Abstract
Students do better academically, socially, and psychologically when families and schools work together and families are involved in their children’s education. In elementary school, the mechanisms for communication and building trust, understanding, and partnerships are clearer than in secondary schools. For middle and high schools, the larger and more diverse student body and more complex administrative structure make it harder for parents and teachers to get to know one another, understand one another, and work together. Because of the differences in school context and students’ developmental needs, the most effective means for maintaining productive family engagement varies across developmental stages. This chapter describes the developmental assets and challenges of adolescence that potentially change how parent engagement in education and family–school relationships function. Parental involvement is reconceptualized to better reflect the developmental needs of adolescents, changes in parent–adolescent relationships, and secondary school contexts. A critical analysis of the markers of success for parental engagement and family–school relationships is undertaken. Most often it is assumed that success should be gauged by improvements in academic achievement. It is argued that for adolescents a broader array of outcomes should be considered. As communication is essential to productive and effective parental engagement in education during adolescence, theories and research on communication are reviewed as they inform research and policies in this area. Finally, we consider how schools might organize their needs and expectations for family engagement in education in ways that maximizes the needs of families and the schools.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Ardichvill, A., Page, V., & Wentling, T. (2003). Motivations and barriers to participation in virtual knowledge sharing communities or practice. Journal of Knowledge Management, 7, 64–77.
Bandura, A. (1991). Social cognitive theory of self-regulation. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 248–287.
Bandura, A., Barbaranelli, C., Caprara, G. V., & Pastorelli, C. (2001). Self-efficacy beliefs as shapers of children’s aspirations and career trajectories. Child Development, 72, 187–206.
Benaji, M. R., & Greenwald, A. G. (2013). Blind spot: Hidden biases of good people. New York, NY: Delacorte.
Berger, J. (2008). Identity signaling, social influence, and social contagion. In M. Prinstein & K. A. Dodge (Eds.), Understanding peer influence in children and adolescents (pp. 181–201). New York, NY: Guilford.
Bosma, H. A., & Kunnen, E. S. (2001). Identity and emotion: Development through self-organization. Cambridge, UK: University Press.
Bouffard, S. M. (2009). Tapping into technology: Using the Internet to promote family-school communication. In N. E. Hill & R. K. Chao (Eds.), Families, schools, and the adolescent: Connecting research, policy, and practice (pp. 147–161). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Bridgeland, J. M., DiIulio, J. J., Streeter, R. T., Mason, J. R., & Civic, E. (2008). One dream, two realities: Perspectives of parents on America’s high schools. Washington, DC: Civic Enterprises.
Bridgeland, J. M., Dilulio, J. J., & Morrison, K. B. (2006). The silent epidemic: Perspectives of high school dropouts. Washington, DC: Civic Enterprises.
Byrnes, J. P., Miller, D. C., & Reynolds, M. (1999). Learning to make good decisions: A self-regulation perspective. Child Development, 70, 1121–1140.
Center for Mental Health in Schools at UCLA. (2006). A technical aid packet on resource mapping and management to address barriers to learning: An intervention for systemic change. Los Angeles, CA: Author.
Chao, R. K., & Hill, N. E. (2009). Recommendations for developmentally appropriate strategies for parental involvement during adolescence. In N. E. Hill & R. K. Chao (Eds.), Families, schools, and the adolescent: Connecting research, policy, and practice (pp. 195–207). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Collins, W. A., & Laursen, B. (2004). Parent-adolescent relationships and influences. In R. M. Lerner & L. Steinberg (Eds.), Handbook of adolescent psychology (2nd ed., pp. 331–361). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Crosnoe, R. (2009). Family–school connections and the transitions of low-income youths and English language learners from middle school to high school. Developmental Psychology, 45, 1061–1076.
DePlanty, J., Coulter-Kern, R., & Duchane, K. A. (2007). Perceptions of parent involvement in academic achievement. The Journal of Educational Research, 100, 361–368. doi:10.3200/joer.100.6.361-368.
