Parent–School Relations in England and the USA: Partnership, Problematized

Abstract

Over the last 45 years, educational inequality has been a focus of national policy and of social scientific study (mostly in that order) in both the USA and England. The compensatory education programs in both countries beginning in the 1960s marked a watershed in terms of government commitment to using education to fight poverty as well as in the role of social science research in educational policymaking (Nawrotzki et al. 2003; Silver and Silver 1991). National education policies and programs in England and the USA have come to focus on promoting achievement-related attitudes and behaviors among parents of children at risk of underachievement in general and on getting teachers to encourage and support the at-home and at-school involvement of these parents in particular.