Principals, Parents, and Administrative Superiors

Abstract

Many recent reform efforts contain a strong parental involvement component. However, the hierarchical governing system of most schools is not eroding as parent participation increases. An outcome of the increasing levels of parental involvement is that the principalship is becoming more a middle manager position than in the past. The central question posed in this study is, how do the relationships among principals, parents, and administrative superiors affect the extent to which parents are involved in educational policy-making at the school-site level? A stratified random sample of elementary school principals in Israel participated in a study about parental involvement practices. The results indicate that the nature of the relationships differ for principals of high-and low-SES schools. The study highlights the importance of studying parental involvement from a political perspective of the school organization