Nancy B. Mizelle, Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education, August 1999

The importance of parents being involved in their young adolescent students’ transition from middle to high school can hardly be overestimated. When parents are involved in their student’s transition to high school, they tend to stay involved in their child’s school experiences (Mac Iver, 1990); and when parents are involved in their child’s high school experiences, students have higher achievement (Linver & Silverberg, 1997; Paulson, 1994), are better adjusted (Hartos & Power, 1997), and are less likely to drop out of school (Horn & West, 1992).

Parent involvement in the transition process to high school can be encouraged through a variety of activities. Parents may be invited to participate in a conference (preferably at the middle school) with their child and the high school counselor to discuss course work and schedules, visit the high school with their child in the spring or in the fall, spend a day at the high school to help them understand what their child’s life will be like, and help design and facilitate some of the articulation activities for students.

In planning activities for parents, high school educators will want to remember that parents of students who are already in high school are an excellent resource for other parents and may also help to encourage new parents to be more involved in school activities.

At the middle school level, teachers and administrators can inform parents about transition activities and encourage them to participate. Perhaps more importantly, they can work to keep parents involved in their child’s education and school activities during the middle school years so that they are comfortable “coming to school” and confident that their involvement makes a difference in their child’s academic success.

Read more at: http://ceep.crc.uiuc.edu/eecearchive/digests/1999/mizell99.pdf