Linking Parent Involvement With Student Achievement: Do Race and Income Matter?

Parent involvement in children's learning at school and at home is considered a key component of school reform, but more information is needed about how the effects of this involvement vary for students from disparate racial-ethnic and economic backgrounds. Data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (Ingels, Abraham, Karr et al., 1990; Ingels, Abraham, Resinski et al., 1990) were used to examine the relationship between 12 types of parent involvement and 8th-grade mathematics and reading scores. Ordinary least-squares regression indicated that statistically significant differences existed in the relationship between parent involvement and student achievement according to the students' race-ethnicity (i.e., Asian, Black, Hispanic, and White) and family income (i.e., low and middle), as well as according to how achievement was measured, type of involvement, and whether it was reported by the student or parent.