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Pemberton, K.D., & Miller, S. (2013). Building Home–School Relationships to Enhance Reading Achievement for Students From Families With Limited Financial Resources. Education and Urban Society, (0)0, 1-23.

In Phase I, expectations for parental involvement were evaluated in a Title I school with a history of low reading achievement. Interviews were conducted with the principal, parent liaison, two first-grade teachers, and four families with limited financial resources whose children struggled in reading. Administrators and teachers believed parents’ lack of involvement at school events conveyed the wrong values to their children and served as a primary reason for continued poor academic performances. In Phase II, parents and teachers partnered to tutor students. For those families who participated in tutoring, their children’s reading progress after 2 months of tutoring matched or exceeded their growth during the previous 7 months of receiving only classroom instruction. Teachers’ initial skepticism regarding parents’ ability to tutor was replaced by a new appreciation for their efforts. Discussion focuses on both the quantity and the quality of parental involvement using a framework by Pomerantz and Moorman.

Mlawer, M. A. (1993). Who Should Fight? Parents and the Advocacy Expectation. Journal of Disability Policy Studies, (4)1, 105-116.  

In the attempt to help parents become better educational advocates for their children with disabilities, an "advocacy expectation" has been created. This expectation runs counter to the philosophy of normalization. The advocacy expectation and its effects are critically discussed. To counter the expectation and its effects, changes in professional roles, funding priorities, and program development are recommended.

Link Roberts, J., & Siegle, D. (2012). Teachers as Advocates: If Not You—Who?. Gifted Child Today, (35)1, 58-61.

Teachers, including teachers of children and young people who are gifted and talented, care about educational issues; and, consequently, they need to advocate for issues impacting their students. Strategies for advocating are described—strategies for advocating with colleagues at the school level, in the community for district-wide issues, and at the state and national levels for policy and legislative issues.