Parent involvement (PI) in education is associated with positive outcomes for students; however, little is known about how parents decide to be involved in children's education. On the basis of the K. V. Hoover-Dempsey and H. M. Sandler (1995, 1997) model of parent decision making, the authors examined the relationship among 4 parent variables (role construction, sense of efficacy, resources, and perceptions of teacher invitations) with PI activities at home and school. The authors surveyed parents of elementary students from an urban district. Specific invitations from teachers had the largest effect on the 3 types of parent involvement. Parents' sense of efficacy and level of resources were less influential than anticipated. The authors discuss implications of the findings for teacher and school practices, policy development, and future research.

Parent Involvement in Education: Toward an Understanding of Parents' Decision Making

In this paper, we review research on parental expectations and their effects on student achievement within and across diverse racial and ethnic groups. Our review suggests that the level of parental expectations varies by racial/ethnic group, and that students' previous academic performance is a less influential determinant of parental expectations among racial/ethnic minority parents than among European American parents. To explain this pattern, we identify three processes associated with race/ethnicity that moderate the relation between students' previous performance and parental expectations. Our review also indicates that the relation of parental expectations to concurrent or future student achievement outcomes is weaker for racial/ethnic minority families than for European American families. We describe four mediating processes by which high parental expectations may influence children's academic trajectories and show how these processes are associated with racial/ethnic status. The article concludes with a discussion of educational implications as well as suggestions for future research.

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Parental Expectations and Children's Academic Performance in Sociocultural Context

School and home connections and children's kindergarten achievement gains: The mediating role of family involvement

A review of the relationship between parental involvement indicators and academic achievement

Minority Parental Involvement and School Barriers: Moving the Focus Away from Deficiencies of Parents.

A decade ago, Hoover‐Dempsey and Sandler offered a model of the parental involvement process that focused on understanding why parents become involved in their children’s education and how their involvement influences student outcomes. Since then, we and others have conducted conceptual and empirical work to enhance understanding of processes examined in the model. In this article (companion to Walker and colleagues’ article about scale development on the model in this issue), we review recent work on constructs central to the model’s initial question: Why do parents become involved in children’s education? Based on this review, we offer suggestions for (1) research that may deepen understanding of parents’ motivations for involvement and (2) school and family practices that may strengthen the incidence and effectiveness of parental involvement across varied school communities.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/499194

Darlene R. Whetsel

Papers

Why Do Parents Become Involved? Research Findings and Implications

Parental Involvement in Homework: A Review of Current Research and Its Implications for Teachers, After School Program Staff, and Parent Leaders.