Out-of-school Parents and Community Involvement Interventions
Historically, literacy interventions supported by governments, international agencies, and NGOs in the developing world have focused on school-based inputs in the form of trainings for teachers, capacity building of education officials, and provision of textbooks or instructional materials. However, in places where classrooms may be overcrowded, school days short, and teacher and student absenteeism high, one may question the ability of schools alone to make a difference in children's learning. If children do not have sufficient opportunities to learn in school, can students learn outside the school system instead?
If parental involvement does contribute to a child's learning, then it would seem logical that education service providers and international NGOs make parental involvement an important component of their programming agenda. This paper looks at the evidence around parental involvement at home in order to gain insights as to what exact type of parental involvement, if any, is effective and in what contexts. We start by expanding on the definition of parental involvement; we provide a brief overview of the methodology used for this review; and finally we review the evidence by type of parental involvement.