Parents' Effect on Achievement Shaky

Other Factors May Play Greater Role, Study Says

By Jay Mathews

Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 22, 2005; Page A10

Maria Allen, a parent who has been critical of her Fairfax County school system, recently called the principals of three Richmond elementary schools to find out why -- and how -- it is that their low-income black students were doing better than similar students in her school system.

Their answer was telling, she said.

"The bottom line is this," Allen said one principal told her. "We don't have an expectation of the home. We don't blame the home. We can't teach parents. We don't worry about whose responsibility it should be. We just consider it ours."