Effects of Parental Networks and Parent-School Involvement on Math Placement During High School

• In Event: The Impact of Uneven Parental Involvement on Student Outcomes

Abstract

There is a mismatch between students' academic achievement and their placement in the curricular hierarchy, which is associated with educational inequalities along race and class lines. Using panel data from the Educational Longitudinal Study (ELS:2002), we examine whether this placement mismatch is explained by differences in social capital in the forms of parental networks and parent-school involvement. Previous studies disagree about the role of social capital on educational outcomes. Our results indicate that parents' social capital favors students' math-course-taking. Also, we found that cultural capital, as judged by teacher-gatekeepers, plays an important role in this link. We discuss the implications of this study for reducing the persisting racial and social class inequalities in curricular placement within schools.

Authors

• Diana Marcela Galvez Bohorquez, The University of Iowa

• Brian An, University of Iowa

• Ain A. Grooms, The University of Iowa