Also, because of many social changes, especially since World War II, the traditional division of responsibility between the home and school has blurred greatly, not only because family life has changed but also because schools need parents' support. To answer this question, data from the 1992-93 Missouri School Improvement Parent Survey were analyzed. More than 30,000 parents of students in grades K-5 responded to a question about how often during the year they participate in six kinds of school activities. Twenty-two percent report seldom or never participating in these types of activities. About one-third say they talk to their children's teachers frequently.
Parents are least likely to participate in helping with classroom learning.
However, one-fourth of parents report they sometimes help with classroom learning, and 10 percent report they frequently visit their children's schools on their own during the school year. The extent of parental involvement with schools differs slightly between rural and urban schools. One general assumption about rural schools is that smaller rural schools and communities contribute to closer connections between parents and schools. Rural parents were twice as likely to report frequent communication with teachers as parents from large city schools. Rural parents also were twice as likely to report helping with after-school activities as parents from urban schools.