Attitudes and Beliefs amongst Parents and Students in Mathematics

Abstract

The purpose of this quantitative teacher action research project is to investigate the relationship between the attitudes and preconceived notions that parents have with their children's drive and performance in a high school mathematics class. Many other researchers have looked at the pure involvement of parents but I would like to go farther than that and look at the actual kind of involvement. When parents have had bad experiences with mathematics, does that correlate with their child's attitudes toward the class? Do these attitudes have a connection with the expectations parents have on the grades their children should be receiving in mathematics? Do the parents' prior experiences with math have a relationship with the level of their involvement in their students' math education? Will the implementation of a parent-involvement strategy such as family homework assignments help to improve these attitudes? It is very important that we find answers to these questions so we can improve the attitudes of society towards mathematics. If there is a correlation between parent's attitudes and their students' achievement, we can implement programs that may intervene and create a better family relationship with mathematics. The world revolves around mathematics and we need to make sure that students have all of the support needed to be successful in this subject area.