Strong relationships between parents, teachers, and students in schools are more likely to enhance student learning capacity than financial support, reveals a new study.
Strong relationships between parents, teachers and students in schools are more likely to improve student academic performance than financial support, reports a new study. The findings of the study are published in the Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk.// The study found that social capital had a three- to five-times larger effect than financial capital on reading and math scores of primary school children.
‘How to improve student learning in schools? Strong relationships between parents, teachers, and students in schools can enhance student learning capacity than financial support.’
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Social capital is the name given to the network of relationships between school officials, teachers, parents and the community that builds trust and norms promoting academic achievement. Read More..
"We found that money is certainly important. But this study also shows that social capital deserves a larger role in our thinking about cost-effective ways to support students, especially the most vulnerable," said Roger Goddard, a professor at the Ohio State University in the US.
The study involved 5,003 students and their teachers in 78 public elementary schools in Michigan.
Teachers completed a questionnaire that measured levels of social capital in their schools and rated how much they agreed with statements like "Parent involvement supports learning here," "Teachers in this school trust their students" and "Community involvement facilitates learning here."
Also, the team used performance of state-mandated fourth-grade student based on reading and mathematics tests to measure student learning.
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However, the effect of social capital was three times larger than financial capital on math scores and five times larger on reading scores.
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Importantly, while social capital tended to go down in schools as poverty levels increased, there was no major decrease.
"More than half of the social capital that schools have access to has nothing to do with the level of poverty in the communities they serve," he said.
Source-IANS