Parent and Family 

Involvement in Education, 

2006–07 School Year, From the 

National Household Education 

Surveys Program of 2007

First Look

U.S. Department of Education

NCES 2008-050
U.S. Department of Education 

NCES 2008-050

Parent and Family 

Involvement in Education, 

2006–07 School Year, From the 

National Household Education 

Surveys Program of 2007 

First Look 

August 2008 

Kathleen Herrold 

Kevin O’Donnell 

Westat 

Gail Mulligan 

Project Officer 

National Center for 

Education Statistics 
U.S. Department of Education

Margaret Spellings 

Secretary

Institute of Education Sciences

Grover J. Whitehurst 

Director

National Center for Education Statistics

Mark Schneider 

Commissioner

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the primary federal entity for collecting, analyzing, and 

reporting data related to education in the United States and other nations. It fulfills a congressional mandate to 

collect, collate, analyze, and report full and complete statistics on the condition of education in the United States; 

conduct and publish reports and specialized analyses of the meaning and significance of such statistics; assist 

state and local education agencies in improving their statistical systems; and review and report on education 

activities in foreign countries. 

NCES activities are designed to address high-priority education data needs; provide consistent, reliable, complete, 

and accurate indicators of education status and trends; and report timely, useful, and high-quality data to the U.S. 

Department of Education, the Congress, the states, other education policymakers, practitioners, data users, and 

the general public. Unless specifically noted, all information contained herein is in the public domain. 

We strive to make our products available in a variety of formats and in language that is appropriate to a variety of 

audiences. You, as our customer, are the best judge of our success in communicating information effectively. If 

you have any comments or suggestions about this or any other NCES product or report, we would like to hear from 

you. Please direct your comments to 

 National Center for Education Statistics 

 Institute of Education Sciences 

 U.S. Department of Education 

 1990 K Street NW 

 Washington, DC 20006–5651 

 

August 2008 

The NCES World Wide Web Home Page is: http://nces.ed.gov. 

The NCES World Wide Web Electronic Catalog is: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch. 

The National Household Education Surveys Program website is: http://nces.ed.gov/nhes. 

Suggested Citation

Herrold, K., and O’Donnell, K. (2008). Parent and Family Involvement in Education, 2006–07 School Year, From 

the National Household Education Surveys Program of 2007 (NCES 2008-050). National Center for Education 

Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC. 

For ordering information on this report, write to 

U.S. Department of Education 

ED Pubs 

P.O. Box 1398 

Jessup, MD 20794-1398 

or call toll free 1-877-4ED-Pubs or order online at http://www.edpubs.org. 

Content Contact 

Gail Mulligan 

(202) 502-7491 

nhes@ed.gov
iii 

Acknowledgments 

The authors would like to thank Peter Tice and Laura LoGerfo of the National Center for 

Education Statistics; Frank Avenilla, Stacey Bielick, Angie KewalRamani, Ben Kaplan, Phuong Le, and 

Aparna Sundaram of the American Institutes for Research; and Sarah Grady of MacroSys Research and 

Technology for their helpful suggestions and reviews of the report. At Westat, the authors would like to 

thank Mary Hagedorn, the project director for the National Household Education Surveys Program, for 

her input and reviews of the report; Jill Montaquila and Wendy Van de Kerckhove for their assistance in 

completing Appendix A: Technical Notes; Priscilla Carver for her input and review of the Selected 

Findings bullets; and Susan Smith for her assistance in completing Appendix B: Glossary. Finally, the 

authors would like to thank the parents who provided the data upon which the report is based. 
This page is intentionally blank. 
v 

Contents 

Page 

Acknowledgments .................................................................................................................................... iii 

List of Tables ............................................................................................................................................ vi 

Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 1 

Selected Findings ................................................................................................................................ 3 

References ................................................................................................................................................ 17 

Appendix A: Technical Notes .................................................................................................................. 19 

Appendix B: Glossary .............................................................................................................................. 27 

Appendix C: Standard Errors ................................................................................................................... 35 
vi 

List of Tables 

Table Page 

1 Percentage of students in grades K through 12 whose parents reported 

school-initiated communication practices, by method of communication 

and selected school, student, and family characteristics: 2006–07 ................................ 5 

2 Percentage of students in grades K through 12 whose parents reported any 

school-initiated provision of information, by information topic and selected 

school, student, and family characteristics: 2006–07 .................................................... 7 

3 Percentage of students in grades K through 12 whose parents reported 

participation in school-related activities, by selected school, student, and 

family characteristics: 2006–07 ........................................................................................ 9 

4 Percentage of students in grades K through 12 whose parents reported 

satisfaction with school characteristics and amount of homework, by 

selected school, student, and family characteristics: 2006–07 ........................................11 

5 Percentage of students in grades K through 12 whose parents reported that 

students do homework outside of school, a place is set aside in the home 

for students to do homework, and an adult checks that homework is done, 

by selected school, student, and family characteristics: 2006–07 ..................................13 

6 Percentage of students in grades 6 through 12 whose parents reported 

educational expectations and plans to help pay for education after high 

school, by selected school, student, and family characteristics: 2006–07 ......................15 

Appendix table 

C-1 Standard errors for table 1: Percentage of students in grades K through 12 

whose parents reported school-initiated communication practices, by 

method of communication and selected school, student, and family 

characteristics: 2006–07 .................................................................................................37 

C-2 Standard errors for table 2: Percentage of students in grades K through 12

whose parents reported any school-initiated provision of information, by 

information topic and selected school, student, and family 

 characteristics: 2006–07 ................................................................................................39 

C-3 Standard errors for table 3: Percentage of students in grades K through 12 

whose parents reported participation in school-related activities, by 

selected school, student, and family characteristics: 2006–07 .......................................41 

C-4 Standard errors for table 4: Percentage of students in grades K through 12 

whose parents reported satisfaction with school characteristics and amount 

of homework, by selected school, student, and family characteristics: 

 2006–07 ..........................................................................................................................43 
vii 

List of Tables (Continued) 

Appendix table Page 

C-5 Standard errors for table 5: Percentage of students in grades K through 12 

whose parents reported that students do homework outside of school, a 

place is set aside in the home for students to do homework, and an adult 

checks that homework is done, by selected school, student, and family 

characteristics: 2006–07 .................................................................................................45 

C-6 Standard errors for table 6: Percentage of students in grades 6 through 12 

whose parents reported educational expectations and plans to help pay for 

education after high school, by selected school, student, and family 

characteristics: 2006–07 ................................................................................................47 

 

Exhibit 

B-1 Poverty definition for Parent and Family Involvement in Education (PFI) 

analyses, by household size: 2007 ..................................................................................32 
This page is intentionally blank. 
1 

Introduction

This report presents data on parents’ and families’ involvement in their children’s education in the 

United States according to parents’ reports for the 2006–07 school year. It also incorporates basic 

demographic information about the children, parent/guardian characteristics, and household 

characteristics. The data come from the Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey (PFI) of the 

2007 National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES:2007). PFI addressed many topics, 

including school choice, homeschooling, family involvement in children’s schools, factors affecting 

parent and family participation in school, parent support for and satisfaction with the school, parents’ 

communication with other parents, school efforts to involve families, parent involvement with children’s 

homework, parent and family involvement in activities outside of school, parent and family plans for 

postsecondary education, and child health and disability status. 

NHES:2007 fielded multiple interviews together including PFI and the School Readiness Survey.1

The sample was selected using random-digit-dial methods, and the data were collected using computerassisted telephone interviewing technology. NHES:2007 was conducted by Westat, a social science 

research firm, from January 2 through May 6, 2007. PFI interviews were conducted with parents or 

guardians of a nationally representative sample of children enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade 

including children who were enrolled in public or private schools or homeschooled. The total number of 

completed PFI interviews was 10,681, which represents a population of 53.2 million students in grades K 

through 12, when weighted to reflect national totals. The household screener interview, which contained a 

set of questions used to collect information on household composition and interview eligibility, had a 

response rate of 52.8 percent. The weighted unit response rate for the PFI survey was 74.1 percent, and 

the overall unit response rate was 39.1 percent.2

 An analysis of bias in the NHES:2007 data, described 

further in Appendix A: Technical Notes, detected no evidence of substantial nonresponse or noncoverage 

bias in the weighted estimates. Additional details about the survey, response rates, and data reliability also 

are provided in appendix A. 

Since the focus of this First Look report is on how students’ parents interact with schools, 

homeschoolers are excluded from all of the analyses. Most of the tables present estimates for the entire 

population of students enrolled in kindergarten through grade 12. Table 6, which contains estimates 

related to parents’ educational expectations and plans to help pay for the students’ education after high 

school, pertains only to students in grades 6 through 12, because these data were not collected for students 

in lower grades. 

The results presented below highlight some of the findings in the tables. Results reported in the 

tables and bullets are weighted means and percentages. All statements of comparison made in this report 

have been tested for statistical significance using two-tailed t-tests and are significant at the 95 percent 

confidence level. For information about how to make comparisons between estimates in the tables, please 

see information in the Statistical Tests section of Appendix A: Technical Notes. 

The purpose of this First Look report is to introduce new NHES survey data through the 

presentation of selected descriptive information. Readers are cautioned not to draw causal inferences 

based on the bivariate results presented. It is important to note that many of the variables examined in this 

report may be related to one another, and complex interactions and relationships among the variables have 

 

1

 For more details regarding the School Readiness Survey, which collected data on preschool-age children, please consult Volume 1 of the Data 

File User’s Manual (Hagedorn et al. 2008). 

2

 The overall unit response rate is the product of the household screening stage unit response rate (described further in Appendix A: Technical 

Notes) and the PFI interview unit response rate. 
2 

not been explored. The variables examined here are also just a few of the variables that can be examined 

in these data; they were selected to demonstrate the range of information available from the study. The 

release of this report is intended to encourage more in-depth analysis of the data using more sophisticated 

statistical methods. 
3 

Selected Findings 

• About 54 percent of students in grades K through 12 had parents who reported receiving notes or email from the school specifically about their child; 91 percent had parents who reported receiving 

newsletters, memos, or notices addressed to all parents; and 49 percent had parents who reported that 

the school had contacted them by telephone (table 1). 

• A higher percentage of students in nonreligious private schools (66 percent) had parents who reported 

that their children’s school communicated with them via notes or e-mails compared to students in 

other types of schools (assigned public: 53 percent; chosen public: 56 percent) (table 1). 

• Ninety-two percent of students in grades K through 12 had parents who reported receiving any 

information from the school on the student’s performance; 83 percent had parents who received any 

information about how to help with homework; 75 percent had parents who received any information 

about why the student was placed in particular groups or classes; and 86 percent had parents who 

received any information about the parents’ expected role at the student’s school (table 2). 

• Eighty-nine percent of students in grades K through 12 had parents who reported that an adult 

member of the household had attended a general school or a parent-teacher organization or 

association (PTO/PTA) meeting since the beginning of the school year (table 3). Seventy-eight 

percent had parents who attended a regularly scheduled parent-teacher conference; 74 percent had 

parents who attended a school or class event; 46 percent had parents who volunteered or served on a 

school committee; and 65 percent had parents who participated in school fundraising. 

• A lower percentage of students in grades 9 through 12 had parents who reported attending a regularly 

scheduled parent-teacher conference (61 percent) than students in grades K through 2 (90 percent), 3 

through 5 (92 percent), and 6 through 8 (76 percent) (table 3).

• Fifty-nine percent of students in grades K through 12 had parents who were “very satisfied” with their 

child’s school; 64 percent had parents who were very satisfied with their child’s teachers that year; 

63 percent had parents who were very satisfied with the school’s academic standards; 62 percent had 

parents who were very satisfied with the school’s order and discipline; and 55 percent had parents 

who were very satisfied with the school’s parent-staff interactions (table 4). In addition, 75 percent 

had parents who reported that the amount of homework assigned was “about right.” 

• A higher percentage of White, non-Hispanic students (64 percent) had parents who reported being 

very satisfied with their children’s school compared to students of other racial/ethnic backgrounds 

(Black, non-Hispanic, 47 percent; Hispanic, 59 percent; Asian or Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic, 54 

percent) (table 4).

• Ninety-four percent of students in grades K through 12 had parents who reported that they did 

homework outside of school. Among those students who did homework outside of school, 89 percent 

had parents who indicated that there was a place set aside for homework in their home, and 85 percent 

had parents who said that an adult in the household checked whether their homework was done (table 

5). 

