Parental Involvement and Students' Cognitive Outcomes in Korea: Focusing on Private Tutoring

• Published in: Sociology of education 2011-01, Vol.84 (1), p.3-22
• Main Authors: Park, Hyunjoon, Byun, Soo-yong, Kim, Kyung-keun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Children; Children & youth; Cognitive Development; Education; Educational Attainment; Educational Policy; Educational Strategies; English (Second Language); English as a second language; Family; Family Income; Family Structure; Foreign Countries; High schools; Home based; Korea; Longitudinal Studies; Marriage and Family Education; Mathematics; Mathematics Achievement; Mathematics Tests; Middle School Students; Multivariate Analysis; Outcomes of Education; Parent Influence; Parent Participation; Parent School Relationship; Parent-child relations; Parenthood education; Parents; Parents & parenting; Private schools; Reading Achievement; Reading Tests; School age children; Scores; Socioeconomic Status; Sociology; Sociology of education. Educational systems. Lifelong education; South Korea; Students; Studies; Test scores; Tutoring
• ISSN: 0038-0407; 1939-8573
• DOI: 10.1177/0038040710392719

Studies of parental involvement and children's education in a variety of contexts can provide valuable insights into how the relationships between parental involvement and student outcomes depend upon specific local contexts of family and education. Korean education is distinctive with its high prevalence of private tutoring, which not only imposes an economic burden on parents but also requires parents' time and efforts to select the best kind of private tutoring for their children and to keep track of their academic progress by interacting with private tutors. Here, data from a longitudinal survey in Korea that has traced 7th-graders for two years were used to investigate the determinants and the effects of parents' private tutoring—related activities in comparison to other types of home-based and school-based parental involvement. Multivariate analysis shows that parents' efforts in selecting and monitoring private tutoring are significantly associated with increased math and English test scores. Features of Korean education in which private tutoring becomes an important strategy for parents to enhance children's education are described, and the broader implications of the findings, beyond the local context, are discussed.