Does Parent-Teacher Communication Truly Boost Students' School Performance?

Huang, Kaixing and Liao, Yuxi and Luo, Renfu (2024): Does Parent-Teacher Communication Truly Boost Students' School Performance?

Abstract

Parent-teacher communication has long been regarded as vital for children's academic success. Our theoretical model indicates that when parents contact teachers, it may have a positive direct effect and a negative spillover effect on students’ performance. Using a large panel of junior high school students randomly assigned to classes, we find a substantial negative spillover effect and a far smaller direct effect on both the academic and non-cognitive performances of students, which indicates a significantly negative net effect of parents’ contacting teachers. The strong negative spillover effect can be attributed to the decline in teachers' attention to and attitude towards students, and this effect is more pronounced for students with lower performance and whose parents have a lower social status. Our finding suggests that excessive parent-teacher contact should be avoided to safeguard student performance and educational equality.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Parent-teacher communication, spillover effect, student performance, educational equality
• Subjects: D - Microeconomics > D6 - Welfare Economics > D62 - Externalities; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I2 - Education and Research Institutions > I21 - Analysis of Education; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I2 - Education and Research Institutions > I24 - Education and Inequality

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