• According to parent reports, among students in grades 6 through 12, less than 1 percent had parents 

who said that they did not expect their child to complete high school; 8 percent had parents who 

expected them to graduate from high school but not pursue postsecondary education; 8 percent had 

parents who expected them to attend vocational or technical school after high school; 13 percent had 

parents who expected them to attend 2 or more years of college; 40 percent had parents who expected 

them to finish a 4- or 5-year college degree; and 30 percent had parents who expected them to earn a 

graduate or professional degree (table 6). Eighty-one percent of students in grades 6 through 12 had 

parents who reported that they plan to help pay for the student’s education after high school.
This page is intentionally blank. 
5 

Table 1. Percentage of students in grades K through 12 whose parents reported school-initiated 

communication practices, by method of communication and selected school, student, and 

family characteristics: 2006–07 

Method by which school communicated with parents 

Characteristic 

Number of students 

in grades K through 

12 (thousands)

Notes or e-mail 

about student 

Newsletters, 

memos, 

or notices Telephone

Total........................................................................... 51,600 54 91 49

 

School type1 

Public, assigned ............................................................... 37,168 53 91 48

Public, chosen................................................................... 7,951 56 91 52

Private, religious............................................................... 4,560 58 97 47

Private, nonreligious......................................................... 1,438 66 96 62

 

School size 

Under 300.......................................................................... 7,644 57 95 54

300–599............................................................................. 16,094 55 92 48

600–999............................................................................. 13,685 55 92 49

1,000 or more.................................................................... 13,847 50 88 48

 

Locale of student’s household2 

City .................................................................................... 16,195 52 91 52

Suburban ........................................................................... 19,158 55 93 50

Town.................................................................................. 5,664 52 90 47

Rural .................................................................................. 10,583 57 90 44

 

Student’s sex 

Male .................................................................................. 26,875 58 92 52

Female .............................................................................. 24,725 50 91 46

 

Student’s race/ethnicity 

White, non-Hispanic ........................................................ 29,832 57 94 46

Black, non-Hispanic ........................................................ 7,837 56 88 61

Hispanic ............................................................................ 9,767 46 88 48

Asian or Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic ......................... 1,566 38 91 36

Other, non-Hispanic3 ....................................................... 2,598 57 88 55

 

Student’s grade level4 

K–2nd grade ..................................................................... 11,516 58 96 52

3rd–5th grade ................................................................... 11,519 55 95 49

6th–8th grade ................................................................... 12,058 54 89 50

9th–12th grade ................................................................. 16,503 51 87 46

 

Parents’ highest education level 

Less than high school ...................................................... 3,504 40 76 51

High school graduate or equivalent ................................ 11,070 48 88 50

Vocational/technical or some college ............................. 14,844 54 92 50

Bachelor’s degree ............................................................ 11,353 57 95 47

Graduate or professional school ..................................... 10,829 62 96 49

See notes at end of table. 
6 

Table 1. Percentage of students in grades K through 12 whose parents reported school-initiated 

communication practices, by method of communication and selected school, student, and 

family characteristics: 2006–07—Continued 

Method by which school communicated with parents 

Characteristic 

Number of students 

in grades K through 

12 (thousands)

Notes or e-mail 

about student 

Newsletters, 

memos, 

or notices Telephone

Parents’ language at home5 

Both/only parent(s) speak(s) English .............................. 45,219 56 92 49

One of two parents speaks English.................................. 1,022 47 91 48

No parent speaks English................................................. 5,359 40 84 49

 

Poverty status6 

Poor ................................................................................... 10,012 48 85 55

Nonpoor ............................................................................ 41,587 56 93 48 1

 School type classifies the school currently attended as either public or private. Public schools are further classified according to 

whether the school was chosen or assigned. Private schools are also classified as being religious or nonreligious. 2 Locale of student’s household classifies the residential ZIP code into a set of four major locale categories: city, suburban, town, 

rural. For more details on these new “urban-centric locale codes,” see Appendix B: Glossary. 

3 “Other race, non-Hispanic” includes children who were multiracial and not of Hispanic ethnicity, or who were American Indian 

or Alaska Native, or were not Hispanic, White, Black, Asian, or Pacific Islander. The different groups mentioned here are not 

shown separately because the sample sizes do not support stable estimates. 4 Students whose parents reported the student’s grade equivalent as “ungraded” were excluded from the analyses of grade level. 5 Complete descriptions of the categories for parents’ language are as follows: (1) “Both parents or the only parent learned 

English first or currently speak(s) English in the home,” (2) “One of two parents in a two-parent household learned English first 

or currently speaks English in the home,” and (3) “No parent learned English first and both parents or the only parent currently 

speak(s) a non-English language in the home.” 6 Students are considered poor if they were living in households with incomes below the poverty threshold. The poverty threshold 

is determined by the federal government based on the household’s size and composition. For more details on the poverty 

thresholds, see Appendix B: Glossary. 

NOTE: Students who were homeschooled were excluded from the table. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. 

Variables for school characteristics (school type and school size) have a certain number of missing cases due to school nonreport; therefore, the number of students across the categories for each school variable does not sum to the total number of 

students. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Parent and Family Involvement in Education 

Survey of the National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES), 2007. 
7 

Table 2. Percentage of students in grades K through 12 whose parents reported any schoolinitiated provision of information, by information topic and selected school, student, and 

family characteristics: 2006–07 

Topics about which school provided information 1

Characteristic 

Number of 

students in 

grades K 

through 12 

(thousands)

Student’s 

performance

How to 

help with 

homework

Why student is 

placed in 

particular 

groups or 

classes

How to help 

student plan 

for college or 

vocational 

school2 

Parents’ 

expected 

role at 

student’s school

 

Total................................................... 51,600 92 83 75 69 86

 

School type3 

Public, assigned ...................................... 37,168 91 82 74 67 84

Public, chosen.......................................... 7,951 94 84 76 74 87

Private, religious...................................... 4,560 94 87 76 78 93

Private, nonreligious................................ 1,438 95 89 83 79 96

 

School size 

Under 300................................................. 7,644 92 87 77 70 90

300–599.................................................... 16,094 92 86 77 61 87

600–999.................................................... 13,685 92 85 76 65 86

1,000 or more........................................... 13,847 92 74 70 75 81

 

Locale of student’s household4 

City ........................................................... 16,195 93 85 76 71 86

Suburban .................................................. 19,158 92 82 75 68 86

Town......................................................... 5,664 91 81 75 69 83

Rural ......................................................... 10,583 92 81 73 69 85

 

Student’s sex 

Male ......................................................... 26,875 92 82 76 69 86

Female ..................................................... 24,725 92 83 74 70 85

 

Student’s race/ethnicity 

White, non-Hispanic ............................... 29,832 92 82 75 71 87

Black, non-Hispanic ............................... 7,837 92 81 73 63 83

Hispanic ................................................... 9,767 93 86 78 70 83

Asian or Pacific Islander, 

 non-Hispanic ....................................... 1,566 90 87 73 73 89

Other, non-Hispanic5

 .............................. 2,598 90 78 69 67 82

 

Student’s grade level6 

K–2nd grade ............................................ 11,516 92 91 78 † 91

3rd–5th grade .......................................... 11,519 94 90 81 † 91

6th–8th grade .......................................... 12,058 92 83 75 54 83

9th–12th grade ........................................ 16,503 90 71 68 81 80

 

Parents’ highest education level 

Less than high school ............................. 3,504 90 82 76 67 81

High school graduate or equivalent ....... 11,070 92 81 75 65 81

Vocational/technical or some college .... 14,844 91 81 72 68 84

Bachelor’s degree ................................... 11,353 93 84 76 71 89

Graduate or professional school ............ 10,829 93 85 77 75 91

See notes at end of table. 
8 

Table 2. Percentage of students in grades K through 12 whose parents reported any schoolinitiated provision of information, by information topic and selected school, student, and 

family characteristics: 2006–07—Continued 

Topics about which school provided information 1

Characteristic 

Number of 

students in 

grades K 

through 12 

(thousands)

Student’s 

performance

How to 

help with 

homework

Why student is 

placed in 

particular 

groups or 

classes

How to help 

student plan 

for college or 

vocational 

school2 

Parents’ 

expected 

role at 

student’s school

 

Parents’ language at home7

Both/only parent(s) speak(s) English ..... 45,219 92 82 74 69 86

One of two parents/guardians speaks 

 English ................................................. 1,022 89 91 74 69 82

No parent speaks English........................ 5,359 95 90 81 72 84

 

Poverty status8 

Poor .......................................................... 10,012 92 84 76 68 81

Nonpoor .................................................. 41,587 92 83 75 70 87

† Not applicable. Only parents of students in grades 6 through 12 were asked if the school provided information about how to 

help the student plan for college or vocational school. 

1

 Parents of students in grades K through 12 were asked to rate school performance relative to the provision of four types of 

information (items 1–4 in the list below). In addition to items 1–4, parents of students in grades 6 through 12 were asked to rate 

school performance for the provision of information noted in item 5. (1) letting them know between report cards about student’s 

school performance; (2) providing information about how to help with homework; (3) providing information about why their 

children were placed in particular groups or classes; (4) providing information on parents’ expected role at children’s school; and 

(5) providing information on how to help their children plan for college or vocational school. Response options were “does it 

very well,” “just okay,” “not very well,” “doesn’t do it at all,” or “don’t know.” Answers of “don’t know” were imputed. The 

table estimates indicate the percentage of parents who said their children’s school provided information on the given topic (i.e., 

parents who gave any answer other than “doesn’t do it at all”). 2

 Estimates indicate the percentage of students in grades 6 through 12 whose parents reported that the school provided 

information about how to help their children plan for college or vocational school. 3 School type classifies the school currently attended as either public or private. Public schools are further classified according to 

whether the school was chosen or assigned. Private schools are also classified as being religious or nonreligious. 4 Locale of student’s household classifies the residential ZIP code into a set of four major locale categories: city, suburban, town, 

rural. For more details on these new “urban-centric locale codes,” see Appendix B: Glossary. 

5 “Other race, non-Hispanic” includes children who were multiracial and not of Hispanic ethnicity, or who were American Indian 

or Alaska Native, or were not Hispanic, White, Black, Asian, or Pacific Islander. The different groups mentioned here are not 

shown separately because the sample sizes do not support stable estimates. 6 Students whose parents reported the student’s grade equivalent as “ungraded” were excluded from the analyses of grade level. 7 Complete descriptions of the categories for parents’ language are as follows: (1) “Both parents or the only parent learned 

English first or currently speak(s) English in the home,” (2) “One of two parents in a two-parent household learned English first 

or currently speaks English in the home,” and (3) “No parent learned English first and both parents or the only parent currently 

speak(s) a non-English language in the home.” 8 Students are considered poor if they were living in households with incomes below the poverty threshold. The poverty threshold 

is determined by the federal government based on the household’s size and composition. For more details on the poverty 

thresholds, see Appendix B: Glossary. 

NOTE: Students who were homeschooled were excluded from the table. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. 

Variables for school characteristics (school type and school size) have a certain number of missing cases due to school nonreport; therefore, the number of students across the categories for each school variable does not sum to the total number of 

students. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Parent and Family Involvement in Education 

Survey of the National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES), 2007. 
9 

Table 3. Percentage of students in grades K through 12 whose parents reported participation in 

school-related activities, by selected school, student, and family characteristics: 2006–07 

Participation in school activities by parent or other household member 

Characteristic 

Number of 

students in 

grades K 

through 12

(thousands)

Attended a 

general 

school or 

PTO/PTA1

meeting

Attended 

regularly 

scheduled 

parentteacher 

conference

Attended a 

school or 

class event 

Volunteered 

or served on 

school 

committee 

Participated 

in school 

fundraising

 

Total ............................................................... 51,600 89 78 74 46 65

 

School type2 

Public, assigned .................................................... 37,168 89 76 72 42 63

Public, chosen........................................................ 7,951 88 81 74 45 62

Private, religious.................................................... 4,560 96 86 86 73 85

Private, nonreligious ............................................. 1,438 97 90 86 68 72

 

School size 

Under 300 .............................................................. 7,644 90 87 80 59 73

300–599 ................................................................. 16,094 91 86 79 54 71

600–999 ................................................................. 13,685 90 80 74 45 65

1,000 or more ........................................................ 13,847 87 62 66 32 55

 

Locale of student’s household3 

City......................................................................... 16,195 89 80 70 41 60

Suburban................................................................ 19,158 91 76 76 49 67

Town ...................................................................... 5,664 87 79 75 48 67

Rural....................................................................... 10,583 88 78 77 49 70

 

Student’s sex 

Male ...................................................................... 26,875 89 79 71 45 65

Female ................................................................... 24,725 90 77 78 48 66

Student’s race/ethnicity 

White, non-Hispanic ............................................ 29,832 91 78 80 54 72

Black, non-Hispanic ............................................. 7,837 87 77 65 35 58

Hispanic ................................................................ 9,767 87 80 65 32 51

Asian or Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic ............. 1,566 90 80 72 46 62

Other, non-Hispanic4 ............................................ 2,598 90 74 76 47 62

 

Student’s grade level5 

K–2nd grade ......................................................... 11,516 93 90 78 63 72

3rd–5th grade ........................................................ 11,519 94 92 83 57 71

6th–8th grade ........................................................ 12,058 91 76 72 38 63

9th–12th grade ...................................................... 16,503 83 61 68 34 57

 

Parents’ highest education level 

Less than high school ........................................... 3,504 75 70 48 20 34

High school graduate or equivalent .................... 11,070 84 74 65 33 55

Vocational/technical or some college.................. 14,844 89 77 72 42 67

Bachelor’s degree ................................................. 11,353 94 81 83 56 72

Graduate or professional school .......................... 10,829 95 82 87 64 77

See notes at end of table. 
10 

Table 3. Percentage of students in grades K through 12 whose parents reported participation in 

school-related activities, by selected school, student, and family characteristics: 

2006–07—Continued 

Participation in school activities by parent or other household member 

Characteristic 

Number of 

students in 

grades K 

through 12

(thousands)

Attended a 

general 

school or 

PTO/PTA1

meeting

Attended 

regularly 

scheduled 

parentteacher 

conference

Attended a 

school or 

class event 

Volunteered 

or served on 

school 

committee 

Participated 

in school 

fundraising

 

Parents’ language at home6 

Both/only parent(s) speak(s) English................... 45,219 90 78 77 49 69

One of two parents speaks English ...................... 1,022 82 75 63 42 54

No parent speaks English ..................................... 5,359 84 82 57 22 38

 

Poverty status7 

Poor ........................................................................ 10,012 81 77 56 26 45

Nonpoor ................................................................ 41,587 91 78 79 51 70 1

 Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) or Parent Teacher Association (PTA) meeting. 

2 School type classifies the school currently attended as either public or private. Public schools are further classified according to 

whether the school was chosen or assigned. Private schools are also classified as being religious or nonreligious. 3 Locale of student’s household classifies the residential ZIP code into a set of four major locale categories: city, suburban, town, 

rural. For more details on these new “urban-centric locale codes,” see Appendix B: Glossary. 

