School ethical climate and parental involvement

Using structural equations modeling, this study explored the association between school ethical climate (characterized by values of caring, rules and a professional code) and two types of parental involvement: cooperation-based and conflict-based. The mediating effects of perceived parental influence and trust and parents' socioeconomic (SES) level were considered as well. School-level data were obtained from 157 teachers representing 20 elementary schools in Israel, and individual-level data were obtained from 936 parents. Results showed that an ethical climate characterized by rules and a professional code was more common and more strongly related to parental involvement than a caring climate. Different patterns were detected for the two SES groups: high-SES parents tended to be less involved (both cooperation-wise and conflict-wise) than low-SES ones when the school climate was perceived as more ethical. Results have implications for research on school values and school culture.