ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the large interdisciplinary literature on parental involvement in education. It describes the complex literature of translational social and behavioral science research on parental involvement in education and the many policies and programs it enforces. The chapter focuses on parenting that is consciously linked to promoting children’s academic progress and future educational attainment, even though many of the most important parenting foundations for such educational trajectories—such as providing a secure and healthy environment for children to grow and thrive—are not necessarily education specific. It argues that parents have increasingly taken the view that schools must answer to them and that they have a right and obligation to involve themselves in the management and leadership of schools. The chapter shows that parental involvement in education is a modern parenting practice that is potentially valuable for children and schools but also potentially contentious.
