Principal leadership of parent involvement

Strategies to increase parent involvement and its beneficial effects, in particular, among parents whose children traditionally have low academic achievement, abound in the educational literature. Yet, conspicuously absent is an empirical examination of the relation of principal behaviors on parent involvement. The present study analyzed survey data from principals regarding their behaviors and the relation of their behavior to survey data from parents regarding involvement in their children’s education. Among schools having higher concentrations of socioeconomically‐disadvantaged and non‐English‐speaking students, the roles of master teacher and missionary were associated with higher levels of parent involvement and the role of the gamesman with lower levels of parent involvement. Results suggest that the effectiveness of principal roles is dependent on the needs and life circumstances of socioeconomically‐disadvantaged school populations.