I don't disagree with either of the above posts. I agree that there are many ways to be involved and that it is important. My point was regarding the assumptions implicit in high poverty=neglectful/disinterested parenting. These are two different states of existence that are often reflexively paired as if they go hand in hand. My point about the barriers to school based involvement was speaking to the fact that when parents are not visible in the schools, it is easy to assume a lack of involvement/interest.
In my own school our parent involvement has increased significantly over the course of the past 10-15 years, even as our poverty rate has continued to grow. Of course, if you measured it by PTO membership, it would be easy to miss. So how has it grown? It has grown in responsiveness to notes home, availability for phone calls, participation in parent teacher conferences. Why has it grown? Honestly I think it is the result of a lot of frank conversations in staff meetings about our assumptions, and about how those assumptions were discouraging involvement. We had to take a look at ourselves and our practice in order to change the response we recieved from parents. It was uncomfortable, but it was also enlightening. Yes, we continue to have some uninvolved and/or neglectful parents. We have some parents who behave like five year olds and some parents who believe it is the school's job to provide the education. However, changing our assumptions subtly shifted the way in which we communicated and responded to families. It made all the difference.