Dhanaraj, C., Lyles, R. A., Steensma, H. K., & Tihanyi, L. (2004). Managing tacit and explicit knowledge transfer in IJVs: The role of relational embeddedness and the impact on performance. Journal of International Business Studies, 35, 428–442.
Epstein, J. L. (1987). Toward a theory of family-school connections: Teacher practices and parent involvement. In K. Hurrelman, F. X. Kaufman, & F. Losel (Eds.), Social intervention: Potential and constraints (pp. 121–136). Berlin, Germany: Water de Gruyer.
Epstein, J. L. (1996). Perspectives and previews on research and policy for school, family, and community partnerships. In A. Booth & J. F. Dunn (Eds.), Family school links: How do they affect educational outcomes (pp. 209–246). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Epstein, J. L., & Sanders, M. G. (2002). Family, school, and community partnerships. In M. H. Bornstein (Ed.), Handbook of parenting (Practical issues in parenting, Vol. 5, pp. 407–437). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Erikson, E. H. (1968). Identity, Youth, and Crisis. New York, NY: Norton.
Fan, W., Williams, C. M., & Wolters, C. A. (2012). Parental involvement in predicting school motivations: Similar and differential effects across ethnic groups. Journal of Educational Research, 105, 21–35.
Garcia-Reid, P. (2007). Examining social capital as a mechanism for improving school engagement among low income Hispanic girls. Youth & Society, 39, 164–181.
Goldring, E. B., & Hausman, C. S. (1999). Reasons for parental choice of urban schools. Journal of Education Policy, 14, 469–490. doi:10.1080/026809399286161.
Gordon, M. S., & Cui, M. (2012). The effect of school‐specific parenting processes on academic achievement in adolescence and young adulthood. Family Relations: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Applied Family Studies, 61, 728–741.
Grolnick, W. S., & Slowiaczek, M. L. (1994). Parents’ involvement in children’s schooling: A multidimensional conceptualization and motivation model. Child Development, 65, 237–252.
Gurland, S. T., & Grolnick, W. S. (2005). Perceived threat, controlling parenting, and children’s achievement orientations. Motivation and Emotion, 29, 103–121.
Halpern-Felsher, B. L., & Cauffman, E. (2001). Costs and benefits of a decision: Decision-making competence in adolescents and adults. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 22, 257–276.
Hau, Y. S., Kim, B., Lee, H., & Kim, Y.-G. (2013). The effects of individual motivations and social capital on employees’ tacit and explicit knowledge sharing intentions. International Journal of Information Management, 33, 356–366. doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2012.10.009.
Helwig, A. A. (2008). From childhood to adulthood: A 15-year longitudinal career development study. The Career Development Quarterly, 57, 38–50.
Hill, N. E. (2009). Culturally-based world views, family processes, and family school interactions. In S. L. Christenson & A. Reschly (Eds.), The handbook on school-family partnerships for promoting student competence. New York, NY: Routledge.
Hill, N. E. (2011). Undermining partnerships between African-American families and schools: Legacies of discrimination and inequalities. In N. E. Hill, T. L. Mann, & H. E. Fitzgerald (Eds.), African American children’s mental health (Development and context, Vol. 1, pp. 199–230). Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.
Hill, N. E., Witherspoon, D., & Bartz, D. L. (in press). Parental involvement in education during middle school: Perspectives of ethnically diverse parents, teachers, and students. Journal of Educational Research.
Hill, N. E., Castellino, D. R., Lansford, J. E., Nowlin, P., Dodge, K. A., Bates, J. E., & Pettit, G. S. (2004). Parent academic involvement as related to school behavior, achievement, and aspirations: Demographic variations across adolescence. Child Development, 75, 1491-1509. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2004.00753.x
Hill, N. E., & Chao, R. K. (2009). Introduction: Background in theory, policy, and practice. In N. E. Hill & R. K. Chao (Eds.), Families, schools, and the adolescent: Connecting research, policy, and practice (pp. 1–15). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Hill, N. E., & Torres, K. (2010). Negotiating the American dream: The paradox of Latino students’ goals and achievement and engagement between families and schools. Journal of Social Issues, 66, 95–112.
