ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part discusses socioeconomic factors and their relationship to parental involvement in education. It describes the family-school relationships in two elementary schools, one predominately white and working class the other predominately white and upper middle-class. The part explores the unique experience of the African American family in dealing with the American public school system. It also describes one Latino community's efforts to gain greater participation in their children's education. Often schools communicate, and non-English speaking parents internalize, the message of parental deficiency. Schools are being asked to shoulder a greater and greater share of parental and community responsibilities and are finding their tasks more and more difficult. Many believe that a family/school mismatch in the characteristics can significantly influence the quality and quantity of family-school interactions.
