Analyzing Profiles and Predictors of Parent Involvement in Elementary School

• In Event: Critical Issues in Parent Involvement: Race, Ethnicity, and Social Class

Abstract

Drawing from a nationally representative sample of parents with elementary school-aged children, this study used Latent Class Analysis (LCA) to examine profiles of parent involvement in school as well as home-community settings. Four profiles of school involvement and five profiles of home-community involvement were yielded from the LCA approach. These profiles included parents who were involved in a full range of school and home-community activities, as well as a small sub-group of parents whose involvement was more limited across settings. Importantly, our profile models indicated that the overall school involvement characteristics of low-income parents did not differ significantly from their more affluent counterparts. This finding helps provides an important safeguard against deficit-oriented labels concerning the involvement preferences/priorities of low-income parents.

Authors

• Michael A. Lawson, University of Alabama

• Tania Alameda-Lawson, The University of Alabama