Parental involvement in education: An analysis of perceived roles and responsibilities among low-income single parents

Parental involvement in the education of youth has been suggested as having a positive influence on the educational success of children. Although parental involvement programs and many pedagogical assumptions are based on the notion that parent visibility in the school leads to higher achievement in students, much of the research in this area fails to obtain input from parents as to what they perceive as appropriate behavior leading to the success of their children in the academic setting. This study begins to bridge that information gap.;The analysis of perceived roles and responsibilities began with transcribed interviews of nine low income single parents, all women, who lived in the same apartment complex. During the interviews, the women discussed their children's experiences and their personal experiences as students in the public school system. The research focused on analyzing perceptions of roles and responsibilities expressed by each parent, then analyzing categories of perceptions, which resulted in the Dimensions of Parental Perceptions. These Dimensions were then compared with institution-generated roles and responsibilities, which revealed significant differences between the perceptions and expectations of the institution and those of the parents.