discipline and instructional procedures.
- Consider having daily assignments copied down by the student and initialed by the teacher.
- Read to children and provide interesting reading material for them.
- Help children study for tests.
- If parents do reward, start with easily accomplished goals to reward – build success into the plan.
- If parents are critical of the teacher, express it away from the child.
- If classroom behavior is part of the problem, be certain consequences result.
- Ask children what kind of day they had at school every day – listen carefully to those things the child is excited about.
- Review all tests – be sure the child understands mistakes that might have been made.
- Validate academic progress by telling other family members in the presence of the child.
Parents are the Key to Successful Children
Parents have to understand that they are an integral part in the academic success of their children. Help children understand the connection between a good education and success as an adult. Children need to understand how successful people use knowledge in a general way.
Try to introduce children to stories of successful people who valued an education. Ask a librarian or guidance counselor about good movies of real people that emphasize academic success. One good example is Stand and Deliver, which is suitable for middle school children and up.
The New Year is a great time to make a commitment to turn academic failure into academic success. Parents are essential partners in the education of their children. Avoid tension and increase confidence in young students by adopting specific techniques that encourage success and show parental interests.
Harvey Craft - I am a retired educator with diverse experience. I read anything science, education, and history. I write to share what I learn.
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