This action research project explored the relationships between parental involvement in New York City Public Schools and students' academic achievement and disciplinary problems. It was hypothesized that as parental involvement increased, student achievement would also be seen to improve and disciplinary problems recorded at the school would be seen to decrease. The literature on parental involvement and its effects strongly supports the belief that increases in parental involvement have positive effects on students (in terms of both academic and behavioral outcomes). Further, the literature also indicates that in New York City, efforts to increase parental involvement in a wide range and variety of public school activities have been underway for some time. Both parents and school administrators in New York City regard parental participation in such activities as classroom assistance, tutoring, school governance, and curriculum development as a key factor in school reform and school improvement.
To test the foregoing research hypothesis, a random sample of 350 New York City elementary school parents were selected to respond to a survey instrument developed by the researcher. A total of seven schools, including two magnet schools (Cypress Hill and El Puente, both elementary schools), agreed to participate in the study, which also collected data from school records on student achievement and disciplinary referrals. A total of 50 parental participants per school were recruited.
The control group consisted of the 100 parents from Cypress Results of the study Hill and El Puente Elementary Schools, both of which are magnet schools identified in the literature as having a high level of parental involvement. The 5 non-magnet schools, which agreed to participate on the condition that the school not be specifically identified in the report, were randomly selected from among the listing of all New York City elementary schools
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