Hill, N. E., & Tyson, D. F. (2009). Parental involvement in middle school: A meta-analytic assessment of strategies that promote achievement. Developmental Psychology, 45, 740–763.
Hill, N. E., & Wang, M.-T. (2015). From middle school to college: Promoting engagement, developing aspirations and the mediated pathways from parenting to post high school placement. Developmental Psychology 51(2), 224–235. doi: 10.1037/a0038367.
Hoover-Dempsey, K. V., Ice, C., & Whitaker, M. (2009). “We’re way past reading together;” Why and how parental involvement in adolescence makes sense. In N. E. Hill & R. K. Chao (Eds.), Families, schools, and the adolescent: Connecting research, policy, and practice. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Hornby, G., & Lafaele, R. (2011). Barriers to parental involvement in education: An explanatory model. Educational Review, 63, 37–52.
Jeynes, W. (2012). A meta-analysis of the efficacy of different types of parental involvement programs for urban students. Urban Education, 47, 706–742.
Jodl, K. M., Michael, A., Malanchuk, O., Eccles, J. S., & Sameroff, A. (2001). Parents’ roles in shaping early adolescents’ occupational aspirations. Child Development, 72, 1247–1265.
Keating, D. P. (2004). Cognitive and brain development. In R. M. Lerner & L. Steinberg (Eds.), Handbook of adolescent psychology (2nd ed., pp. 45–84). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Koepke, S., & Denissen, J. J. A. (2012). Dynamics of identity development and separation–individuation in parent–child relationships during adolescence and emerging adulthood –- A conceptual integration. Developmental Review, 32, 67–88.
Lareau, A. (2003). Unequal childhoods: Class, race and family life. Berkeley, CA: University of California.
Lareau, A., & Horvat, E. M. (1999). Moments of social inclusion and exclusion: Race, class, and cultural capital in family-school relationships. Sociology of Education, 72, 37–53.
Lee, K. F., Sparks, L., Struppa, D. C., & Mannucci, M. (2013). Social groups, social media, and higher dimensional social structures: A simplicial model of social aggregation for computational communication research. Communication Quarterly, 61, 35–58. doi:10.1080/01463373.2012.719566.
Lewis, W. D., & Danzig, A. (2010). Seeing color in school choice. Journal of School Public Relations, 31, 205–223.
Luycks, K., Goossens, L., Soenens, B., & Beyers, W. (2006). Unpacking commitment and exploration: Preliminary validation of an integrative model of late adolescent identity formation. Journal of Adolescence, 29, 361–378.
McLean, K. C., & Mansfield, C. D. (2012). The co-construction of adolescent narrative identity: Narrative processing as a function of adolescent age, gender, and maternal scaffolding. Developmental Psychology, 48, 436–447.
Oyserman, D., Bybee, D., & Kathy, T. (2006). Possible selves and academic outcomes: How and when possible selves impel action. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 188–204.
Pomerantz, E. M., Moorman, E. A., & Litwack, S. D. (2007). The how, whom, and why of parents’ involvement in children’s academic lives: More is not always better. Review of Educational Research, 77, 373–410.
Ratelle, C. F., Larose, S., Guay, F., & Senecal, C. (2005). Perceptions of parental involvement and support as predictors of college students’ persistence in a science curriculum. Journal of Family Psychology, 19, 286–293.
Reychav, I., & Weisberg, J. (2010). Bridging intention and behavior of knowledge sharing. Journal of Knowledge Management, 14, 285–300.
Reyna, V., & Farley, F. (2008). Risk and rationality in adolescent decision-making: Implications for theory, practice and public policy. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 7, 1–44.
Savitz-Romer, M., & Bouffard, S. M. (2012). Ready, willing, and able: A developmental approach to college access and success. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.
