While running a statewide webinar the other day, I was asked how to increase student participation from students who had little parental support. Not knowing the story, and only getting the question through a Tweet; the question seemed to suggest that the child wasn't engaged in school because the parents didn't value education. It's not the first time I have been asked such a question, and I have also been guilty of asking it.

Parental involvement or lack thereof, seems to be a default response by some people when looking at student engagement.

It's an interesting question, because from an outside perspective I always wonder why a parent wouldn't be involved in their child's education. When I was a kid parents were not as involved at school because the school domain and the home domain seemed to have an invisible boundary-line between them.

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