Parent Involvement in Public School Governance: The United States and South Africa

This article explores parent involvement in decision making in the United States and in postapartheid South Africa and highlights similarities and differences in how parents in these two countries participate in public school governance and decision making. Parents' role in public school governance in South Africa is significant and entrenched in the country's South African Schools Act of 1996. In contrast, parent participation in U.S. school governance and meaningful school-level decision making is more limited. The article concludes with a discussion of challenges, progress, and lessons learned in both countries.