Parent Involvement and Teacher Decision Making in Urban High Schools of Choice

Parent involvement and teacher decision making are dominant themes in the current debate over school restructuring. The literature suggests that as teachers become empowered, they may tend to view parents more as clients of education rather than as partners, thereby introducing a potential conflict into the interaction of parents and teachers. This study examines the nature of these relationships under different types of school choice options. Findings suggest that Catholic schools exhibit partnerships between parents and teachers. Multifocus magnet schools approximate a parent empowerment mode that embodies elements of consumerism. Single-focus public schools indicate traditional relationships between parents and teachers associated with bureaucratic decision making and teacher autonomy. The authors speculate that shared power between parents and teachers is a little understood concept that needs further exploration if new public school choice options are to be successful.