Özet:

Parent involvement has been investigated as a key concept in student achievement. One of the two sets of factors which should be carefully planned while engaging in parent involvement is the type of activities in which parents are engaged and types of resources and assistance which are offered to parents and families as a function of parent involvement. The other set of factors include the attitude versus context in which those activities are presented. It has been argued that the characteristics of parents which make their involvement valuable or less valuable have to be carefully considered. Turkey is a developing country with a very young population. Highly competitive entrance examinations due to scarce resources are one of many stressors for children and parents. The competition is prevalent at two levels. First for highly competitive high schools the second time during the university entrance examinations. Coping of students and families with negative emotions related with such stressful situations seems to be an everlasting issue. The aim of this study was to investigate the levels of involvement of parents whose children go through competitive examinations so that programs for effective parental involvement could be prepared. A scale was developed to determine parents’ emotions, thoughts, and behaviours in exam preparation of their children. Through personal experience and observation as educators it was hypothesized that three components were apparent for parents through these stressful periods. For each component “cognition about the children’s education”, “related emotions”, “behavioral change in parents’ social life” items were generated. The analyses for validity and reliability of the scale were carried out. For reliability alpha coefficient was found to be 0,92. For validity, factor analysis was done and 3 factors were confirmed. Key words : Competitive examination, student achievement, parental ınvolvement.

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