The gap concerning parent involvement. (District plus: tips and ideas for successful district leadership).

A new study by the National Center for Education Statistics looks at how effective parent outreach efforts have been by administrators. As might be expected, there is a gap between efforts schools say have been made to include parents and what parents say about the school attempts.

But the gap increases dramatically when large schools or urban districts are involved. While 81 percent of large schools and 85 percent of urban schools reported giving parents information about child development, only 71 percent of parents in large schools and 73 percent of parents in urban districts reported that this information was helpful.

The report, Efforts by Public K-8 Schools to Involve Parents in Children's Education: Do School and Parents Agree?, can be found at nces.ed.gov.