Parental involvement can be generally described as the extent to which parents are involved in and supportive of the culture and operating procedures of the school. It is a factor that was not highlighted as important within the school effectiveness movement of the 70s and 80s. However, later researchers, such as Good and Brophy (1986) have noted that home and school cooperation is, in fact, an important variable in student achievement. In our own meta-analysis of research on factors related to school success, McREL found that this factor is associated with a 10 percentile gain in student achievement.

This factor consists of the following practices:

• good written information exchange between school and parents,
• parental involvement in policy and curricular decisions, and
• easy access for parents to administrators and teachers.

Next: Maintaining an Orderly Environment

Source: Marzano, R.J. (2000). A New Era of School Reform: Going Where the Research Takes Us. Aurora, CO: Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning.

Resources

The following resources provide school leaders and teachers with some practical guidance on how to involve parents in meaningful ways in school activities and policymaking.

The ABC's of Parent Involvement. This handbook developed by AEL's Family Connections in partnership with the National Parents' Day Coalition, focuses on how to improve learning through parent involvement. Parents, researchers, and parenting professionals offer answers to parents' questions about reading, homework, child care, money, the Internet, drugs, planning for college, and more.

Learning Point: How Parent Involvement Makes a Difference. This publication from NCREL contains the following articles: Beyond the Bake Sale: How Parent Involvement Makes a Difference, and Partners in Education, and article about how parents and schools in St. Paul, MN, are working together to help their students excel.

Bridging Cultures Between Home and School: A Guide for Teachers. This 2000 book from WestEd describes the Bridging Cultures Project, methods of parent involvement, cross-cultural communication, teachers as researchers, and challenges and hopes for multicultural education.

Building Support for Better Schools: Seven Steps to Engaging Hard-to-Reach Communities. This step-by-step guide produced in 2000 by SEDL is designed for community organizers, educators, civic leaders, and others interested in involving traditionally hard-to-reach communities.

Parent Partners: Using Parents to Enhance Education. This 1998 booklet from NWREL examines the status of parent involvement in schools, taking into account specific definitions, research, and different types of parent involvement. It looks at ideas for implementing parent involvement programs, explores the potential pitfalls of such programs, and investigates what several schools are doing to involve parents successfully.