| Parent involvement has mainly been conceptualized in terms of its relationship to academic achievement or how schools might solicit involvement from parents. Yet we have little understanding of the relationship between parent involvement and community cohesion, or how religion impacts the character of parent involvement.;In order to explore this, I conducted ethnographic fieldwork at a Jewish, a Catholic and an independent school over the course of a school year. I interviewed school administration, teachers and parents at the three schools, in addition to attending parent events.;Several findings emerge. First, there is organizational variation in parent involvement at the three schools: at "St. Cornelius" (all names are pseudonyms), parents were expected to plan social and fundraising events, at Jewish Day, they were encouraged to vision with the school and take a more hands-on approach to running the school, and at College Prep, the focus was on supporting educational excellence. Parents express a variety of motivations for involvement, perceptions of the school, and experiences of involvement, which can be characterized in terms of how widely they were held among parents, the tenor of their perceptions (positive or negative), and their "thickness," which refers to how much parents can say about their involvement and participation. At these schools, thicker, more positive perceptions and experiences led to a more robust relationship between parents and administration and helped to buffer or prevent conflict.;Religion had a role in setting expectations and behavior. A majority of the parents at St. Cornelius had attended Catholic schools, so were more comfortable with the hierarchal governance structure of the school, in which the parish pastor supervised the school principal, and there was no Board of Directors. At both Jewish Day and St. Cornelius, parents viewed their responsibility for the success of the school as a religious commitment.;Lastly, my data suggests two models of parent involvement: a communal model found at Jewish Day and St. Cornelius gave parents a more time-intensive role in supporting the school, whereas a client-centered model at College Prep demanded few hours of participation on the part of parents. |