4 “Other race, non-Hispanic” includes children who were multiracial and not of Hispanic ethnicity, or who were American Indian 

or Alaska Native, or were not Hispanic, White, Black, Asian, or Pacific Islander. The different groups mentioned here are not 

shown separately because the sample sizes do not support stable estimates. 5

 Students whose parents reported the student’s grade equivalent as “ungraded” were excluded from the analyses of grade level. 6 Complete descriptions of the categories for parents’ language are as follows: (1) “Both parents or the only parent learned 

English first or currently speak(s) English in the home,” (2) “One of two parents in a two-parent household learned English first 

or currently speaks English in the home,” and (3) “No parent learned English first and both parents or the only parent currently 

speak(s) a non-English language in the home.” 7 Students are considered poor if they were living in households with incomes below the poverty threshold. The poverty threshold 

is determined by the federal government based on the household’s size and composition. For more details on the poverty 

thresholds, see Appendix B: Glossary. 

NOTE: Students who were homeschooled were excluded from the table. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. 

Variables for school characteristics (school type and school size) have a certain number of missing cases due to school nonreport; therefore, the number of students across the categories for each school variable does not sum to the total number of 

students. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Parent and Family Involvement in Education 

Survey of the National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES), 2007. 
11 

Table 4. Percentage of students in grades K through 12 whose parents reported satisfaction with 

school characteristics and amount of homework, by selected school, student, and family 

characteristics: 2006–07 

Parent reports of being “very satisfied”1

Characteristic 

Number of 

students in 

grades K 

through 12 

(thousands)

With the 

school

With 

teachers 

student had 

this year

With 

academic 

standards of 

the school

With order 

and 

discipline at 

the school 

With the 

way school 

staff 

interacts 

with parents 

Amount 

of 

homework 

assigned is 

“about 

right”2 

 

Total .................................................... 51,600 59 64 63 62 55 75

 

School type3 

Public, assigned ........................................ 37,168 55 61 58 58 51 74

Public, chosen............................................ 7,951 63 68 67 63 59 72

Private, religious........................................ 4,560 81 79 84 83 77 80

Private, nonreligious ................................. 1,438 82 78 84 83 76 88

 

School size 

Under 300 .................................................. 7,644 67 71 71 70 65 77

300–599 ..................................................... 16,094 63 67 64 64 58 77

600–999 ..................................................... 13,685 60 66 63 63 57 74

1,000 or more ............................................ 13,847 51 54 57 54 45 72

 

Locale of student’s household4 

City............................................................. 16,195 60 65 63 62 57 73

Suburban.................................................... 19,158 61 64 64 63 56 75

Town .......................................................... 5,664 59 63 60 58 51 79

Rural........................................................... 10,583 58 63 60 61 54 76

 

Student’s sex 

Male .......................................................... 26,875 59 63 62 62 56 73

Female ....................................................... 24,725 60 65 63 62 55 77

 

Student’s race/ethnicity 

White, non-Hispanic ................................ 29,832 64 66 66 65 57 77

Black, non-Hispanic ................................. 7,837 47 57 55 54 49 66

Hispanic .................................................... 9,767 59 65 60 63 59 78

Asian or Pacific Islander, 

 non-Hispanic ........................................ 1,566 54 59 56 57 50 67

Other, non-Hispanic5

 ................................ 2,598 52 60 57 51 49 72

 

Student’s grade level6 

K–2nd grade ............................................. 11,516 69 78 69 72 67 80

3rd–5th grade ............................................ 11,519 65 69 67 66 63 79

6th–8th grade ............................................ 12,058 55 58 60 59 51 71

9th–12th grade .......................................... 16,503 52 54 57 54 46 72

 

Parents’ highest education level 

Less than high school ............................... 3,504 54 62 56 60 55 79

High school graduate or equivalent ........ 11,070 54 59 56 58 51 74

Vocational/technical or some college...... 14,844 55 61 59 57 53 73

Bachelor’s degree ..................................... 11,353 64 67 67 65 57 76

Graduate or professional school .............. 10,829 68 70 71 70 62 76

See notes at end of table. 
12 

Table 4. Percentage of students in grades K through 12 whose parents reported satisfaction with 

school characteristics and amount of homework, by selected school, student, and family 

characteristics: 2006–07—Continued 

Parent reports of being “very satisfied”1

Characteristic 

Number of 

students in 

grades K 

through 12 

(thousands)

With the 

school

With 

teachers 

student had 

this year

With 

academic 

standards of 

the school

With order 

and 

discipline at 

the school 

With the 

way school 

staff 

interacts 

with parents 

Amount of 

homework 

assigned is 

“about 

right”2 

 

Parents’ language at home7 

Both/only parent(s) speak(s) English....... 45,219 59 63 63 61 54 74

One of two parents/guardians speaks 

 English................................................... 1,022 66 71 61 63 57 82

No parent speaks English ......................... 5,359 62 67 61 65 65 80

 

Poverty status8 

Poor ............................................................ 10,012 56 64 59 57 56 73

Nonpoor .................................................... 41,587 60 64 63 63 55 75 1 Parents were asked to rate satisfaction (1) “with the school student attends this year,” (2) “with teachers student had this year,” 

(3) “with academic standards of the school,” (4) “with order and discipline at the school,” and (5) “with the way school staff 

interacts with parents.” Response options were “very satisfied,” “somewhat satisfied,” “somewhat dissatisfied,” or “very 

dissatisfied.” 

2 Response options were “the amount is about right,” “it’s too much,” or “it’s too little.” This estimate pertains only to the 

students whose parents reported that their children did homework outside of school. 3 School type classifies the school currently attended as either public or private. Public schools are further classified according to 

whether the school was chosen or assigned. Private schools are also classified as being religious or nonreligious. 4 Locale of student’s household classifies the residential ZIP code into a set of four major locale categories: city, suburban, town, 

rural. For more details on these new “urban-centric locale codes,” see Appendix B: Glossary.

5 “Other race, non-Hispanic” includes children who were multiracial and not of Hispanic ethnicity, or who were American Indian 

or Alaska Native, or were not Hispanic, White, Black, Asian, or Pacific Islander. The different groups mentioned here are not 

shown separately because the sample sizes do not support stable estimates. 6

 Students whose parents reported the student’s grade equivalent as “ungraded” were excluded from the analyses of grade level. 7 Complete descriptions of the categories for parents’ language are as follows: (1) “Both parents or the only parent learned 

English first or currently speak(s) English in the home,” (2) “One of two parents in a two-parent household learned English first 

or currently speaks English in the home,” and (3) “No parent learned English first and both parents or the only parent currently 

speak(s) a non-English language in the home.” 8 Students are considered poor if they were living in households with incomes below the poverty threshold. The poverty threshold 

is determined by the federal government based on the household’s size and composition. For more details on the poverty 

thresholds, see Appendix B: Glossary. 

NOTE: Students who were homeschooled were excluded from the table. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. 

Variables for school characteristics (school type and school size) have a certain number of missing cases due to school nonreport; therefore, the number of students across the categories for each school variable does not sum to the total number of 

students. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Parent and Family Involvement in Education 

Survey of the National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES), 2007. 
13 

Table 5. Percentage of students in grades K through 12 whose parents reported that students do 

homework outside of school, a place is set aside in the home for students to do 

homework, and an adult checks that homework is done, by selected school, student, and 

family characteristics: 2006–07 

Student does homework outside of school1 

Characteristic 

Number 

of students in 

grades K through 12 

(thousands)

Student does 

homework outside 

of school

Place in home set 

aside for 

homework2 

Adult in household 

checks that 

homework is done

Total ........................................................................... 51,600 94 89 85

 

School type3 

Public, assigned ................................................................ 37,168 94 89 86

Public, chosen.................................................................... 7,951 95 90 88

Private, religious................................................................ 4,560 97 86 79

Private, nonreligious ......................................................... 1,438 90 85 84

 

School size 

Under 300 .......................................................................... 7,644 94 85 90

300–599 ............................................................................. 16,094 95 90 92

600–999 ............................................................................. 13,685 95 87 88

1,000 or more .................................................................... 13,847 93 91 72

 

Locale of student’s household4 

City..................................................................................... 16,195 94 88 88

Suburban............................................................................ 19,158 95 89 82

Town .................................................................................. 5,664 92 87 86

Rural................................................................................... 10,583 95 89 86

 

Student’s sex 

Male .................................................................................. 26,875 94 89 87

Female ............................................................................... 24,725 95 88 84

 

Student’s race/ethnicity 

White, non-Hispanic ........................................................ 29,832 95 89 82

Black, non-Hispanic ......................................................... 7,837 94 94 94

Hispanic ............................................................................ 9,767 94 84 91

Asian or Pacific Islander, 

 non-Hispanic ................................................................ 1,566 96 93 83

Other, non-Hispanic5

 ........................................................ 2,598 93 91 85

 

Student’s grade level6 

K–2nd grade ..................................................................... 11,516 93 84 100

3rd–5th grade .................................................................... 11,519 97 89 97

6th–8th grade .................................................................... 12,058 95 91 88

9th–12th grade .................................................................. 16,503 93 91 65

 

Parents’ highest education level 

Less than high school ....................................................... 3,504 90 83 94

High school graduate or equivalent ................................ 11,070 93 89 89

Vocational/technical or some college.............................. 14,844 94 90 86

Bachelor’s degree ............................................................. 11,353 96 87 83

Graduate or professional school ...................................... 10,829 96 90 81

See notes at end of table. 
14 

Table 5. Percentage of students in grades K through 12 whose parents reported that students do 

homework outside of school, a place is set aside in the home for students to do 

homework, and an adult checks that homework is done, by selected school, student, and 

family characteristics: 2006–07—Continued 

Student does homework outside of school1 

Characteristic 

Number 

of students in 

grades K through 12 

(thousands)

Student does 

homework outside 

of school

Place in home set 

aside for 

homework2 

Adult in household 

checks that 

homework is done

Parents’ language at home7

Both/only parent(s) speak(s) English............................... 45,219 94 90 84

One of two parents/guardians speaks 

 English........................................................................... 1,022 96 80 88

No parent speaks English ................................................. 5,359 94 76 94

 

Poverty status8 

Poor.................................................................................... 10,012 93 87 93

Nonpoor ............................................................................ 41,587 95 89 84 1 The denominator for these final two columns is students reported to do homework outside of school. Thus, it is different from 

the denominator for the second column, which includes all students in grades K through 12. 

2 Parents reported if there was a place in their home that was set aside for homework. Their responses were recorded as “yes,” 

“no,” and “child does not do homework at home.” Less than 1 percent of students had parents who indicated that they did not do

homework at home; they are excluded from the estimate. 

3 School type classifies the school currently attended as either public or private. Public schools are further classified according to 

whether the school was chosen or assigned. Private schools are also classified as being religious or nonreligious. 4 Locale of student’s household classifies the residential ZIP code into a set of four major locale categories: city, suburban, town, 

rural. For more details on these new “urban-centric locale codes,” see Appendix B: Glossary.

5 “Other race, non-Hispanic” includes children who were multiracial and not of Hispanic ethnicity, or who were American Indian 

or Alaska Native, or were not Hispanic, White, Black, Asian, or Pacific Islander. The different groups mentioned here are not 

shown separately because the sample sizes do not support stable estimates. 6

 Students whose parents reported the student’s grade equivalent as “ungraded” were excluded from the analyses of grade level. 7 Complete descriptions of the categories for parents’ language are as follows: (1) “Both parents or the only parent learned 

English first or currently speak(s) English in the home,” (2) “One of two parents in a two-parent household learned English first 

or currently speaks English in the home,” and (3) “No parent learned English first and both parents or the only parent currently 

speak(s) a non-English language in the home.” 8 Students are considered poor if they were living in households with incomes below the poverty threshold. The poverty threshold 

is determined by the federal government based on the household’s size and composition. For more details on the poverty 

thresholds, see Appendix B: Glossary. 

NOTE: Students who were homeschooled were excluded from the table. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. 

Variables for school characteristics (school type and school size) have a certain number of missing cases due to school nonreport; therefore, the number of students across the categories for each school variable does not sum to the total number of 

students. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Parent and Family Involvement in Education 

Survey of the National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES), 2007. 
15 

Table 6. Percentage of students in grades 6 through 12 whose parents reported educational 

expectations and plans to help pay for education after high school, by selected school, 

student, and family characteristics: 2006–07 

Parent expects student to... 

Characteristic 

Number of 

students in 

grades 6 

through 12 

(thousands) 

Receive 

less than a 

high 

school 

diploma

Graduate 

from high 

school

Attend 

vocational 

or technical 

school after 

high school

Attend 2 or 

more years 

of college

Finish 4- 

or 5-year 

college 

degree 

Earn a 

graduate or 

professional 

degree

Family plans 

to help pay 

for student’s 

education 

after high 

school1 

 

Total ........................................ 28,565 # 8 8 13 40 30 81

 

School type2 

Public, assigned ........................... 21,065 # 9 8 14 40 28 80

Public, chosen............................... 4,117 # 7 11 14 34 34 80

Private, religious........................... 2,443 # 3! 3! 6 48 41 90

Private, nonreligious .................... 672 3! 7! 6! 11! 26 47 84

 

School size 

Under 300 ..................................... 3,435 1! 10 12 13 37 27 78

300–599 ........................................ 5,541 1! 9 8 15 40 28 82

600–999 ........................................ 6,727 # 8 6 14 41 31 81

1,000 or more ............................... 12,635 # 8 7 12 40 32 82

 

Locale of student’s household3 

City................................................ 8,633 # 9 6 14 37 34 78

Suburban....................................... 10,795 1 7 6 10 41 34 86

Town ............................................. 3,165 1! 10 11 16 38 24 78

Rural.............................................. 5,972 # 8 12 16 42 21 79

 

Student’s sex 

Male ............................................. 14,801 1 10 10 13 40 26 82

Female .......................................... 13,764 # 6 5 14 40 35 81

 

Student’s race/ethnicity 

White, non-Hispanic ................... 16,775 1 6 8 13 44 29 86

Black, non-Hispanic .................... 4,617 # 13 9 16 30 33 74

Hispanic ....................................... 4,976 # 10 8 15 38 29 70

Asian or Pacific Islander, non- 

 Hispanic ................................... 723 # # 2! 4! 37 53 79

Other, non-Hispanic4

 ................... 1,473 1! 12 8 14 36 28 80

 

Student’s grade level5 

6th–8th grade ............................... 12,058 # 8 5 13 42 31 80

9th–12th grade ............................. 16,503 1 8 10 13 38 30 82

 

Parents’ highest education level 

Less than high school .................. 1,934 1! 28 6 16 28 22 56

High school graduate or 

 equivalent ................................ 6,127 # 17 13 21 32 18 72

Vocational/technical or some 

 college....................................... 8,916 # 6 11 18 40 23 78

Bachelor’s degree ........................ 5,836 # 3 3 6 53 35 88

Graduate or professional school.. 5,752 1! 1! 3 4 39 52 94

See notes at end of table. 
16 

Table 6. Percentage of students in grades 6 through 12 whose parents reported educational 

expectations and plans to help pay for education after high school, by selected school, 

student, and family characteristics: 2006–07—Continued 

Parent expects student to... 

