ABSTRACT
Intertwined with the current momentum to address issues of poverty that underlies student achievement woes is the increased initiative to engage with parents. In a recent article Larry Ferlazzo, a teacher and prolific blogger on educational issues, brought new thinking to something that most teachers and administrators assumed that they understood. In a meta-analysis of 37 studies on the effects of parent involvement conducted between 2000 and 2013, Castro and colleagues (2015) found a moderate effect size on student achievement. The researchers included studies that had been done in kindergarten through high school. Standing out among the findings was the role of parents in general supervision of learning activities. High levels of parental modeling were strongly related to high levels of student achievement. The authors reported that the strongest associations were found when families consistently supported school activities and communicated their high expectations.
