A study conducted by Don Davies of the Institute for Responsive Education examined
relationships between hard-to-reach parents and the school. The conclusion was that most of
the parents in the study were, in fact, reachable, but that schools were either not really trying to
involve them or not knowledgeable about or sensitive enough to overcome cultural and
social-class barriers. The six primary barriers that limited school involvement for the
hard-to-reach parents were identified as follows:
1. Children from families not conforming to middle-class norms are often seen by school
officials as those who will have trouble in school.
2. Communication between schools and poor families is mostly negative. Most of these
parents are contacted only when their children are in trouble.
3. Teachers and administrators appear to think of these families as being deficient, and
they concentrate on the families’ problems rather than on their strengths.
4. School staff tend to believe that the problems of parents who are hard to reach are the
fault of parents, not the schools.
5. Many poverty-level families have a low assessment of themselves in their abilities to be
involved in their children’s schooling.
6. Most parents from all groups studied expressed a strong desire to be involved in their
children’s schooling.