Questioning Mom and Dad Parent Involvement and Public Policy

The past two decades have been filled with policies encouraging parent involvement. From the Goals 2000: Educate America Act to No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the federal government has been creating legislation to increase parent participation in schools. Most recently, under NCLB, schools and school districts receiving Title I funding are required to create and implement an parent involvement policy. At the local level, nearly all public schools hold activities to encourage parent involvement. A survey sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics looked at what kinds of activities schools used to promote parent involvement in the 1995-1996 school year. Findings ranged from 97 percent of public elementary schools having a back-to-school night to 84 percent of the same schools having a science fair or other academic demonstration (Carey, Lewis, and Farris 1998). Obviously the nation is pushing schools to increase their parent involvement. Is this energy being put to the best use? Along with the increase in policy about parent involvement in schools, there has been an increase in research. Generally this research presents a positive picture of parent involvement. Parent involvement is positively related to children's learning. It is positively correlated with student attitudes and social behavior. Parent involvement generally decreases as students age, but it is still positively associated with achievement. A quick overview of the research supports the idea that parent involvement should be encouraged by various public policy.