Do Increased Levels of Parental Involvement Account for the Social Class Difference in Track Placement?
” The objective of this paper is to determine whether increased levels of school involvement among socially advantaged parents account for their children’s advantage in track placement. Prior research has suggested that parents of higher social class score higher on direct measures of involvement, and that this type of involvement may mediate the effect of social class on track placement. The author tests this hypothesis using regression models for categorical outcomes with a nationally representative database containing student transcript data on course-taking and both student and parent indicators of parental involvement. He finds that while parents of higher social class are more involved, there is no evidence that greater levels of parental involvement can account for their students’ advantage in gaining access to higher track math courses. In contrast, additional analyses indicate that a third of the social class effect can be accounted for by student expectations. An earlier vers