Characteristic 

Number of 

students in 

grades 6 

through 12 

(thousands) 

Receive 

less than a 

high 

school 

diploma

Graduate 

from high 

school

Attend 

vocational 

or technical 

school after 

high school

Attend 2 or 

more years 

of college

Finish 4- 

or 5-year 

college 

degree 

Earn a 

graduate or 

professional 

degree

Family plans 

to help pay 

for student’s 

education 

after high 

school1 

 

Parents’ language at home6 

Both/only parent(s) speak(s) 

 English....................................... 25,596 # 8 8 13 40 30 83

One of two parents/guardians 

 speaks English........................... 412 # 6! # 6! 46 41 71

No parent speaks English ............. 2,557 1! 12 4 13 37 34 66

 

Poverty status7 

Poor................................................ 5,110 1! 21 10 20 26 23 59

Nonpoor ........................................ 23,455 # 6 7 12 43 32 85

# Rounds to 0 or 0 cases in sample. 

! Interpret data with caution; coefficient of variation is 33 percent or more. 

1

 This question was only asked of parents of students in grades 6 through 12 who expected their children to continue education 

after high school. Hence the denominator for this column is different from the denominators for the preceding six columns. 2 School type classifies the school currently attended as either public or private. Public schools are further classified according to 

whether the school was chosen or assigned. Private schools are also classified as being religious or nonreligious. 3 Locale of student’s household classifies the residential ZIP code into a set of four major locale categories: city, suburban, town, 

rural. For more details on these new “urban-centric locale codes,” see Appendix B: Glossary.

4 “Other race, non-Hispanic” includes children who were multiracial and not of Hispanic ethnicity, or who were American Indian 

or Alaska Native, or were not Hispanic, White, Black, Asian, or Pacific Islander. The different groups mentioned here are not 

shown separately because the sample sizes do not support stable estimates. 5

 Students whose parents reported the student’s grade equivalent as “ungraded” were excluded from the analyses of grade level. 6 Complete descriptions of the categories for parents’ language are as follows: (1) “Both parents or the only parent learned 

English first or currently speak(s) English in the home,” (2) “One of two parents in a two-parent household learned English first 

or currently speaks English in the home,” and (3) “No parent learned English first and both parents or the only parent currently 

speak(s) a non-English language in the home.” 7 Students are considered poor if they were living in households with incomes below the poverty threshold. The poverty threshold 

is determined by the federal government based on the household’s size and composition. For more details on the poverty 

thresholds, see Appendix B: Glossary. 

NOTE: Students who were homeschooled were excluded from the table. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. 

Variables for school characteristics (school type and school size) have a certain number of missing cases due to school nonreport; therefore, the number of students across the categories for each school variable does not sum to the total number of 

students. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Parent and Family Involvement in Education 

Survey of the National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES), 2007. 
17 

References

Blumberg, S.J., and Luke, J.V. (2007). Wireless Substitution: Early Release of Estimates from the 

National Health Interview Survey, January–June 2007. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for 

Health Statistics. Retrieved January 10, 2008, from 

http:/www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhis/earlyrelease/wireless200712.pdf.

Demaio, T.J. (1984). Social Desirability and Survey Measurement: A Review. In C.F. Turner and E. 

Martin (Eds.), Surveying Subjective Phenomena (pp. 257–281). New York: Russell Sage. 

Hagedorn, M., Roth, S.B., O’Donnell, K., Smith, S., and Mulligan, G. (2008). National Household 

Education Surveys of 2007: Data File User’s Manual, Volume I. (NCES 2008-046). National 

Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. 

Washington, DC.

Kalton, G., and Kasprzyk, D. (1986). The Treatment of Missing Survey Data. Survey Methodology, 12(1): 

1–16. 

Provasnik, S., KewalRamani, A., Coleman, M.M., Gilbertson, L., Herring, W., and Xie, Q. (2007). Status 

of Education in Rural America (NCES 2007–040). National Center for Education Statistics, 

Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC.

Westat. (2000). WesVar 4.0 User’s Guide. Rockville, MD: Author. 
This page is intentionally blank. 
19 

Appendix A: 

Technical Notes 
This page is intentionally blank. 
21 

Survey Methodology and Data Reliability 

The National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES) is a set of telephone surveys 

sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). This 

report presents data from the Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey (PFI) of the 2007 

NHES. Previous NHES surveys from 1996, 1999, and 2003 also focused on parents and family 

involvement in education. PFI data collection was conducted by Westat, a social science research firm, 

and took place from January 2 through May 6, 2007. This section provides a brief description of the study 

methodology. Readers are advised to consult Volume 1 of the Data File User’s Manual for more 

extensive information on the study methodology and data collection procedures (Hagedorn et al. 2008). 

The NHES:2007 sample was selected using random-digit-dial (RDD) methods, and the data were 

collected using computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) technology. The first stage of sampling 

in NHES:2007 was the selection of a sample of telephone numbers, with telephone numbers in areas with 

high percentages of Black or Hispanic residents sampled at higher rates than those in areas with low 

percentages of Black or Hispanic residents, and telephone numbers that could be matched to mailing 

addresses sampled at a higher rate than those that could not be matched to addresses. The oversampling of 

telephone numbers in areas with high percentages of Black or Hispanic residents was done to increase the 

numbers of sampled persons of Black or Hispanic race/ethnicity; the oversampling of telephone numbers 

that could be matched to mailing addresses was done to increase the operational efficiency of the sample, 

specifically, to require that relatively fewer telephone numbers be sampled and dialed in order obtain the 

target numbers of completed interviews. 

NHES:2007 included two topical surveys: The PFI Survey and the School Readiness Survey 

(SR). In order to limit respondent burden, a within-household sampling scheme was developed to control 

the number of persons sampled for topical interviews in each household. Different probabilities of 

selection were used to sample children depending on the number of children in the household eligible for 

the particular survey (SR or PFI). In some households more than one child was selected. Exactly one 

child was selected for the PFI survey if there were any PFI-eligible children in the household, and exactly 

one child was selected for SR if there were any SR-eligible children in the household. The survey 

estimation procedures accounted for the unequal selection probabilities and the clustering effect of 

sampling more than one child in some households. The PFI sample is nationally representative of all 

noninstitutionalized students in the 50 states and the District of Columbia from kindergarten through 12th 

grade enrolled in school or children ages 4 through 18 and homeschooled for these grades. 

The respondent to the PFI interview was the parent or guardian in the household who knew the 

most about the child’s care and education. The respondent was asked questions about school choice, 

homeschooling, school characteristics, student experiences, teacher feedback on school performance and 

behavior, family involvement in the school, school practices to involve and support families, satisfaction 

with different aspects of the school, factors affecting parent and family participation in school and parent 

support for the school, family involvement in schoolwork, planning for postsecondary education, and 

family involvement in activities with students. The respondent was also asked basic demographic 

questions about the child, as well as questions about the child’s health and disability status, 

parent/guardian characteristics, and household characteristics. Multiple attempts were made to complete 

interviews with respondents not available at the time of selection. Interviews were conducted in both 

English and Spanish. The total number of completed PFI interviews was 10,681, representing a 

population of 53.2 million students when weighted to reflect national totals. 
22 

Data Reliability and Validity

Estimates produced using data from the survey are subject to two types of error, nonsampling and 

sampling errors. Nonsampling errors are errors made in the collection and processing of data. Sampling 

errors occur because the data are collected from a sample rather than from the whole population. 

Nonsampling Errors. Nonsampling error is the term used to describe variations in the estimates 

that may be caused by population coverage limitations and data collection, processing, and reporting 

procedures. The sources of nonsampling errors are typically problems like nonresponse, the differences in 

respondents’ interpretations of the meaning of the questions, response differences related to the particular 

time the survey was conducted, and mistakes in data preparation. In NHES:2007, efforts were made to 

minimize nonsampling error through cognitive testing and focus group input in the survey design stage, a 

field test of the surveys, and online data and post-interview edits. Additionally, survey estimates were 

compared with similar estimates from previous surveys. Weighting adjustments (in particular, 

nonresponse adjustments and poststratification/raking adjustments) were also used to minimize the 

potential effects of nonsampling error. 

An important source of nonsampling error for a telephone survey is the failure to include persons 

who do not live in households with telephones. This is particularly problematic in RDD surveys because 

little is known about the sampled telephone numbers with which contact has not been made. Data from 

the March 2007 Current Population Survey (CPS) Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) 

show that 95.3 percent of all children ages 4 through 19 live in households with at least one telephone of 

any type, i.e., landline or cell (based on independent tabulations of the U.S. Census Bureau’s March 2007 

CPS ASEC). However, because the NHES sampling frame is restricted to landline telephone numbers, 

both children living in cell-only households and those in households without a telephone are not covered. 

Estimates from the 2007 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) indicate that about 11.9 percent of all 

children live in cell-only households (Blumberg and Luke 2007). Estimation procedures, specifically the 

raking adjustment applied to the weights (Hagedorn et al. 2008, section 3.4.2), were used to help reduce 

the bias in the estimates associated with excluding the 4.7 percent of children who live in households 

without telephones and the 11.9 percent who live in cell-only households. 

Another potential source of nonsampling error is response bias. Response bias occurs when 

respondents systematically misreport (intentionally or unintentionally) information in a study. There are 

many different forms of response bias. One of the best known is social desirability bias, which occurs 

when respondents give what they believe is the socially desirable response (Demaio 1984). For example, 

surveys that ask about whether respondents voted in the most recent election typically obtain a higher 

estimate of the number of people who voted than do voting records. Although response bias may affect 

the accuracy of the results for a particular item, it does not necessarily invalidate other results from a 

survey. If there are no systematic differences among specific groups under study in their tendency to give 

socially desirable responses, then comparisons of the different groups will accurately reflect differences 

among the groups. 

Response Rates. In the 2007 NHES collection, an initial set of questions were asked of an adult 

member of the sampled household through a screener interview in order to collect information on 

household composition and interview eligibility. Screener interviews were completed with 54,034 

households, with a weighted screener unit response rate of 52.8 percent. PFI interviews were completed 

for 10,681 children, for a weighted unit response rate of 74.1 percent and an overall estimated unit 

response rate (the product of the screener unit response rate and the PFI unit response rate) of 39.1 

percent. 
23 

NHES:2007 included a bias study involving multimode data collection. The purpose of the 

NHES:2007 Bias Study was to evaluate overall bias, as well as bias due to nonresponse and noncoverage 

separately, through in-person follow-up for cases that did not respond to or could not be reached for a 

telephone survey using landline phones. Overall bias in the 2007 PFI estimates was evaluated by 

comparing fully weighted estimates1

 from the main RDD survey to the Bias Study estimates. These 

comparisons yielded no evidence of substantial overall bias in the 2007 estimates. 

 

To evaluate potential bias in the estimates before weighting adjustments were applied, as well as 

the effect the weighting adjustments may have had on potential bias in the data, the RDD estimates 

generated using unadjusted weights were compared to the nonresponse-adjusted estimates and to the fully 

weighted (i.e., nonresponse-adjusted and raked) estimates. Although there were some differences in 

estimates of demographic characteristics between nonresponse adjusted estimates and the fully weighted 

estimates, the estimates of key survey outcome variables at each stage of the weighting were comparable. 

Nonresponse bias, as a component of overall bias, was also assessed by comparing estimates from 

the full Bias Study data collection effort (i.e., from people who responded to the telephone collection and 

from those who responded during in-person follow-up) to estimates from the reduced effort (i.e., from all 

respondents except those who were called and did not participate over the phone but did participate in 

person). The results of the Bias Study provide no evidence to indicate that the NHES:2007 PFI survey 

estimates generated using final survey weights suffer from substantial nonresponse bias. A comparison 

was also performed using base-weighted estimates (i.e., estimates computed using weights to account for 

differential probabilities of selection but not for nonresponse) to evaluate the effect of the weighting 

adjustments. The comparison of the base-weighted full-effort estimates to the base-weighted reducedeffort estimates also provided no evidence of substantial nonresponse bias. It should be noted that the 

evaluation of nonresponse bias has limitations because survey estimates for the households that did not 

respond to either the telephone or the in-person effort are not available. 

 

Noncoverage bias was assessed by comparing estimates from persons in households with a 

landline telephone to estimates from the full Bias Study sample. Overall, no evidence of substantial 

noncoverage bias was found in the PFI survey estimates. 

