Student Selection Into Course Sequences in Mathematics: The Impact of Parental Involvement and School Policies

This research assesses the ways in which parental involvement in children's assignment to mathematics courses in the middle and secondary grades is conditioned by the institutional arrangements and policies of school systems. The findings are drawn from interviews with 52 administrators in 26 school districts in the Boston area as well as from interviews with teachers and mothers of middle school students in two of these districts. The data show that parents have some influence over the ability group and course placement process in most school districts, but the degree to which their efforts are welcomed, restricted, or thwarted varies significantly and somewhat idiosyncratically from one school system to the next. These limits on parental influence as well as other restrictive school policies help explain low enrollments in advanced mathematics courses in the U.S.