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Making It Work: Low-Income Working Mothers’ Involvement in Their Children’s Education

Harvard University Graduate School of Education

Margaret Vaughan

Tufts University

Eric Dearing

University of Wyoming

Rebecca Hencke

Hencke Consulting

Kristina Pinto

Harvard University Graduate School of Education

This article explores the complex relation between employment and family involvement in children’s elementary education for low-income women. Mixed-method analyses showed work as both an obstacle to and opportunity for involvement. Mothers who worked or attended school full time were less involved in their children’s schooling than other mothers, and mothers who worked or attended school part time were more involved than other mothers. Yet subtle and positive associations between maternal work and educational involvement also emerged. Working mothers described several strategies for educational involvement. The findings reframe current ecological conceptions of family involvement and call for policy and research consideration of the dilemma of work and family involvement.

Key Words: family educational involvement • low-income population • maternal employment • mixed method

American Educational Research Journal, Vol. 40, No. 4, 879-901 (2003)
DOI: 10.3102/00028312040004879


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