If anybody is to be peripheral, it should be teachers, with parents playing the dominant role. Under the circumstances, the optimal relationship is that of co-equals with parent and teacher supporting and reinforcing each other. The current parental involvement fashion is confirmation that the parent has been viewed as peripheral to schooling. Parents must be at the core of what schools do. Establish Clean Lines of Accountability .
Accountability requires figuring out who is accountable.
That this has to be the individual teacher is acknowledged even by those who blame the teacher for everything. Fixing accountability also requires figuring out to whom the teacher is accountable. That, without question, is the parent. Not the student. Not the administrator.