Chapter 11: The Contribution of Family Involvement and Investment on Students' Literacy Performance: A Comparative Study of the United States and Three Asian Societies Utilizing PISA

From the early international studies led by the International Education Association (IEA) to the most recent led by the Organization of Economic and Cooperation Development (OECD), several Asian countries or nation-states, notably Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore, consistently ranked in the top tier in these international assessments. Researchers in the field of home school studies primarily attributed this Asian achievement to parental involvement and investment on their children’s learning (Epstein, 1990, 1994, 2001; Epstein & Lee, 1995; S. C. Ho, 2000, 2003; Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1995; Lee, 1996). Yet little has been done to compare how different types of family involvement and different forms of family investment manifest across different cultures and how family involvement and investment affect student learning in Pacific Rim countries/regions.