Critical Analysis of Parental Involvement in School: Working with Families Across Sociocultural Contexts

Critical Analysis of Parental Involvement in School presents in-depth explorations of parental involvement within culturally distinct contexts. As teachers and leaders sense the impact of today’s social and political tensions in their schools, new guidance is needed to help them make decisions, solve problems, clarify interventions, and resolve conflict with their students’ families as they mutually pursue the well-being of diverse students. This edited volume examines parents’ culturally situated goals and values, communication and rearing styles, academic involvement, and other social-psychological factors across identities at the intersection of race, gender, class, and beyond. Each chapter addresses the complexities of a unique demographic context, innovative approaches toward inclusion, methodologies helpful to the study of parental involvement, new trends and directions in family-school partnerships, and more.

Meca Williams-Johnson, Ph.D., is Professor of Educational Research and interim Co-Dean for the College of Education at Georgia Southern University, USA. She has written several studies on parental involvement, homeschooling, and emotions and motivation.

Nicolette P. Rickert, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychology at Georgia Southern University, USA. Her work focuses on the collective and differential impacts of parent and teacher involvement as protective factors for youth’s academic engagement and motivation.