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The literature has lauded parental involvement as an effective strategy to increase student achievement, but schools still struggle with how to effectively involve parents of color and low-income families. In an effort to assess the effectiveness of the Epstein Model of Parental Involvement in high-poverty, high-minority schools, the authors conducted a case study of an urban elementary school that uses parental involvement practices stipulated in the model. This article provides implications for school counselors and suggestions for future research.
In faculty workrooms and school improvement plans across the country, parental involvement is both heralded and lamented. Often, a lack of parental involvement is blamed for low student achievement or engagement (Barnard, 2004; Desimone, 1999; Hill & Craft, 2003; Hill & Taylor, 2004; Jeynes, 2011; Zellman & Waterman, 1998); therefore, teachers are asked to communicate with parents to help motivate students and encourage parents to become more involved in the school and their students' educations (Epstein & Dauber, 1991; Epstein et al., 2009; Glasgow & Whitney, 2009; Griffith, 1998; Henderson & Mapp, 2002; Lee & Bowen, 2006). However, schools often struggle with low attendance at parent nights and a lack of strategies to more effectively promote parental involvement (Glasgow & Whitney). The gap between the desired and actual levels of parent involvement has led to a wealth of literature and strategies developed for schools. These include charging school counselors with including parental involvement strategies in comprehensive school counseling programs (American School Counselor Association, 2010). Although researchers have studied and discussed parental involvement extensively in the literature and schools use models to implement parental involvement strategies, schools continue to struggle with increasing parental involvement with students of color and students of low socioeconomic statuses. This article discusses the outcomes of a case study that specifically explored parental involvement strategies in a high-poverty, high-minority elementary school that included parental involvement as an approach to increasing the academic achievement of its students. The authors first briefly discuss parental involvement. The school utilized the Epstein Model of Parental Involvement as its guiding framework; therefore, the article considers the strengths and limitations of the Epstein Model and includes a discussion of considerations for race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. The article concludes with a description of the methodology and results, discussion,...