The Helicopter Effect: Parental Participation\u27s Impact on Academic Achievement in India

In this paper, I explore the effect of increased parental social capital on primary student achievement in India. Increased parental social capital is measured through parental PTA participation and the number of discussions the parent has had with the teacher about student academic performance in the past. I use data from the India Human Development Survey and a bivariate ordered probit regression to operationalize social capital theory from Robert Putnam (2000). Ultimately, I find that PTA participation effects student achievement in a statistically significant manner, that PTA participation has more statistically significant effects for lower scheduled castes and tribes, and that social capital involvement is more important in government schools than in private schools