Parent Involvement

During the present study, teachers stated that parent involvement is considered not only desirable, but also essential to effective schooling. Parkview School staff describe the communication with low-income students' families as a significant problem. Kelsey, grade 2 teacher, expressed her frustration that many of their low–income parents appear to be indifferent towards the school and she felt the parents had little knowledge of "some of the great things that are happening at Parkview School." These parents often do not attend the general "Meet the Teacher" session in the fall when school opens, the scheduled parent–teacher sessions throughout the school year or other special events held at the school.

Despite the efforts of the school staff to procure participation of the low–income parents in a range of school programs, few of them participate even though they are not working outside of the home during school hours. As already discussed, school staff remarked that if these parents begin volunteering, they typically do not continue for the expected period of time. In general, there is a parental lack of involvement in extra-curricular school activities and failure to support programs in operation in the school through volunteering. This is erroneously interpreted by the educators as a sign that these parents do not have much interest in the school or their child's education. Meanwhile, the parents may have the best of intentions to be involved. However, given the nature of their unsettled lives, it is conceivable that they may become suddenly consumed with other activities in their lives that pull them away. Another possibility is that they may be operating on a different time sense that the teachers do not recognize.

Some of the low–income parents revealed during their interviews that they may feel uncomfortable interacting with the teachers and therefore do not get as involved with activities as the schools would like. One might argue that they may also feel that they are unprepared and lack the skills needed to serve in the role of educator to help a child who may be experiencing difficulties or to ensure that the child is "ready" for school as the teacher expects. Andrea expressed concern about confusing her children by not helping in the identical way as the teacher, while Michelle had a fear that the teacher would be upset with her if she went too far and her child knew more than the others. Jill felt she was given a brush–off by her son's teacher and did not feel comfortable going to the school and participating as a volunteer. This lack of congruence between the perspectives of parents and the school needs to be resolved in order to establish desirable home–school connections. As has already been presented, the lack of involvement may stem from these parents having low self–esteem from a traumatic past.