“We Have a Lot of Sleeping Parents”: Comparing Inner-City and Suburban High School Teachers’ Experiences with Parent Involvement

• Main Authors: David Wilkerson, Hea-Won Kim
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Indiana University School of Social Work 2010-09-01
• Series: Advances in Social Work
• Subjects: Parent involvement, high school teachers, home/school relations, school social work
• Online Access: https://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/advancesinsocialwork/article/view/388
• ISSN: 1527-8565; 2331-4125

Teachers’ experiences with parent involvement were compared at an inner-city high school and a suburban high school. Parent involvement has been described as underutilized by teachers, due to either ideological barriers or cultural biases against parents of lower socio-economic status. A sample of 62 teachers found no significant group differences between teachers at the two schools for either problematic or collaborative parent involvement. There was a significant difference for beliefs about parent competency. Results may suggest that the ideological barrier of a “protective model” for home/school relations devalues parent involvement for teachers. Parent involvement may be further devalued for inner-city teachers, who hold beliefs that parent competence is reduced by socioeconomic challenges.