Abstract
Parent involvement in the public schools is recognized by researchers and by the great majority of public school educators as being essential to the success of students, academically and socially. It is also a legal requirement for Title 1 schools. Numerous studies have examined the effects of parent involvement with various ethnic groups, especially with African American and Hispanic groups. This study looks at the effects of a series of twelve parental involvement workshops of three hours each, presented in English, Hmong, Spanish, and Russian languages on the perceptions of parents. These parents were from four ethnic groups: African American, Hispanic, Hmong and Russian-Ukrainian. Through a pre-post survey design, this study examines the perceptions of parents on school to home communication, parental involvement in their children’s academic work, and the parents’ ability to help their children academically. Also examined are teachers’ perceptions of various dimensions of parental involvement using a survey with dimensions which are complementary to those on the parent survey.