In addition, comparisons were made between the PFI RDD data and CPS data from 2005-2006 

for estimates of child's race/ethnicity, age, school type, and grade level, as well as parents’ highest 

education level, household structure, and yearly household income. These comparisons were designed to 

test the similarity of specific PFI estimates weighted to population totals relative to comparable estimates 

from the CPS data weighted to population totals. Some substantive differences between estimates from 

the two data sources (i.e., differences of 5 percentage points or greater) were found. A larger percentage 

of kindergartners attended public school according to the CPS (86 percent) compared to the PFI (81 

percent). The estimated percentages of students whose parents had an education level of graduate school 

or higher were 21 percent for the PFI and 13 percent for CPS. The estimate for the percentage of students 

who lived in two-parent households was higher in the PFI (73 percent) compared to CPS (68 percent). 

Also, 36 percent of students in the PFI lived in households with incomes over $75,000, compared to 30 

percent in the CPS.

 

Item nonresponse (i.e., the failure to complete some items in an otherwise completed interview) 

was very low for most items in the PFI-NHES:2007. The item nonresponse rate for most variables 

included in this report was 3 percent or lower. For variables applicable to a small number of cases (e.g., 

 

1

 These estimates are produced using weights that adjust for nonresponse and are raked to control totals from the Current Population Survey to 

allow for the generation of national estimates. For more information on weighting adjustments in the NHES, see Hagedorn et al. (2006). 
24 

those pertaining to a second mother/female guardian or second father/male guardian), a small number of 

missing values for these variables results in low item response rates. One item that typically has a 

relatively high nonresponse rate in most surveys and had a high nonresponse rate for the PFI survey is

household income (HINCOME), with an item nonresponse rate of 9.5 percent. Items with missing data 

were imputed using a hot-deck procedure (Kalton and Kasprzyk 1986) in which cells are formed that 

contain cases with similar characteristics and a donor value is used to impute the missing value. The 

estimates included in this report are based on the imputed data. Imputation flag variables have been 

created and included in the PFI data file to enable users to identify imputed values. Users can employ the 

imputation flags to delete imputed values, use alternative imputation procedures, or account for the 

imputation in computation of the reliability of the estimates produced from the PFI data. 

Sampling Errors. The sample of households with a telephone is just one of many possible 

samples that could have been selected for the 2007 survey. Therefore, estimates produced from this 

sample may differ from estimates that would have been produced from other samples. This type of 

variability is called sampling error because it arises from using a sample of households with landline 

telephones, rather than surveying all households with landline telephones. 

The standard error is a measure of the variability due to sampling when estimating a statistic. 

Standard errors can be used as a measure of the precision expected from a particular sample. The 

probability that a sample estimate would differ from the population parameter obtained from a complete 

census count by less than 1 standard error is about 68 percent. The chance that the difference would be 

less than 1.65 standard errors is about 90 percent, and that the difference would be less than 1.96 standard 

errors, about 95 percent. 

Standard errors for all of the estimates are presented in appendix C. These standard errors can be 

used to produce confidence intervals. For example, for an estimated 53 percent of students attending a 

public assigned school, the students’ parents reported that the school provided information specifically 

about their children via notes or e-mail. This percentage estimate has a standard error of 0.8 percent. 

Therefore, a 95 percent confidence interval for this statistic is approximately 51 to 55 percent (53 ± 1.96 

(0.8)). That is, if the processes of selecting a sample, collecting the data, and constructing the confidence 

interval were repeated, it would be expected that in 95 out of 100 samples from the same population, the 

confidence interval would contain the true population proportion of students attending a public assigned 

school whose parents report that the school provided information specifically about their children via 

notes or e-mail. 

Weighting 

All of the estimates in this report are produced by weighting the observations using the 

probabilities of selection of the respondents and other adjustments to account for nonresponse and 

coverage bias. Weights were developed to produce unbiased and consistent estimates of national totals. 

The weight used in this First Look report is FPWT, which is the weight variable available in the PFI data 

file that can be used to estimate the characteristics of the school-age children. In addition to weighting the 

responses properly, special procedures for estimating the standard errors of the estimates were employed 

because the NHES:2007 data were collected using a complex sample design. Complex sample designs 

result in data that violate some of the assumptions that are normally made when assessing the statistical 

significance of results from a simple random sample. For example, the standard errors of the estimates 

from these surveys may vary from those that would be expected if the sample were a simple random 

sample and the observations were independent and identically distributed random variables. The estimates 

and standard errors presented in this report were produced using WesVar Complex Samples software and 

the jackknife 1 (JK1) option as a replication procedure (Westat 2000). Eighty replicate weights, FPWT1 
25 

to FPWT80, were used to compute sampling errors of estimates. These replicate weights are also 

available in the PFI data file. 

Statistical Tests 

The tests of significance used in this First Look report are based on Student’s t statistics for the 

comparisons of means and of percentages. To test for a difference between two subgroups in the 

population percentage having a particular characteristic, say p1 versus p2, the test statistic is computed as: 

[ ] ( ) [ ] ( ) 2

2

2

1

2 1

s.e. p s.e. p

p p t

+

− =

where pi is the estimated percentage of subgroup i (i = 1, 2) having the particular characteristic and 

( ) pi s.e. is the standard error of that estimate. Thus, if p1 is the 66 percent of students attending private 

nonreligious schools whose parents reported receiving notes or e-mails from the student’s school, with a 

standard error of 4.1, and p2 is the 58 percent of students attending private religious schools whose 

parents reported receiving notes or e-mails from the student’s school, with a standard error of 2.1, then the 

t-value is equal to 1.61. 

The decision rule is to reject the null hypothesis (i.e., there is no measurable difference between 

the two groups in the population in terms of the percentage having the characteristic) if 

df

t t ;

2

> α , where 

df

t ;

2

α is the value such that the probability a Student’s t random variable with df degrees of freedom 

exceeds that value is α 2 . All tests in this report are based on a significance level of 0.05, i.e., α = 0.05 . 

When the degrees of freedom are large, greater than 120, 1.96 t0.025;df ≈ . Regarding the example given 

above, the t-value of 1.61, which is less than 1.96, indicates that the null hypothesis cannot be rejected. 

Simply put, there is no statistically significant difference between the percentage of students attending 

private nonreligious schools whose parents reported receiving notes or e-mails and the percentage of 

students attending private religious schools whose parents reported receiving notes or e-mails. 
This page is intentionally blank.
27 

Appendix B: 

Glossary 
This page is intentionally blank. 
29 

The statistics, row, and column variables used in analyses for this First Look report are described 

below. First, descriptions of the statistics used to analyze data in the report are given, after which are 

descriptions of the row and column variables presented in the tables. 

In the descriptions below, the names of variables that are included in the data file for the 2007 

Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey (PFI) and were used to produce estimates for this 

report appear in capital letters. In some cases, the variables have been used in the exact format in which 

they appear on the data file. In other cases, variables available on the data file have been used in an 

altered form, for instance when the categories have been combined to create a smaller number of 

categories. Such collapsing of categories is noted in the descriptions. In still other cases, new measures 

have been created specifically for this report by combining information from two or more variables in the 

data file. In these instances, the variables used to create the new measure are noted. 

Statistics 

Mean: The mean is one of several measures of central tendency that are used to indicate the point 

on the scale of measures where the population is centered. The mean is the average of the values in the 

population. Numerically, it equals the sum of the values divided by the number of values. 

Percentage: A percentage is a part of a whole expressed in hundredths. 

Standard Error: The standard error, or standard error of the mean, is an estimate of the standard 

deviation of the sampling distribution of the mean, based on the data from one or more random samples. 

Numerically, it is equal to the square root of the estimated variance of a sample estimate divided by the 

size of the sample (see Appendix C: Standard Errors). 

Row Variables 

School Characteristics 

 

School Type: School type was created by classifying the school currently attended by the student 

as either public or private using the variable S07TYPE. S07TYPE was derived from parent-reported 

information linked to data from the Common Core of Data (CCD) or Private School Universe Survey 

(PSS) data files. Schools that are public are further classified using the variable SCHOICE according to 

whether the parent reported having chosen the school or whether the school had been assigned to the 

student by the school district. Students in public school whose parents reported that their assigned school 

is their school of choice are categorized as attending a chosen school. Schools that are private are also 

classified using the variable S07TYPE as being religious or nonreligious. 

The values are: 

1= Public, assigned 

2= Public, chosen 

3= Private, religious 

4= Private, nonreligious 
30 

School Size: The variable S07NUMST classifies the student’s school based on the number of 

students currently enrolled. 

The values are: 

1= Under 300 

2= 300–599 

3= 600–999 

4= 1,000 or more 

Student Characteristics 

Locale of Student’s Household: ZIPLOCL is a household location variable that classifies the ZIP 

Code into a set of community types. This variable was derived using the respondent’s ZIP Code and 

Census data. 

 

The values for ZIPLOCL are: 

1 = City - Large 

2 = City - Midsize 

3 = City - Small 

4 = Suburb - Large 

5 = Suburb - Midsize 

6 = Suburb - Small 

7 = Town - Fringe 

8 = Town - Distant 

9 = Town - Remote 

10 = Rural - Fringe 

11 = Rural - Distant 

12 = Rural - Remote 

For the analyses, the first three categories from ZIPLOCL were combined to form the “City” category. 

Other categories from ZIPLOCL were combined to form the categories of “Suburban” (categories 4, 5, 

and 6), “Town” (categories 7, 8, and 9), and “Rural” (10, 11, and 12). For definitions of these 12 

categories of community type, see http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2007/ruraled/exhibit_a.asp (Provasnik et al. 

2007). 

Student’s Sex: The data for the variable SEX were taken directly from responses to the screener 

interview. 

Student’s Race/Ethnicity: RACEETH2 indicates the race and ethnicity of the sampled student. 

This variable is used in this report in the same format in which it appears on the data file and was derived 

from information in CHISPAN, CWHITE, CBLACK, CAMIND, CASIAN, CPACI, and CRACEOTH. 

The values of RACEETH2 are as follows: 

1 = White, non-Hispanic 

2 = Black, non-Hispanic 

3 = Hispanic 

4 = Asian or Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic 
31 

5 = All other races and multiple races, non-Hispanic 

Student’s Grade Level: ALLGRADE, a derived variable available in the data file, indicates the 

grade in which the student is currently enrolled or provides the student’s grade equivalent. For most 

students ALLGRADE was derived directly from GRADE. For students in special education programs or 

ungraded schools or classrooms, ALLGRADE was derived from GRADEEQ. Students whose parents 

reported that the student’s school or classroom was ungraded were excluded from the analysis (i.e., they 

did not report a grade in GRADEEQ). The values of ALLGRADE are grades K through 12. For this 

report, grades were collapsed into the following categories: K–2, 3–5, 6–8, and 9–12. 

Family Characteristics 

Parents’ Highest Education Level: PARGRADE07 indicates the highest level of education for 

the subject child’s parents or nonparent guardians who reside in the household. This measure, which is 

used in this report in the same format in which it appears on the data file, was derived from 

MOMGRADE1, MOMDIPL1, MOMGRADE2, MOMDIPL2, DADGRADE1, DADDIPL1, 

DADGRADE2, and DADDIPL2. 

The values for PARGRADE07 are: 

1= Less than high school diploma 

2= High school graduate or equivalent 

3= Vocational/technical education after high school or some college 

4= College graduate 

5= Graduate or professional school 

Parents’ Language at Home: LANGUAGE07 indicates the knowledge and/or use of English by 

the parent(s)/guardian(s) in the household. LANGUAGE07 is used in this report in the same format in 

which it appears on the data file and was created using the variables MOMLANG1, MOMSPEAK1, 

MOMLANG2, MOMSPEAK2, DADLANG1, DADSPEAK1, DADLANG2, and DADSPEAK2. 

The values for LANGUAGE07 are: 

1= Both parents or the only parent learned English first or currently speak(s) English in the home 

2= One of two parents in a two-parent household learned English first or currently speaks 

English in the home 

3= No parent learned English first and both parents or the only parent currently speak(s) a nonEnglish language in the home 

Poverty Status: This indicates whether a sample student resided in a household categorized as 

poor or nonpoor. NHES provides an approximate measure of poverty. The income variable used to 

establish whether a child resided in a household categorized as poor or nonpoor was HINCOME, which 

lists possible income ranges (e.g., $10,001 to 15,000, $15,001 to $20,000, etc., up to over $100,000). If 

data for HINCOME were missing, they were imputed. Using the income ranges and household size 

(HHTOTAL), poverty thresholds were then used to establish whether a child resided in a household 

categorized as poor or nonpoor. Thresholds to define poverty were based on weighted averages from 2006 

Census poverty thresholds. A household was considered poor if a household of a particular size matched 

the income categories shown in exhibit B-1. Otherwise, the household was considered to be nonpoor. 
32 

Exhibit B-1. Poverty definition for Parent and Family Involvement in Education (PFI) 

analyses, by household size: 2007 

Household size (HHTOTAL)1 Income categories in variable HINCOME (PU5OV2) 

2 Less than or equal to $15,000 (HINCOME = 1, 2, 3) 

3 Less than or equal to $15,000 (HINCOME = 1, 2, 3) 

4 Less than or equal to $20,000 (HINCOME = 1, 2, 3, 4) 

5 Less than or equal to $25,000 (HINCOME = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) 

6 Less than or equal to $30,000 (HINCOME = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) 

7 Less than or equal to $30,000 (HINCOME = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) 

8 Less than or equal to $35,000 (HINCOME = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) 

1

Indicates the total number of individuals living in the household, truncated to eight for NHES. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Parent Family Involvement in Education 

Survey of the National Household Education Surveys Program (PFI-NHES:2007); U.S. Census Bureau, Poverty Thresholds 

for 2006 by Size of Family and Number of Related Children Under 18 Years, 

http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/threshld/thresh06.html.

