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for Schools
Introduction
The staff of National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI) welcomes you to the Father Friendly Check-Up™ for Schools. This tool will help you assess the degree to which your school's operations encourage father involvement in the activities and programs offered by your school.
Father involvement is critical for your school in many ways. First, both fathers and mothers bring unique skills to the parenting process and, collectively, enhance the educational development of their children. Second, by helping dads become more involved, responsible and committed, they will be more likely to get involved in their child's education and help you increase parent involvement and volunteer hours. Third, an involved, responsible and committed dad helps mom juggle the needs of her children and family with work-related responsibilities.
The absence of fathers in the lives of many children can have severe consequences for their educational progress. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, fatherless children are twice as likely as children with resident fathers to drop out of school. A study reported in the Cambridge American Journal of Public Health found that children who exhibited violent misbehavior in school were 11 times more likely to not live with their fathers. Moreover, the U.S. Department of Education found that as fathers' involvement in their children's schools dropped, the percentage of children suspended or expelled rose dramatically. In homes with both a mother and father, only 13% of 6th through 12th graders had ever been suspended or expelled, compared with 23% in stepfamilies and 27% in homes with the mother only.
Conversely, the benefits of father involvement in schools can include a profound positive impact on children's academic achievement. According to a landmark study by the U.S. Department of Education, children in two-parent families with highly involved fathers were 42% more likely to get mostly A's, 55% more likely to enjoy school and 28% less likely to repeat a grade than children in two-parent families with fathers who had low involvement. This study found that these positive effects extend to the children of highly involved, non-resident fathers. Children of these fathers were 54% more likely to get mostly A's, 70% more likely to enjoy school, and 50% less likely to repeat a grade than were children whose non-resident fathers had no or low involvement.
This assessment is designed to help you take an active, positive approach in creating a better environment for fathers. This approach will help your school's students and your school to excel and succeed in today's challenging educational environment.
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