Don’t Assume They Don’t Care: African American Parental Involvement And Implications For Student Engagement And Achievement

Abstract

Decades of research shows the positive effects of parental involvement in academic achievement and engagement of students in school. Parental involvement is described as distinct acts of participation that include attending parent teacher conferences, volunteering at school, and helping with homework. The ways in which parental involvement is defined in the literature and perceived in the schools often leave African American (AA) parents underrepresented or misrepresented in the literature. Parental involvement literature puts more emphasis on school-based involvement (e.g., activities of involvement that occur within or through the school). However, due to various barriers that limit access to the schools, AA parents use other forms of involvement (e.g., home-based involvement and academic socialization) to support their student’s academic success. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the forms of parental involvement more commonly used by AA parents and the influence of academic socialization on student engagement and achievement. Fifty-three families and their students in an urban school in the Southern Louisiana participated in an online survey on parental involvement and school engagement. Results indicated that AA parents participated more in home-based involvement than school-based involvement. Inconsistent with the hypotheses, no significant associations were found between academic achievement and type of parental involvement.