Column Variables 

Table 1 – Method by which school communicated with parents 

Parents were asked whether or not their children’s teachers or school sent them notes or e-mails 

about their children (FSNOTES), whether the school sent newsletters, memos, or notices addressed to all 

parents (FSMEMOS), and whether they were called on the phone (FSPHONE). 

Table 2 – Topics about which school provided any information 

Parents were asked to rate how well their children’s school lets them know how their children are 

doing in school (FSSPPERF). The choices were “does it very well,” “just okay,” “not very well,” 

“doesn’t do it at all,” or “don’t know.” Interviewers were instructed to accept “don’t know” as an answer 

because it is expected that some parents would not know whether a school had done a particular practice. 

To facilitate analysis and scaling of the variables, “don’t know” answers were imputed. Only 0.2 percent 

to 0.5 percent (weighted) of parent respondents gave responses of “don’t know.” Other items included in 

the table that were coded in the same way are whether the school provides information about how to help 

their children with their homework (FSSPHW), provides information about why their children are placed 

in particular groups or classes (FSSPCOUR), provides information on how to help their children plan for 

college or vocational school (FSSPCOLL), and provides information on the parents’ expected role at their 

children’s school (FSSPROLE). 

Table 3 – Parental participation in school activities 

Parents were asked whether or not they or anyone else in their household had done the following 

things since the beginning of the school year: attended a general school meeting like an open house or a 

back-to-school night (FSMTNG), attended a meeting of the parent-teacher organization or association 

(FSPTMTNG), went to a regularly scheduled parent-teacher conference with their child’s teacher 

(FSATCNFN), attended a school or class event such as a play, dance, sports event, or science fair because 

of the child (FSSPORT), served as a volunteer in the child’s classroom or elsewhere in the school 

(FSVOL), participated in fundraising for the school (FSFUNDRS), served on a school committee 

(FSCOMMTE), and met with a guidance counselor in person (FSCOUNSLR). For this report, attending a 

general school meeting or attending a parent-teacher organization or association meeting were combined 

so that the estimates reported indicate the percentages of students whose parents reported attendance at 

either of these types of meetings since the beginning of the school year. Similarly, volunteering and 
33 

serving on a school committee were combined so that the estimate reported indicates the percentage of 

parents who volunteered or served on a committee. Meeting with a school counselor is not reported. 

Table 4 – Parental satisfaction with school characteristics and amount of homework

Parents were asked to rate how satisfied they were with the school their children attends this year 

(FCSCHOOL). The choices were “very satisfied,” “somewhat satisfied,” “somewhat dissatisfied,” and 

“very dissatisfied.” Table 4 reports the percentage of parents who were “very satisfied.” The other items 

included in the table that were coded in the same way are satisfaction with the teachers their child has this 

year (FCTEACHR), satisfaction with the academic standards of the school (FCSTDS), satisfaction with 

the order and discipline at the school (FCORDER), and satisfaction with the way the school staff interacts 

with parents (FCSUPPRT). 

Parents who reported that their children did homework outside of school were asked their opinion 

about the amount of homework their children are assigned (FHAMOUNT). The choices were “The 

amount is about right,” “It’s too much,” or “It’s too little.” Table 4 reports the percentage of parents who 

thought the amount of homework assigned was “about right.” 

 

Table 5 – Family involvement in homework for students who do homework outside of school 

Parents were asked to report how often their children do homework outside of school (FHHOME). 

The choices were recorded as “never,” “less than once a week,” “1 to 2 days a week,” “3 to 4 days a 

week,” “5 or more days a week,” or “does not have homework.” The estimates in table 5 indicate the 

percentage of students who did homework outside of school less than once per week or more. 

Parents were asked to report if there was a place in their home that was set aside for homework 

(FHPLACE). The choices were not read to them, but they were recorded as “yes,” “no,” and “child does 

not do homework at home.” For the analysis, the estimates only pertain to students whose parents 

reported that their children do homework at home. 

Parents were asked to report whether or not an adult in the household checks to see that the 

children’s homework is done (FHCHECK). For the analysis, the estimates for “adult in household checks 

that homework is done” only pertain to students whose parents reported that their children do homework 

outside of school. 

Table 6 – Parental expectations for student’s education after high school

Parents of students in grades 6 through 12 were asked to report how far they expect their child to 

go in their education (SEFUTURE). The choices were “to receive less than a high school diploma,” “to 

graduate from high school,” “to attend a vocational school after high school,” “to attend two or more 

years of college,” “to finish a four- or five-year college degree,” or “to earn a graduate degree or 

professional degree beyond a bachelor’s.” 

Parents who expected their children to continue education after high school were asked to indicate 

if they or anyone in their family plans to help their child pay for their education after high school or if 

they have not thought about it yet (SEFAMPAY). The choices were not read to them, but they were 

recorded as “yes,” “no,” or “hasn’t thought about it yet.” 
This page is intentionally blank 
35 

Appendix C: 

Standard Errors 
This page is intentionally blank 
37 

Table C-1. Standard errors for table 1: Percentage of students in grades K through 12 whose 

parents reported school-initiated communication practices, by method of 

communication and selected school, student, and family characteristics: 2006–07 

Method by which school communicated with parents 

Characteristic 

Number of 

students in 

grades K through 

12 (thousands)

Notes or e-mail 

about student 

Newsletters, 

memos, 

or notices Telephone

Total.............................................................................. 118.2 0.7 0.4 0.7

 

School type1 

Public, assigned ................................................................... 380.8 0.8 0.6 0.8

Public, chosen ....................................................................... 297.5 1.9 1.1 1.9

Private, religious ................................................................... 180.4 2.1 0.7 2.1

Private, nonreligious............................................................. 125.7 4.1 1.4 4.6

 

School size 

Under 300.............................................................................. 292.2 2.2 0.7 2.1

300–599................................................................................. 355.4 1.2 0.7 1.2

600–999................................................................................. 311.6 1.2 0.8 1.4

1,000 or more........................................................................ 260.7 1.3 0.9 1.2

 

Locale of student’s household2 

City ........................................................................................ 283.0 1.3 0.8 1.3

Suburban................................................................................ 274.9 1.2 0.6 1.1

Town...................................................................................... 204.2 2.1 1.1 2.2

Rural ...................................................................................... 100.3 1.7 1.2 1.8

 

Student’s sex 

Male ...................................................................................... 386.0 1.1 0.6 0.9

Female .................................................................................. 395.0 1.0 0.6 1.0

 

Student’s race/ethnicity 

White, non-Hispanic ............................................................ 185.0 0.9 0.5 0.8

Black, non-Hispanic ............................................................ 21.2 2.6 1.4 2.3

Hispanic ................................................................................ 28.9 1.6 1.1 1.8

Asian or Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic ............................. 122.7 3.4 2.5 3.8

Other, non-Hispanic3 ............................................................ 144.4 3.4 2.4 3.4

 

Student’s grade level4 

K–2nd grade ......................................................................... 63.9 1.3 0.7 1.4

3rd–5th grade ....................................................................... 49.5 1.3 0.9 1.6

6th–8th grade ........................................................................ 67.7 1.7 0.9 1.6

9th–12th grade ..................................................................... 61.3 1.3 0.9 1.1

 

Parents’ highest education level 

Less than high school .......................................................... 228.1 3.3 2.5 3.3

High school graduate or equivalent .................................... 301.8 1.7 1.0 1.7

Vocational/technical or some college.................................. 335.5 1.2 0.9 1.3

Bachelor’s degree ................................................................ 288.9 1.5 0.7 1.3

Graduate or professional school ......................................... 247.3 1.3 0.6 1.4

See notes at end of table. 
38 

Table C-1. Standard errors for table 1: Percentage of students in grades K through 12 whose 

parents reported school-initiated communication practices, by method of 

communication and selected school, student, and family characteristics: 

2006–07—Continued 

Method by which school communicated with parents 

Characteristic 

Number of 

students in 

grades K through 

12 (thousands)

Notes or e-mail 

about student 

Newsletters, 

memos, 

memos, or notices Telephone

 

Parents’ language at home5 

Both/only parent(s) speak(s) English .................................. 223.6 0.8 0.5 0.7

One of two parents speaks English...................................... 97.9 4.8 2.2 4.9

No parent speaks English..................................................... 170.6 2.1 1.4 2.2

 

Poverty status6 

Poor........................................................................................ 178.7 2.2 1.4 2.0

Nonpoor ................................................................................ 207.7 0.7 0.4 0.7 1

 School type classifies the school currently attended as either public or private. Public schools are further classified according to 

whether the school was chosen or assigned. Private schools are also classified as being religious or nonreligious. 2 Locale of student’s household classifies the residential ZIP code into a set of four major locale categories: city, suburban, town, 

rural. For more details on these new “urban-centric locale codes,” see Appendix B: Glossary.

3 “Other race, non-Hispanic” includes children who were multiracial and not of Hispanic ethnicity, or who were American Indian 

or Alaska Native, or were not Hispanic, White, Black, Asian, or Pacific Islander. The different groups mentioned here are not 

shown separately because the sample sizes do not support stable estimates. 4

 Students whose parents reported the student’s grade equivalent as “ungraded” were excluded from the analyses of grade level. 5 Complete descriptions of the categories for parents’ language are as follows: (1) “Both parents or the only parent learned 

English first or currently speak(s) English in the home,” (2) “One of two parents in a two-parent household learned English first 

or currently speaks English in the home,” and (3) “No parent learned English first and both parents or the only parent currently 

speak(s) a non-English language in the home.” 6 Students are considered poor if they were living in households with incomes below the poverty threshold. The poverty threshold 

is determined by the federal government based on the household’s size and composition. For more details on the poverty 

thresholds, see Appendix B: Glossary. 

NOTE: Students who were homeschooled were excluded from the table. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. 

Variables for school characteristics (school type and school size) have a certain number of missing cases due to school nonreport; therefore, the number of students across the categories for each school variable does not sum to the total number of 

students. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Parent and Family Involvement in Education 

Survey of the National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES), 2007. 
39 

Table C-2. Standard errors for table 2: Percentage of students in grades K through 12 whose 

parents reported any school-initiated provision of information, by information topic 

and selected school, student, and family characteristics: 2006–07 

Topics about which school provided information 1

Characteristic 

Number of 

students in 

grades K 

through 12 

(thousands)

Student’s 

performance

How to 

help with 

homework

Why student is 

placed in 

particular 

groups or 

classes

How to help 

student plan 

for college or 

vocational 

school2 

Parents’ 

expected 

role at 

student’s school

 

Total................................................... 118.2 0.4 0.6 0.6 1.0 0.5

 

School type3 

Public, assigned ...................................... 380.8 0.5 0.7 0.7 1.2 0.6

Public, chosen.......................................... 297.5 0.7 1.4 1.4 2.3 1.3

Private, religious...................................... 180.4 1.6 1.2 2.5 2.4 1.8

Private, nonreligious................................ 125.7 2.8 3.2 3.6 4.4 1.2

 

School size 

Under 300................................................. 292.2 1.2 1.3 1.6 2.5 1.2

300–599.................................................... 355.4 0.7 0.9 1.1 2.5 0.8

600–999.................................................... 311.6 0.8 0.9 1.2 2.0 0.9

1,000 or more........................................... 260.7 0.8 1.2 1.1 1.2 1.0

 

Locale of student’s household4 

City ........................................................... 283.0 0.7 1.0 1.0 1.7 0.9

Suburban .................................................. 274.9 0.7 0.8 1.0 1.4 0.8

Town......................................................... 204.2 1.5 1.5 1.8 2.0 1.6

Rural ......................................................... 100.3 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.2 1.2

 

Student’s sex 

Male ......................................................... 386.0 0.6 0.8 0.8 1.4 0.7

Female ..................................................... 395.0 0.5 0.7 0.9 1.3 0.6

 

Student’s race/ethnicity 

White, non-Hispanic ............................... 185.0 0.5 0.6 0.7 1.1 0.6

Black, non-Hispanic ............................... 21.2 1.4 1.8 1.8 2.9 1.7

Hispanic ................................................... 28.9 0.8 1.1 1.4 2.0 1.1

Asian or Pacific Islander, 

 non-Hispanic ....................................... 122.7 2.9 2.7 3.7 4.8 2.0

Other, non-Hispanic5

 .............................. 144.4 1.9 2.4 2.7 4.0 2.3

 

Student’s grade level6 

K–2nd grade ............................................ 63.9 0.9 0.8 1.1 † 0.9

3rd–5th grade .......................................... 49.5 0.7 0.9 1.0 † 0.8

6th–8th grade .......................................... 67.7 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.8 1.1

9th–12th grade ........................................ 61.3 0.7 1.2 1.2 0.9 1.0

 

Parents’ highest education level 

Less than high school ............................. 228.1 1.6 2.4 2.5 3.9 2.2

High school graduate or equivalent ....... 301.8 0.9 1.2 1.3 2.0 1.3

Vocational/technical or some college .... 335.5 0.9 1.0 1.3 1.7 1.1

Bachelor’s degree ................................... 288.9 0.7 1.2 1.2 1.8 0.9

Graduate or professional school ............ 247.3 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.3 0.8

See notes at end of table. 
40 

Table C-2. Standard errors for table 2: Percentage of students in grades K through 12 whose 

parents reported any school-initiated provision of information, by information topic 

and selected school, student, and family characteristics: 2006–07—Continued 

Topics about which school provided information 1

Characteristic 

Number of 

students in 

grades K 

through 12 

(thousands)

Student’s 

performance

How to 

help with 

homework

Why student is 

placed in 

particular 

groups or 

classes

How to help 

student plan 

for college or 

vocational 

school2 

Parents’ 

expected 

role at 

student’s school

 

Parents’ language at home7

Both/only parent(s) speak(s) English ..... 223.6 0.5 0.6 0.6 1.1 0.5

One of two parents/guardians speaks 

 English ................................................. 97.9 5.8 2.1 5.4 5.6 5.5

No parent speaks English........................ 170.6 0.9 1.4 1.7 2.4 1.3

 

Poverty status8 

Poor .......................................................... 178.7 1.2 1.4 1.8 2.9 1.7

Nonpoor .................................................. 207.7 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.9 0.5

† Not applicable. Only parents of students in grades 6 through 12 were asked “how to help student plan for college or vocational 

school.” 

