Self Regulation

1
Self Regulation
Parent education to promote skills and beliefs
conducive to lifelong learning
A presentation by Margaret Reed
2
Why teach self-regulation skills?

• Self-regulatory skills are critical to academic
  and professional success.1
• Skills have been shown to increase motivation,
  achievement and even compensate for lower
  cognitive ability.2
• Processes can be taught, even at the elementary
  level.3

• 1 Martinez-Pons, 2002
• 2 Zimmerman, 2002 and Corno, 2004
• 3 Corno, 2004

3
What the experts say

• Schools frequently seek methods to involve
  parents but insufficiently address the role that
  parents feel is most important supporting
  learning at home.
• A parents role in their childs learning at
  home, as opposed to involvement at school, is
  most beneficial to achievement.1
• Studies suggest that parents want to help their
  children learn the skills for success but need
  and appreciate guidance and support.2
• Most schools do not provide relevant and useful
  information about the learning process to
  parents.

Its not about bake sales. Its helping parents
be really effective advocates for their students
and giving them the tools to do so. - Emily
Shamieh, Principal John Winthrop School

• -1 Walker 2004, Finn 1998 and Public Agenda
  Online 1999
• -2 Xu, 2004 and Walker et. al 2004

4
What the experts say

• Students are rarely made explicitly aware of
  these specific strategies, yet they are expected
  to function as independent learners by the time
  they reach high school.1
• The benefits of self-regulation strategy
  instruction are clear and yet little information
  is available to parents on the subject.
• If additional support can be provided at home, it
  is possible that the burden on teachers could be
  reduced.

• -1 Martinez-Pons, 2002

5
Research Method

• Phase 1
• - 22 parents were surveyed to determine views
  on their
• role in childs academic life and
  strategies used
• - 35 children surveyed to assess use of
• of learning strategies.
• Phase 2
• - interviews with children
• - examination of student created artifacts
• - distribution of research to parents and survey
  of
• reactions

6
What parents say

• Promoting good work habits/positive attitudes
  about learning were the most important aspects of
  their involvement in their childs learning.
• Congruent with research, the roles they ranked as
  least important were classroom/chaperone duties
  and involvement in school management issues.
• More than half of parents felt that their
  childrens school did not provide them with
  sufficient information about the learning
  process.

7
What parents say

• Parents seldom promoted skills critical to
  comprehension monitoring and knowledge transfer.
• Application of past knowledge and reflection on
  success were the strategies most parents planned
  to use after reading the prepared research.

8
What students say

• The surveys revealed marked changes in
  motivational beliefs between grade levels.
• Corresponding with research, there was a
  perceptible drop in academic confidence from the
  elementary grades to the middle grades.
• Students showed significantly less intrinsic
  interest in material after grade four. However,
  many indicated a desire to put forth effort even
  when they were not intrinsically motivated.
• Students expressed greater test anxiety in
  secondary grades. Parent surveys and interviews
  revealed a knowledge of this problem and a desire
  to help their child deal with the issue.

• Most students showed signs of having an internal
  locus of control. They viewed themselves as
  being in control of their academic lives.
• .

9
What students say

• Cognitive Skills
• Surveys, interviews and artifacts indicated need
  for support on cognitive strategy use.
• Students rarely used elaborative strategies such
  as summarization or paraphrasing independently.
• Some children indicated that they did not recall
  receiving specific strategy instruction.

My teacher tells me to put it in my own words,
but she doesnt explain how to do that. -
Mathew, 8th grade student
10
What students say

• Metacognitive Skills
• Student responses showed fairly low numbers
  related to goal setting and pre-planning
  strategies.
• In the initial survey, many parents mentioned
  that they encouraged goal setting skills.
• After reading information on research based goal
  setting strategies, several parents reported that
  they had a clearer understanding of how to help
  their children set goals more effectively.

I often set goals for my child that were distant
and based on grades. Allowing her to set her
own short term goals would be far more
effective. - Marnie, mother of two
11
What students say

• Metacognitive Strategies
• Averages of student responses indicated, that
  most students did not try to connect past
  knowledge with present knowledge. This form of
  self-reflection is recognized as a key component
  to transfer of knowledge.
• Responses were lower on questions that related to
  comprehension monitoring. Many students
  indicated that they did not generally stop and
  evaluate comprehension or strategy use.
• Self-control questions generated more positive
  responses. These students seemed to take active
  steps to arrange their environment for study and
  maintain focus on material.

12
Analysis

• The children generally showed strong motivational
  beliefs but these attributes were lower at the
  secondary level.
• The majority of parents felt research on
  encouraging positive motivational beliefs
  confirmed strategies they were currently using
  such as constructive failure, encouraging
  internal locus of control although they had not
  heard the psychological terms before.

13
Analysis

• Across grade levels, the children needed more
  support from parents and teachers on
• - effective goal setting
• - comprehension monitoring
• - when to revise an ineffective learning
  strategy
• - connecting new information to prior knowledge
• Prior to exposure to literature, parent
  encouragement of these strategies was less
  consistent.
• After reviewing research, 95 of parents
  indicated
• - the literature provided them with new and
  practical information
• - intent to utilize specific cognitive and
  metacognitive self-regulation strategies
• - need for schools to share more information on
  the learning process.

14
Implementing Parent Education

• Minimal approach - Non-interactive education
• Written information to parents
• School Website
• Median approach - Discussion during scheduled
  school events
• Orientation
• Parent Conferences
• Comprehensive implementation
• School-wide workshops
• Home visits with parents
• Personalized assessments

Parents and teachers have complementary, but
separate, roles that can nurture the students
academic growth We dont want parents to be the
teachers of every subject in the school thats
the teachers job. Parents can still be highly
supportive in academic areas. Everybodys
contribution to student learning makes for equal
responsibility. - Joyce Epstein, Director of
Center of School and Family Partnerships at
Johns Hopkins University
15
Current Trends

• No Child Left Behind now requires that schools
  write and implement specific plans for parent
  involvement and education.
• The goal is not unattainable. Some schools, even
  those in urban areas with diverse populations,
  are beginning to develop viable parent education
  programs.

The rules and expectations have changed. I do
not always feel able to help my kids. Any help
in encouraging our children to develop good
learning habits would be welcomed.
- Carolyn, Mother of two
16
References

• Corno ,Lyn. (2004) Work Habits and Work Styles
  Volition in Education   Teachers College Record.
  New York, 106(9)
• Finn, Jeremy D. (1988) Parental Engagement That
  Makes a Difference. Educational Leadership,
  55(8)
• Martinez-Pons, Manuel. (2002) Parental
  Influences on Childrens Academic Self Regulatory
  Development. Theory Into Practice, 41(2)
• Playing their Parts What parents and Teachers
  really Mean by Parental Involvement.
  Http//www.publicagenda.org/specials/parent/parent
  .Htm
• Walker , Joan M. T. , Kathleen V.
  Hoover-Dempsey, Darlene R Whetsel, and Christina
  L. Green. (2004) Parent Involvement in Homework
  A review of current research and its
  implications for teachers, after school program
  staff and parent leaders. Vanderbilt University.
  Harvard Family Research Project.
• Xu, Jianzhong . (2004) Family Help and
  Homework Management in Urban and Rural Secondary
  Schools. Teachers College Record New York,
  106(9)
• Zimmerman, B. J. (2002) Becoming a Self
  Regulated Learner An Overview. Theory Into
  Practice, 41(2).