• Introduction
• Highlights
• Data Strengths and Limitations
• References

Due to the prevalence of divorce and nonmarital childbearing in the United States, many students enrolled in grades 1 through 12 do not live with both their biological parents (Furstenberg and Cherlin 1991). In 1996, 57 percent of students in these grades lived with two biological parents, while the remaining 43 percent lived in some other family living arrangement. Studies have found that students who live apart from one or both of their biological parents tend to do less well in school than students who live with both their biological parents (figure A; Zill 1996; McLanahan and Sandefur 1994; Lee 1993). Some observers have speculated that differences in levels of parents’ school involvement may help to account for the observed disparities (e.g., Zill 1996; Lee 1993).

Using data from the Parent and Family Involvement Survey of the 1996 National Household Education Surveys Program (PFI–NHES:1996), this report looks at resident mothers’ and fathers’ school involvement by family type and explores the association between their involvement and whether students get mostly A’s, have ever repeated a grade, or have ever been suspended or expelled. The report also discusses nonresident mothers’ and fathers’ school involvement and the association between their involvement and the same three student outcomes.

Figure A.—Percentage of students in grades 1–12 with selected student outcomes, by family type: 1996

In this report, high involvement of parents in their children’s schools is defined as participating in at least three of four school activities that most schools typically offer: attending a general school meeting; attending a regularly scheduled parent-teacher conference; attending a school or class event; and volunteering at school. Low school involvement is participating in none or only one of these activities.

PFI–NHES:1996 data reveal that the school involvement of biological parents is not the same across family types and that the involvement of stepparents is generally lower than that of biological parents:

• Biological mothers in stepfather families are less likely to be highly involved in their children’s schools than biological mothers in two-biological-parent families. Forty-five percent of students living with a biological mother and a stepfather have a mother who is highly involved in their schools compared to 58 percent of students living with both biological parents (figure B). Once family background characteristics such as students’ age, sex, and race/ethnicity, household income, mother’s employment, and parent education are taken into account, biological mothers in stepfather families remain less likely to be highly involved in their children’s schools than mothers in two-biological-parent families and are also less likely to be highly involved than mothers in mother-only families.
• Biological fathers in stepmother families, on the other hand, are more likely to be highly involved in their children’s schools than biological fathers in two-biological-parent families. Thirty-five percent of students living with a biological father and a stepmother have a father who is highly involved in their schools compared to 28 percent of students living with both biological parents (figure B).
• Students living in father-only families are the most likely of all students to have highly involved fathers—46 percent of such students have fathers who are highly involved in their schools.
• Stepmothers are more likely than biological mothers, regardless of family type, to show low levels of involvement in their children’s schools. Forty percent of students living in stepmother families have a stepmother with low involvement in their schools, while 28 percent of students in stepfather families, 27 percent in mother-only families, and 20 percent in two-biological-parent families have mothers with low involvement in their schools. The same is true of stepfathers, but stepfathers show even lower levels of involvement in their stepchildren’s schools than do stepmothers. Sixty-two percent of students living with a stepfather have a stepfather who participated in none or only one of the four activities in their schools during the current school year.

Although the level of parents’ school involvement varies by whether they are biological parents or stepparents and whether they live in two-biological-parent families, single-parent families, or stepfamilies, parents’ school involvement still seems to make a difference in students’ school experiences:

• Fathers’ involvement in school is associated with a higher likelihood of students getting mostly A’s. This is true for fathers in two-biological-parent families, for stepfathers, and for fathers heading single-parent families. There appears to be no association, however, between fathers’ involvement in stepmother families and the odds that students get mostly A’s.
• Fathers’ involvement in two-biological-parent families is associated with a lower likelihood of students ever repeating a grade. There is no evidence, though, that the involvement of stepfathers or of fathers in father-only families is related to this.
• Biological mothers’ involvement, regardless of whether they are living in two-biological-parent families, stepfather families, or mother-only families, is associated with a higher likelihood of students getting mostly A’s. The involvement of mothers in mother-only families is also related to lowered odds of their children ever repeating a grade.
• The school involvement of mothers is associated with a lower likelihood of 6th- through 12th-graders ever being suspended or expelled. This is true for the involvement of biological mothers and of stepmothers.

Figure B.—Percentage distribution of students in grades 1–12, by mothers’ and fathers’ involvement in school and family type: 1996

Although the school involvement of parents who live apart from their children is lower than that of resident parents, some nonresident parents who have contact with their children are involved in their children’s schools:

• Thirteen percent of students in stepfather families and 19 percent in mother-only families who have had contact with their nonresident fathers in the last year have nonresident fathers who participated in at least two of the four school activities.
• Nonresident mothers are more likely than nonresident fathers to be involved in their children’s schools. Twenty-seven percent of students in stepmother families and 43 percent living in father-only families who have had contact with their nonresident mothers in the last year have nonresident mothers who participated in at least two of the four school activities.

Although nonresident mothers are more likely than nonresident fathers to be involved in their children’s schools, the benefits of their involvement for the students are not as apparent:

• Students are more likely to get mostly A’s and are less likely to have ever repeated a grade or to have ever been suspended or expelled if their nonresident fathers have some involvement in their schools. Students are more likely to get mostly A’s if their nonresident mothers have participated in one activity in the last year.

PFI–NHES:1996 has several strengths for studying parents’ school involvement. First, it contained a large, nationally representative sample of students in grades 1 through 12. Second, it collected information about the school involvement of both resident and nonresident mothers and fathers. PFI–NHES:1996, however, collected data at a single point in time. Thus, it cannot be used to establish causal connections between parents’ involvement and student outcomes. It can only suggest such connections and leave it to studies based on longitudinal data to examine the associations more closely. Moreover, one respondent in each household reported on the school involvement of the resident and nonresident parents. In most cases, mothers were the respondents and were thus the ones reporting on the involvement of the resident and nonresident fathers.