Parents and teachers disagree on what involvement looks like in children’s education, survey finds

Sep 26, 2024, 11:00 AM

A classroom door is pictured at Hawthorne Elementary School in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2023. (Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)

(Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)

BY ALLESSANDRA HARRIS GURR

Anchor/Reporter

SALT LAKE CITY — Parents and teachers have different perceptions of how involved parents actually are in their children’s education, a new survey found.

A recent survey conducted by Y2 Analytics and the Sutherland Institute found several perception gaps between parents and teachers.

The most notable gap is that 58% of parents surveyed said they were “very involved” in their children’s education. Meanwhile, only 7% of teachers surveyed felt that parents were “very involved.”

Education Policy Fellow for the Sutherland Institute, Christine Cooke Fairbanks, said she believes that the large gap comes from different perceptions of what involvement really means.

“I think it comes down to: what do people mean by involved?” Fairbanks said. “Is it just, making sure that they are driving their child to school and making sure they’re helping with homework? Making sure the homework is done accurately? Is it volunteering in the classroom? That can mean a lot.”

Fairbanks said the survey aims to help understand the different perceptions to mend parent/teacher relationships.

“Parents and teachers have similar goals, but they might see things differently, and that’s okay,” Fairbanks said. “So long as we can get a better understanding of what either party needs from the other, and then build a culture around that and then appropriate public policy.”

Fairbanks also said Sutherland Institute would release more data from the survey throughout the next month.

“If you can get [the parent/teacher relationship] right, you can do a lot for students and helping them succeed,” Fairbanks said. “So, it’s just understanding those perception gaps, I think can lead us in the direction of, ‘How can we improve this to make sure they’re working as a team?’ so we can help students learn.”