These contracts signed by the principal, teacher, parent, and child stipulated that parents would provide a special place at home to do school work, talk with their child daily about school events, and pay attention to their child's academic progress and compliment any gains. There appears to be a relationship between the age of the child and the forms of parental involvement. Greater efforts to involve parents are seen at the preschool and primary levels. Efforts here focus on assisting in the classroom and reading to children at home. The adolescent has a developmental need for autonomy and greater responsibility.
Families often live further from the high school and are less able to spend time there.
The organization of the secondary schools is more complex and teachers have contact with larger numbers of students. Few high schools make any one teacher responsible for a small group of students. Information on student progress involves contacting four or five individuals. At the secondary level, what parents do at home seems to have the greatest impact. Research also suggests a correlation between parent involvement and dropout rates.