Middle Schools and Math Groups: Parents' Involvement in Children's Placement

Interviews with a random sample of 86 mothers in two suburban communities revealed that the high correlation between parents' education levels and their children's placement in the mathematics tracking system as they enter middle and junior high school can be explained, in part, by the propensity of college-educated parents to be knowledgeable about their children's placement, to be integrated into school affairs and parental information networks, to intervene in educational decisions that school personnel make for their children, and to exert an influence over their children's preferences for courses. The involvement of highly educated parents in their children's placement at critical decision points in the tracking system is one mechanism by which educational advantage is transmitted from one generation to the next.