Classroom Climate, Parental Educational Involvement, and Student School Functioning in Early Adolescence: A Longitudinal Study.

In this 2-year longitudinal study, we examine the effects of perceived classroom climate and two aspects of parental educational involvement (home-based and school-based) on junior high school students’ self-evaluation and academic achievement. Our main hypothesis was that perceived parental educational involvement mediates students’ perceived classroom climate and two aspects of students’ functioning at school: self-evaluation and academic achievement. Data were collected in Israel from 198 students (97 girls) who were seventh graders at Wave 1. Analyses using structural equation modeling (SEM; AMOS 19) showed a satisfactory fit of a modified model to the data across the 2 years. Consequently, the links between classroom climate and parental educational involvement were significant only for home-based involvement. The discussion addresses three issues: (1) the importance of distinguishing between parental home-based and school-based educational involvement, and the relevance of parental home-based educational involvement for junior high school students. (2) The effect of perceived students’ classroom climate on perceived parental educational involvement; and (3) the longitudinal effect of home-based parental educational involvement on the self-evaluation and via it on the academic achievement of junior high school students.