'Parents Will Need To Own The Task'

By James P. Comer

When we began to encourage the involvement of parents in the work of schools as part of our Yale Child Study Center School Development Program in 1968, many educators said, "The parents should raise them. We will teach them."

Today, parent involvement is a national education goal, yet its purpose is not always clear. In fact, it's fuzzy to the point of being a problem. That lack of clarity can lead to adversarial relationships or poor parent participation in spite of the calls for cooperation.

Parents and teachers are child developers. When the work of parents in schools is designed to enable them to help the school staff support the development of their children,...