Chapter 5: Family and School Environments Working Together to Impact Academic Achievement in African American Adolescents

The importance of parents and teachers in fostering the academic development of children and adolescents through parental involvement and teacher support has been known for some time (Connell, Halpern-Felsher, Clifford, Crichlow, & Usinger, 1995; Epstein & Dauber, 1991; Seyfried, 1998; Tucker et al., 2002). However, the term “parental involvement” has often been described as a vague concept used to describe parents' involvement in their children's lives in some capacity (e.g., participation in school activities, discussion of school with children, and help with homework) that is generally associated with positive academic outcomes (Falbo, Lein, & Amador, 2001; Grolnick & Slowiaczek, 1994; Taylor, Hinton, & Wilson, 1995). This chapter has two main purposes: (1) We elaborate on the meaning of parental involvement; and (2) we discuss how perceptions of teacher support and parental involvement interact to impact grades in a sample of low-resource and high-achieving African American students.