1

 Parents of students in grades K through 12 were asked to rate school performance relative to the provision of four types of 

information (items 1–4 in the list below). In addition to items 1–4, parents of students in grades 6 through 12 were asked to rate 

school performance for the provision of information noted in item 5. (1) letting them know between report cards about student’s 

school performance; (2) providing information about how to help with homework; (3) providing information about why their 

children were placed in particular groups or classes; (4) providing information on parents’ expected role at children’s school; and 

(5) providing information on how to help their children plan for college or vocational school.. Response options were “does it 

very well,” “just okay,” “not very well,” “doesn’t do it at all,” or “don’t know.” Answers of “don’t know” were imputed. The 

table estimates indicate the percentage of parents who said their children’s school provided information on the given topic (i.e., 

parents who gave any answer other than “doesn’t do it at all”). 2

 Estimates indicate the percentage of students in grades 6 through 12 whose parents reported that the school provided 

information about how to help their children plan for college or vocational school. 3 School type classifies the school currently attended as either public or private. Public schools are further classified according to 

whether the school was chosen or assigned. Private schools are also classified as being religious or nonreligious. 4 Locale of student’s household classifies the residential ZIP code into a set of four major locale categories: city, suburban, town, 

rural. For more details on these new “urban-centric locale codes,” see Appendix B: Glossary. 

5 “Other race, non-Hispanic” includes children who were multiracial and not of Hispanic ethnicity, or who were American Indian 

or Alaska Native, or were not Hispanic, White, Black, Asian, or Pacific Islander. The different groups mentioned here are not 

shown separately because the sample sizes do not support stable estimates. 6 Students whose parents reported the student’s grade equivalent as “ungraded” were excluded from the analyses of grade level. 7 Complete descriptions of the categories for parents’ language are as follows: (1) “Both parents or the only parent learned 

English first or currently speak(s) English in the home,” (2) “One of two parents in a two-parent household learned English first 

or currently speaks English in the home,” and (3) “No parent learned English first and both parents or the only parent currently 

speak(s) a non-English language in the home.” 8 Students are considered poor if they were living in households with incomes below the poverty threshold. The poverty threshold 

is determined by the federal government based on the household’s size and composition. For more details on the poverty 

thresholds, see Appendix B: Glossary. 

NOTE: Students who were homeschooled were excluded from the table. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. 

Variables for school characteristics (school type and school size) have a certain number of missing cases due to school nonreport; therefore, the number of students across the categories for each school variable does not sum to the total number of 

students. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Parent and Family Involvement in Education 

Survey of the National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES), 2007. 
41 

Table C-3. Standard errors for table 3: Percentage of students in grades K through 12 whose 

parents reported participation in school-related activities, by selected school, student, 

and family characteristics: 2006–07 

Participation in school activities by parent or other household member 

Characteristic 

Number of 

students in 

grades K 

through 12

(thousands)

Attended a 

general 

school or 

PTO/PTA1

meeting

Attended 

regularlyscheduled 

parentteacher 

conference

Attended a 

school or 

class event 

Volunteered 

or served on 

school 

committee 

Participated 

in school 

fundraising

 

Total ............................................................... 118.2 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.7

 

School type2 

Public, assigned .................................................... 380.8 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.8

Public, chosen........................................................ 297.5 1.7 1.9 1.8 2.3 2.0

Private, religious.................................................... 180.4 1.4 2.2 1.7 2.0 1.3

Private, nonreligious ............................................. 125.7 1.1 1.8 2.6 3.7 3.2

 

School size 

Under 300 .............................................................. 292.2 1.7 1.7 1.7 2.0 2.0

300–599 ................................................................. 355.4 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.4 1.2

600–999 ................................................................. 311.6 0.9 1.0 1.2 1.3 1.4

1,000 or more ........................................................ 260.7 0.9 1.3 1.1 1.1 1.1

 

Locale of student’s household3 

City......................................................................... 283.0 0.9 1.1 1.3 1.2 1.4

Suburban................................................................ 274.9 0.6 0.8 0.9 1.1 1.0

Town ...................................................................... 204.2 1.6 1.5 1.8 1.9 1.8

Rural....................................................................... 100.3 1.2 1.3 1.5 1.5 1.7

 

Student’s sex 

Male ...................................................................... 386.0 0.7 0.7 0.9 0.9 1.0

Female ................................................................... 395.0 0.6 0.9 0.8 1.0 0.9

 

Student’s race/ethnicity 

White, non-Hispanic ............................................ 185.0 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.9 0.7

Black, non-Hispanic ............................................. 21.2 1.8 2.0 2.3 1.9 2.3

Hispanic ................................................................ 28.9 1.1 1.1 1.5 1.3 1.4

Asian or Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic ............. 122.7 2.0 2.8 2.9 3.8 3.9

Other, non-Hispanic4 ............................................ 144.4 1.6 3.1 2.9 3.3 3.6

 

Student’s grade level5 

K–2nd grade ......................................................... 63.9 0.9 1.1 1.3 1.7 1.4

3rd–5th grade ........................................................ 49.5 0.6 0.9 1.1 1.5 1.4

6th–8th grade ........................................................ 67.7 0.9 1.2 1.5 1.6 1.4

9th–12th grade ...................................................... 61.3 1.0 1.0 1.1 1.0 1.2

 

Parents’ highest education level 

Less than high school ........................................... 228.1 2.4 2.6 3.1 3.4 3.5

High school graduate or equivalent .................... 301.8 1.1 1.2 1.5 1.6 1.5

Vocational/technical or some college.................. 335.5 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.2 1.4

Bachelor’s degree ................................................. 288.9 0.8 1.0 1.0 1.5 1.3

Graduate or professional school .......................... 247.3 0.7 1.1 0.9 1.3 1.0

See notes at end of table. 
42 

Table C-3. Standard errors for table 3: Percentage of students in grades K through 12 whose 

parents reported participation in school-related activities, by selected school, student, 

and family characteristics: 2006–07—Continued 

Participation in school activities by parent or other household member 

Characteristic 

Number of 

students in 

grades K 

through 12

(thousands)

Attended a 

general 

school or 

PTO/PTA 

meeting1 

Attended 

regularlyscheduled 

parentteacher 

conference

Attended a 

school or 

class event 

Volunteered 

or served on 

school 

committee 

Participated 

in school 

fundraising

 

Parents’ language at home6 

Both/only parent(s) speak(s) English................... 223.6 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.7

One of two parents speaks English ...................... 97.9 6.9 5.5 5.1 5.0 4.9

No parent speaks English ..................................... 170.6 1.5 1.4 1.9 1.5 1.9

 

Poverty status7 

Poor ........................................................................ 178.7 1.8 1.8 2.0 1.8 2.1

Nonpoor ................................................................ 207.7 0.4 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.6 1

 Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) or Parent Teacher Association (PTA) meeting.

2 School type classifies the school currently attended as either public or private. Public schools are further classified according to 

whether the school was chosen or assigned. Private schools are also classified as being religious or nonreligious. 3 Locale of student’s household classifies the residential ZIP code into a set of four major locale categories: city, suburban, town, 

rural. For more details on these new “urban-centric locale codes,” see Appendix B: Glossary. 

4 “Other race, non-Hispanic” includes children who were multiracial and not of Hispanic ethnicity, or who were American Indian 

or Alaska Native, or were not Hispanic, White, Black, Asian, or Pacific Islander. The different groups mentioned here are not 

shown separately because the sample sizes do not support stable estimates. 5 Students whose parents reported the student’s grade equivalent as “ungraded” were excluded from the analyses of grade level. 6 Complete descriptions of the categories for parents’ language are as follows: (1) “Both parents or the only parent learned 

English first or currently speak(s) English in the home,” (2) “One of two parents in a two-parent household learned English first 

or currently speaks English in the home,” and (3) “No parent learned English first and both parents or the only parent currently 

speak(s) a non-English language in the home.” 7 Students are considered poor if they were living in households with incomes below the poverty threshold. The poverty threshold 

is determined by the federal government based on the household’s size and composition. For more details on the poverty 

thresholds, see Appendix B: Glossary. 

NOTE: Students who were homeschooled were excluded from the table. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. 

Variables for school characteristics (school type and school size) have a certain number of missing cases due to school nonreport; therefore, the number of students across the categories for each school variable does not sum to the total number of 

students. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Parent and Family Involvement in Education 

Survey of the National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES), 2007. 
43 

Table C-4. Standard errors for table 4: Percentage of students in grades K through 12 whose 

parents reported satisfaction with school characteristics and amount of homework, 

by selected school, student, and family characteristics: 2006–07 

Parent reports of being “very satisfied”1

Characteristic 

Number of 

students in 

grades K 

through 12 

(thousands)

With the 

school

With 

teachers 

student had 

this year

With 

academic 

standards of 

the school

With order 

and 

discipline at 

the school 

With the 

way school 

staff 

interacts 

with parents 

Amount of 

homework 

assigned is 

“about 

right”2 

 

Total .................................................... 118.2 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.7 0.6

 

School type3 

Public, assigned ........................................ 380.8 0.8 0.8 0.7 0.9 0.9 0.7

Public, chosen............................................ 297.5 2.5 2.0 1.9 1.9 2.2 2.2

Private, religious........................................ 180.4 1.6 1.6 1.4 1.6 1.6 2.4

Private, nonreligious ................................. 125.7 2.5 2.6 2.4 2.2 3.3 2.1

 

School size 

Under 300 .................................................. 292.2 2.2 1.8 2.0 2.1 2.0 2.2

300–599 ..................................................... 355.4 1.3 1.2 1.3 1.2 1.2 1.0

600–999 ..................................................... 311.6 1.1 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.4 1.2

1,000 or more ............................................ 260.7 1.4 1.4 1.3 1.4 1.3 1.1

 

Locale of student’s household4 

City............................................................. 283.0 1.4 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.6

Suburban.................................................... 274.9 1.1 1.0 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.0

Town .......................................................... 204.2 1.8 1.9 2.0 1.9 2.0 1.6

Rural........................................................... 100.3 1.7 1.6 1.7 1.5 1.6 1.8

 

Student’s sex 

Male .......................................................... 386.0 1.0 1.0 0.9 1.0 1.0 0.9

Female ....................................................... 395.0 1.0 0.9 0.9 1.1 1.0 0.8

 

Student’s race/ethnicity 

White, non-Hispanic ................................ 185.0 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.6

Black, non-Hispanic ................................. 21.2 2.5 2.4 2.6 2.4 2.3 2.7

Hispanic .................................................... 28.9 1.5 1.3 1.3 1.7 1.6 1.5

Asian or Pacific Islander, 

 non-Hispanic ........................................ 122.7 3.6 3.9 3.9 3.4 3.8 3.7

Other, non-Hispanic5

 ................................ 144.4 3.2 3.2 3.3 3.2 3.8 3.1

 

Student’s grade level6 

K–2nd grade ............................................. 63.9 1.7 1.2 1.5 1.4 1.5 1.5

3rd–5th grade ............................................ 49.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.6 1.2

6th–8th grade ............................................ 67.7 1.5 1.4 1.3 1.5 1.4 1.4

9th–12th grade .......................................... 61.3 1.4 1.2 1.2 1.3 1.3 1.3

See notes at end of table. 
44 

Table C-4. Standard errors for table 4: Percentage of students in grades K through 12 whose 

parents reported satisfaction with school characteristics and amount of homework, 

by selected school, student, and family characteristics: 2006–07—Continued 

Parent reports of being “very satisfied”1

Characteristic 

Number of 

students in 

grades K 

through 12 

(thousands)

With the 

school

With 

teachers 

student had 

this year

With 

academic 

standards of 

the school

With order 

and 

discipline at 

the school 

With the 

way school 

staff 

interacts 

with parents 

Amount of 

homework 

assigned is 

“about 

right”2

 

Parents’ highest education level 

Less than high school ............................... 228.1 2.9 3.2 3.0 3.1 3.3 2.3

High school graduate or equivalent ........ 301.8 1.7 1.8 1.5 1.9 2.0 1.7

Vocational/technical or some college...... 335.5 1.4 1.4 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.3

Bachelor’s degree ..................................... 288.9 1.3 1.4 1.2 1.4 1.3 1.2

Graduate or professional school .............. 247.3 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.2 1.2 1.3

 

Parents’ language at hme7 

Both/only parent(s) speak(s) English....... 223.6 0.8 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.8 0.7

One of two parents/guardians speaks 

 English................................................... 97.9 4.8 4.3 4.9 4.5 4.7 3.2

No parent speaks English ......................... 170.6 1.7 1.9 1.7 2.0 2.0 1.6

 

Poverty status8 

Poor ............................................................ 178.7 2.5 2.1 2.3 1.9 2.6 2.0

Nonpoor .................................................... 207.7 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.7 0.6 1 Parents were asked to rate satisfaction (1) “with the school student attends this year”; (2) “with teachers student had this year”; 

(3) “with academic standards of the school”; (4) “with order and discipline at the school”; and (5) “with the way school staff 

interacts with parents.” Response options were “very satisfied,” “somewhat satisfied,” “somewhat dissatisfied,” or “very 

dissatisfied.” 

