Parent Involvement: Contributions of Teacher Efficacy, School Socioeconomic Status, and Other School Characteristics

Abstract

The study tested the hypothesis that varying levels of parent involvement would be related to variations in qualities of school settings, specifically school socioeconomic status, teacher degree level, grade level, class size, teachers’ sense of efficacy, principal perceptions of teacher efficacy, organizational rigidity, and instructional coordination. Teacher (n = 1,003) and principal (n = 66) reports and perceptions of the variables of interest were assessed in a sample of 66 elementary schools distributed across a large mid-Southern state. Stepwise multiple regression analyses revealed that various combinations of the predictors accounted for significant portions of the variance in all parent involvement outcomes: parent conferences (52%), parent volunteers (27%), parent home tutoring (24%), parent involvement in home instruction programs (22%), and teacher perception of parent support (41%). Variables most consistently involved in outcomes were teacher efficacy and school socioeconomic status. Results are discussed with reference to parent-teacher role complementarity and implications for increasing productive interconnections between parents and schools.