School Characteristics and Parental Involvement: Factors that Influence Parental Participation in Their Children’s Schools

Several school-level variables thought to influence the degree to which parents are involved in their children's education were explored. The author sought to clarify, both theoretically and empirically, the meaning of parent involvement. Also, several statistical regression models were developed on the basis of school characteristics. The models help to explain the variance in 9 categories of parent involvement. The results of this study indicate that many forms of parent involvement, such as the structure that parents create for students in the home environment, are not easily influenced by school-level variables. However, several forms of parent involvement, including parent volunteerism and participation in parent-teacher organizations, can be increased when teachers attempt to contact parents.