2 Response options were “the amount is about right,” “it’s too much,” or “it’s too little.” This estimate pertains only to the 

students whose parents reported that their children did homework outside of school. 3 School type classifies the school currently attended as either public or private. Public schools are further classified according to 

whether the school was chosen or assigned. Private schools are also classified as being religious or nonreligious. 4 Locale of student’s household classifies the residential ZIP code into a set of four major locale categories: city, suburban, town, 

rural. For more details on these new “urban-centric locale codes,” see Appendix B: Glossary. 

5 “Other race, non-Hispanic” includes children who were multiracial and not of Hispanic ethnicity, or who were American Indian 

or Alaska Native, or were not Hispanic, White, Black, Asian, or Pacific Islander. The different groups mentioned here are not 

shown separately because the sample sizes do not support stable estimates. 6 Students whose parents reported the student’s grade equivalent as “ungraded” were excluded from the analyses of grade level. 7 Complete descriptions of the categories for parents’ language are as follows: (1) “Both parents or the only parent learned 

English first or currently speak(s) English in the home,” (2) “One of two parents in a two-parent household learned English first 

or currently speaks English in the home,” and (3) “No parent learned English first and both parents or the only parent currently 

speak(s) a non-English language in the home.” 8 Students are considered poor if they were living in households with incomes below the poverty threshold. The poverty threshold 

is determined by the federal government based on the household’s size and composition. For more details on the poverty 

thresholds, see Appendix B: Glossary. 

NOTE: Students who were homeschooled were excluded from the table. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. 

Variables for school characteristics (school type and school size) have a certain number of missing cases due to school nonreport; therefore, the number of students across the categories for each school variable does not sum to the total number of 

students. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Parent and Family Involvement in Education 

Survey of the National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES), 2007. 
45 

Table C-5. Standard errors for table 5: Percentage of students in grades K through 12 whose 

parents reported that students do homework outside of school, a place is set aside in 

the home for students to do homework, and an adult checks that homework is done, 

by selected school, student, and family characteristics: 2006–07 

Student does homework outside of school1

Characteristic 

Number 

of students in 

grades K through 12 

(thousands)

Student does 

homework outside 

of school

Place in home set 

aside for 

homework2 

Adult in household 

checks that 

homework is done

Total ........................................................................... 118.2 0.3 0.4 0.5

 

School type3 

Public, assigned ................................................................ 380.8 0.4 0.5 0.6

Public, chosen.................................................................... 297.5 0.6 1.1 1.2

Private, religious................................................................ 180.4 0.6 2.1 2.1

Private, nonreligious ......................................................... 125.7 2.5 3.9 2.5

 

School size 

Under 300 .......................................................................... 292.2 0.7 1.6 1.1

300–599 ............................................................................. 355.4 0.5 0.8 0.6

600–999 ............................................................................. 311.6 0.6 1.0 0.7

1,000 or more .................................................................... 260.7 0.6 0.8 1.3

 

Locale of student’s household4 

City..................................................................................... 283.0 0.5 0.8 0.6

Suburban............................................................................ 274.9 0.5 0.7 0.8

Town .................................................................................. 204.2 1.3 1.5 1.3

Rural................................................................................... 100.3 0.7 1.0 1.1

 

Student’s sex 

Male .................................................................................. 386.0 0.4 0.6 0.6

Female ............................................................................... 395.0 0.4 0.7 0.7

 

Student’s race/ethnicity 

White, non-Hispanic ........................................................ 185.0 0.4 0.5 0.6

Black, non-Hispanic ......................................................... 21.2 1.0 1.1 1.1

Hispanic ............................................................................ 28.9 0.9 1.0 0.9

Asian or Pacific Islander, 

 non-Hispanic ................................................................ 122.7 1.9 1.8 3.0

Other, non-Hispanic5

 ........................................................ 144.4 1.8 1.4 2.5

 

Student’s grade level6 

K–2nd grade ..................................................................... 63.9 0.7 1.0 0.0

3rd–5th grade .................................................................... 49.5 0.5 0.9 0.4

6th–8th grade .................................................................... 67.7 0.8 0.8 0.9

9th–12th grade .................................................................. 61.3 0.5 0.6 1.2

 

Parents’ highest education level 

Less than high school ....................................................... 228.1 1.9 2.3 1.4

High school graduate or equivalent ................................ 301.8 0.8 0.9 1.2

Vocational/technical or some college.............................. 335.5 0.7 0.7 0.9

Bachelor’s degree ............................................................. 288.9 0.6 1.1 1.0

Graduate or professional school ...................................... 247.3 0.4 0.8 1.1

See notes at end of table. 
46 

Table C-5. Standard errors for table 5: Percentage of students in grades K through 12 whose 

parents reported that students do homework outside of school, a place is set aside in 

the home for student to do homework, and an adult checks that homework is done, 

by selected school, student, and family characteristics: 2006–07—Continued 

Student does homework outside of school1

Characteristic 

Number 

of students in 

grades K through 12 

(thousands)

Student does 

homework outside 

of school

Place in home set 

aside for 

homework2 

Adult in household 

checks that 

homework is done1

Parents’ language at home7

Both/only parent(s) speak(s) English............................... 223.6 0.3 0.4 0.5

One of two parents/guardians speaks 

 English........................................................................... 97.9 1.4 6.0 2.7

No parent speaks English ................................................. 170.6 0.9 1.7 0.9

 

Poverty status8 

Poor.................................................................................... 178.7 0.9 1.4 0.9

Nonpoor ............................................................................ 207.7 0.3 0.5 0.5 1 The denominator for these final two columns is students reported to do homework outside of school. Thus is different from the 

denominator for the second column, which includes all students in grades K through 12. 2 Parents reported if there was a place in their home that was set aside for homework. Their responses were recorded as “yes,” 

“no,” and “child does not do homework at home.” Less than 1 percent of students had parents who indicated that they did not do

homework at home; they are excluded from the estimate. 

3 School type classifies the school currently attended as either public or private. Public schools are further classified according to 

whether the school was chosen or assigned. Private schools are also classified as being religious or nonreligious. 4 Locale of student’s household classifies the residential ZIP code into a set of four major locale categories: city, suburban, town, 

rural. For more details on these new “urban-centric locale codes,” see Appendix B: Glossary.

5 “Other race, non-Hispanic” includes children who were multiracial and not of Hispanic ethnicity, or who were American Indian 

or Alaska Native, or were not Hispanic, White, Black, Asian, or Pacific Islander. The different groups mentioned here are not 

shown separately because the sample sizes do not support stable estimates. 6

 Students whose parents reported the student’s grade equivalent as “ungraded” were excluded from the analyses of grade level. 7 Complete descriptions of the categories for parents’ language are as follows: (1) “Both parents or the only parent learned 

English first or currently speak(s) English in the home,” (2) “One of two parents in a two-parent household learned English first 

or currently speaks English in the home,” and (3) “No parent learned English first and both parents or the only parent currently 

speak(s) a non-English language in the home.” 8 Students are considered poor if they were living in households with incomes below the poverty threshold. The poverty threshold 

is determined by the federal government based on the household’s size and composition. For more details on the poverty 

thresholds, see Appendix B: Glossary. 

NOTE: Students who were homeschooled were excluded from the table. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. 

Variables for school characteristics (school type and school size) have a certain number of missing cases due to school nonreport; therefore, the number of students across the categories for each school variable does not sum to the total number of 

students. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Parent and Family Involvement in Education 

Survey of the National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES), 2007. 
47 

Table C-6. Standard errors for table 6: Percentage of students in grades 6 through 12 whose 

parents reported educational expectations and plans to help pay for education after 

high school, by selected school, student, and family characteristics: 2006–07 

Parent expects student to... 

Characteristic 

Number of 

students in 

grades 6 

through 12 

(thousands) 

Receive 

less than a 

high 

school 

diploma

Graduate 

from high 

school

Attend 

vocational 

or technical 

school after 

high school

Attend 2 or 

more years 

of college

Finish 4- or 

5-year 

college 

degree 

Earn a 

graduate or 

professional 

degree

Family 

plans to 

help pay for 

student’s 

education 

after high 

school1 

 

Total ......................................... 94.0 † 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.8 0.9 0.9

 

School type2 

Public, assigned ............................ 288.4 † 0.7 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.0 0.9

Public, chosen................................ 203.7 † 1.4 2.4 1.6 1.9 2.2 3.2

Private, religious............................ 155.6 † 0.9 1.4 1.4 2.8 2.9 1.6

Private, nonreligious ..................... 78.1 1.9 3.4 2.0 4.9 4.7 5.3 5.1

 

School size 

Under 300 ...................................... 194.7 0.4 2.4 3.2 1.8 2.8 2.4 3.5

300–599 ......................................... 219.9 0.3 1.5 1.0 2.0 2.1 2.3 1.7

600–999 ......................................... 219.0 † 1.0 1.0 1.1 1.7 1.5 1.6

1,000 or more ................................ 247.2 † 0.9 0.8 0.9 1.3 1.4 1.1

 

Locale of student’s household3 

City................................................. 214.1 † 1.2 1.3 1.3 1.6 1.7 1.6

Suburban........................................ 231.9 0.2 0.9 0.8 0.9 1.4 1.3 1.1

Town .............................................. 165.4 0.3 1.6 1.9 1.6 2.4 1.9 2.6

Rural............................................... 157.9 † 1.5 1.7 1.8 2.2 2.0 2.3

 

Student’s sex 

Male .............................................. 270.5 0.2 1.0 1.1 1.0 1.2 1.2 1.2

Female ........................................... 285.7 † 0.7 0.6 0.8 1.2 1.2 1.1

 

Student’s race/ethnicity 

White, non-Hispanic .................... 186.5 0.2 0.7 0.5 0.7 1.1 1.0 0.9

Black, non-Hispanic ..................... 151.4 † 2.2 2.4 2.1 2.4 2.8 3.0

Hispanic ........................................ 156.3 † 1.7 1.9 1.3 1.8 1.7 2.4

Asian or Pacific Islander, non- 

 Hispanic .................................... 92.3 † † 1.3 1.8 5.9 5.2 5.1

Other, non-Hispanic4

 .................... 110.0 1.0 3.9 2.1 2.6 3.9 3.6 3.5

 

Student’s grade level5 

6th–8th grade ................................ 67.7 † 0.9 0.7 1.1 1.4 1.4 1.4

9th–12th grade .............................. 61.3 0.2 0.9 0.9 0.8 1.2 1.1 1.1

 

Parents’ highest education level 

Less than high school ................... 169.0 0.6 4.2 1.7 2.5 3.2 4.6 5.5

High school graduate or 

 equivalent ................................. 229.9 † 1.7 1.4 1.5 2.0 1.5 2.0

Vocational/technical or some 

 college........................................ 271.6 † 1.0 1.6 1.7 1.7 1.5 1.9

Bachelor’s degree ......................... 184.2 † 0.8 0.6 0.8 1.8 1.9 1.5

Graduate or professional school... 171.4 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 2.0 2.2 1.1

See notes at end of table. 
48 

Table C-6. Standard errors for table 6: Percentage of students in grades 6 through 12 whose 

parents reported educational expectations and plans to help pay for education after 

high school, by selected school, student, and family characteristics: 2006–07—

Continued 

Parent expects student to... 

Characteristic 

Number of 

students in 

grades 6 

through 12 

(thousands)1 

Receive 

less than a 

high school 

diploma

Graduate 

from high 

school

Attend 

vocational 

or technical 

school after 

high school

Attend 2 or 

more years 

of college

Finish 4- or 

5-year 

college 

degree 

Earn a 

graduate or 

professional 

degree

Family plans 

to help pay 

for student’s 

education 

after high 

school2 

 

Parents’ language at home6 

Both/only parent(s) speak(s) 

 English....................................... 168.0 † 0.6 0.7 0.7 0.9 1.0 1.0

One of two parents/guardians 

 speaks English........................... 56.6 † 3.4 † 3.1 5.8 4.8 6.7

No parent speaks English ............. 128.3 0.3 2.2 0.9 2.0 2.3 2.4 2.8

 

Poverty status7 

Poor................................................ 192.3 0.3 2.7 2.4 2.4 1.9 2.7 3.2

Nonpoor ........................................ 225.0 † 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.9 0.8 0.7

† Not applicable. 

1

 This question was only asked of parents of students in grades 6 through 12 who expected their children to continue education 

after high school. Hence the denominator for this column is different from the denominators for the preceding six columns. 2 School type classifies the school currently attended as either public or private. Public schools are further classified according to 

whether the school was chosen or assigned. Private schools are also classified as being religious or nonreligious. 3 Locale of student’s household classifies the residential ZIP code into a set of four major locale categories: city, suburban, town, 

rural. For more details on these new “urban-centric locale codes,” see Appendix B: Glossary. 

4 “Other race, non-Hispanic” includes children who were multiracial and not of Hispanic ethnicity, or who were American Indian 

or Alaska Native, or were not Hispanic, White, Black, Asian, or Pacific Islander. The different groups mentioned here are not 

shown separately because the sample sizes do not support stable estimates. 5 Students whose parents reported the student’s grade equivalent as “ungraded” were excluded from the analyses of grade level. 6 Complete descriptions of the categories for parents’ language are as follows: (1) “Both parents or the only parent learned 

English first or currently speak(s) English in the home,” (2) “One of two parents in a two-parent household learned English first 

or currently speaks English in the home,” and (3) “No parent learned English first and both parents or the only parent currently 

speak(s) a non-English language in the home.” 7 Students are considered poor if they were living in households with incomes below the poverty threshold. The poverty threshold 

is determined by the federal government based on the household’s size and composition. For more details on the poverty 

thresholds, see Appendix B: Glossary. 

NOTE: Students who were homeschooled were excluded from the table. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. 

Variables for school characteristics (school type and school size) have a certain number of missing cases due to school nonreport; therefore, the number of students across the categories for each school variable does not sum to the total number of 

students. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Parent and Family Involvement in Education 

Survey of the National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES), 2007.