ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the relationship of different forms of parent involvement to two measures of academic performance, student grades and scores on achievement tests. Grades are assigned by the student's teacher, who may base the grade in part on behavior or other subjective evaluation, whereas test scores simply reflect whether questions have been answered correctly. Achievement test scores are less likely to be responsive to the subjective bias associated with grading by one teacher. Parents' highest education and family income have a strong, positive effect on student grades, as they did for test scores. Children whose mothers are employed part-time tend to score higher on achievement tests, and both mothers employed part-time and those not in the labor force have children who receive higher grades. Most of these differences can be accounted for by differences in parent involvement, with the exception of the achievement test scores of students whose mothers are employed part-time.
