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Expectations for parent involvement in their children's education have risen dramatically over the last 20 years. The demands now placed on parents to evaluate and select educational options for their children, to act as advocates for their children, and to support increasingly demanding academic standards have never been greater. Strong partnerships between home and school can increase opportunities for students. Understanding the nature of these significant changes and how parents may be affected by them is a critical first step.

Scholarship on parent–principal relationships often ignores how some parental involvement can create challenges for school leaders. We analyze parent–principal relationships at an urban public K–8 school over a 30-year period, exploring how three different principals “managed” parental involvement. Our analysis reveals how these principals negotiated relationships with parents across the shifting race and class terrains of different eras. We argue that future investigations of parent–principal relationships should focus on the tensions and challenges inherent in these relationships, as well as the effort expended and the skill required by principals to effectively manage relations with parents in diverse school communities.

Schools are often criticized for their role in creating the dropout problem. This article illustrates that with the right resources and approach, educational programs could become sites of transformation rather than reproducers of social inequality. Narrative and thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with graduates of a nationwide program that serves high school dropouts reveals that its asset-based, mission-driven approach touched many aspects of these students’ lives and produced changes in elements of their habitus. Aspects of the program that appeared to be central in changing participants’ habitus include the development of self-esteem, the ability to accomplish something of value, and the capacity to contribute to the welfare of others. Implications of these findings for influencing the habitus of school dropouts and improving upward social mobility are discussed.

The authors take on the district vs. charter school question. The real question, they say, ought to be whether we favor good schools for all kids. Are we ready to talk about why it’s acceptable to provide a world class public education to kids in well-funded suburban schools while city kids work to bootstrap into the American Dream in Third World conditions with far fewer resources than their suburban peers? A better conversation would untangle our tolerance for this inequality and generate solutions that level the playing field.