Parental Involvement in High-Choice Inner-City Settings: A Mixed-Methods Comparison of Charter and Public Schools in Detroit

• In Event: 25.023 - Neoliberal Policies and Family Engagement: New Perspectives, New Contexts

Abstract

Educational policy has long emphasized parental involvement as key to closing achievement gaps in inner cities (Epstein, 2010; Every Student Succeeds Act, 2015; No Child Left Behind Act, 2001). However, low-income and minority families in inner cities tend to encounter persistent barriers to parental involvement (Robinson & Harris, 2014; Williams & Sanchez, 2013). Charter school reform has been touted as a way to empower families, break down barriers to parent participation, and generate improved outcomes in challenging inner-city settings (Bauch & Goldring, 1995; Buckley & Schneider, 2009; Smith, Wohlstetter, Kuzin, & Pedro, 2011). Yet, little empirical work has investigated whether urban charter schools elicit higher rates of parental involvement than their public school counterparts.

A small body of literature suggest that charter schools generate greater parental involvement than public schools, but this prior work does not distinguish among different types of charter schools and it lacks of controls for preexisting parent attributes that may bias school effects on parental involvement (Becker, Nakagawa, & Corwin, 1997; Bifulco & Ladd, 2006). This study compares parental involvement among for-profit managed and non-profit managed charter schools and their public school peers in Detroit, Michigan. Detroit is emblematic of challenging inner-city settings where the charter school movement has progressed. It has the second highest proportion of students enrolled in charter schools within an urban district and the city’s charter and public schools serve primarily low-income African American families who are often deemed as facing considerable barriers to parental involvement (Jeynes, 2012). This study analyses teacher-reported survey data that include items constituting a general measure of parental involvement and a measure of parent decision-making. The analyses also integrate data from three additional sources to control for demographic, school, and self-selection factors related to preexisting parent attributes. To understand the mechanisms underlying statistical patterns, interviews with parents (n = 30) were conducted.

Statistical results indicate that non-profit managed charter schools elicit higher rates of parental involvement than their peers, net of demographic, school, and self-selection factors. Public schools, however, demonstrate greater parent participation in school decision-making, using the same controls. Findings from parent interviews suggest that non-profit managed charter schools may have a strong community orientation that enables higher rates of parental involvement than for-profit managed charter schools. However, public schools have long-standing structures in place, such as parent-teacher associations, that appear to enable parent leadership in school. At many neighborhood public schools, grandparents, parents, and children have also attended the same school, creating a level of familiarity that induces greater participation in school leadership activities. The results also suggest that preexisting parent attributes influence school effects on parental involvement in both public and charter schools.

This study provides an important analysis of the influence charter schools on parental involvement in challenging inner-city contexts with extensive school choice. It adds to existing scholarship indicating the importance of differentiating among charter schools. The study further demonstrates substantial within-group variation in parental involvement in high choice settings and underscores the salience of parent-related self-selection effects on school outcomes.

Author

• Daniel Hamlin, University of Oklahoma