Schachter, E., & Ventura, J. J. (2008). Identity agents: Parents as active and reflective participants in their children’s identity formation. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 18, 449–476.
Schwartz, S., Cote, J., & Arnett, J. (2005). Identity and agency in emerging adulthood: Two developmental routes in the individuation process. Youth & Society, 37, 201–229.
Seiffge-Krenke, I., Kiuru, N., & Nurmi, J.-E. (2002). Adolescents as “producers of their own development”: Correlates and consequences of the importance and attainment of developmental tasks. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 7, 479–510.
Shumow, L., Vandell, D. L., & Kang, K. (1996). School choice, family characteristics, and home-school relations: Contributors to school achievement? Journal of Educational Psychology, 88, 451–460. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.88.3.451.
Smetana, J. G. (2000). Middle-class African American adolescents’ and parents’ conceptions of parental authority and parenting practices: A longitudinal investigation. Child Development, 71, 1672–1686.
Smetana, J. G., Campione-Barr, N., & Daddis, C. (2004). Longitudinal development of family decision making: Defining healthy behavioral autonomy for middle class African American adolescents. Child Development, 75, 1418–1434.
Steinberg, L. (2005). Cognitive and affective development in adolescence. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9, 69–74.
Steinberg, L., Albert, D., Cauffman, E., Banich, M., Graham, S., & Woolard, J. (2008). Age differences in sensation seeking and impulsivity as indexed by behavior and self report: Evidence for a dual system model. Developmental Psychology, 44, 1764–1778.
Steinberg, L., Lamborn, S. D., Dornbusch, S. M., & Darling, N. (1992). Impact of parenting on adolescent achievement: Authoritative parenting, school involvement, and encouragement to succeed. Child Development, 63, 1266–1281.
Suarez-Orozco, C., & Suarez-Orozco, M. (1995). Transformations: Migration, family life, and achievement motivation among Latino adolescents. Stanford, CA: Stanford University.
Tajfel, H. (1981). Human groups and social categories. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University.
Tenenbaum, H. R., & Ruck, M. D. (2007). Are teachers’ expectations different for racial minority than for European American students? A meta-analysis. Journal of Educational Psychology, 99, 253–273.
Trusty, J., & Harris, M. B. C. (1999). Lost talent: Predictors of the stability of educational expectations across adolescence. Journal of Adolescent Research, 14, 359–382.
Tsai, W. (2002). Social structure of ‘cooperation’ within a multiunit organization: Coordination, competition, and intraorganizational knowledge sharing. Organization Science, 13, 179–190.
Wang, M.-T., & Eccles, J. S. (2012). Adolescent behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement trajectories in school and their different relations to educational success. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 22, 31–39.
Widén-Wulff, G., Ek, S., Ginman, M., Perttilä, R., Södergård, P., & Tötterman, A.-K. (2008). Information behaviour meets social capital: A conceptual model. Journal of Information Science, 34, 346–355.
Wortham, S., & Contreras, M. (2002). Struggling toward culturally relevant pedagogy in the Latino diaspora. Journal of Latinos and Education, 1, 133–144.
Yang, T.-M., & Maxwell, T. A. (2011). Information-sharing in public organizations: A literature review of interpersonal, intra-organizational and inter-organizational success factors. Government Information Quarterly, 28, 164–175. doi:10.1016/j.giq.2010.06.008.
Zhang, J., & Dawes, S. S. (2006). Expectations and perceptions of benefits, barriers and success in public sector knowledge networks. Public Performance & Management Review, 29, 433–466.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hill, N.E. (2015). Family–School Relationships During Adolescence: Clarifying Goals, Broadening Conceptualizations, and Deepening Impact. In: Sheridan, S., Moorman Kim, E. (eds) Processes and Pathways of Family-School Partnerships Across Development. Research on Family-School Partnerships, vol 2. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16931-6_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16931-6_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16930-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16931-6
eBook Packages: Behavioral ScienceBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)