Most teachers outside of urban schools give positive ratings to parent-teacher relations and are satisfied with the frequency of contact they have with their students' parents. Ninety-five percent of teachers in inner city schools feel that parent involvement is lacking. More teachers believe that parental involvement in education should occur both in the school and in the home than they did a decade ago. Perceptions about Encouraging Parental Involvement Teachers overall feel that their schools do a good job of encouraging parental involvement. Teachers working in urban schools feel their schools are doing a better job of encouraging parental involvement.
Students tend to be more critical than teachers of their school's performance.
Teachers are more likely to favor a wider range of parental involvement in education than ten years ago, but they are split over how much say parents should have in policy decisions affecting the classroom. At the same time, three-fourths of students believe that parents should have some or a lot of input in decisions regarding curriculum and sixty percent believe parents should have input regarding homework assignments. In spite of the findings regarding parental input about curriculum and homework, the majority of teachers are in favor of including parents on committees that oversee school policies. Eighty-seven percent of teachers feel that parents should serve on teams that set school policies. Fewer urban teachers than in 1987 are critical of the role that parents take with regard to their children's education.