Parents have been involved with their children’s schools for generations, but apparently we still are not sure how schools should engage them, particularly among the nation’s poorest families, a new essay says.

The Foundation for Child Development report recounts the modern history of federal parental engagement programs in this country. Sadly, one of its conclusions is we don’t really know what programs help students and narrow the achievement gap.

But what never has been clear, despite 40 years of voluminous research, is whether myriad strategies schools are now using to engage low-income parents have actually been effective in raising their children’s achievement. – “Involving Parents: Has it Helped the Poorest Children,” Foundation for Child Development.

Yet, we know parents are critical to their children’s success at school.

“Research over the past thirty years has consistently shown that greater family involvement in children’s learning is a critical link to achieving a high-quality education and a safe, disciplined learning environment for every student,” asserted a U.S. Department of Education paper on the Goals 2000 legislation.

The report covers a lot of ground, starting with President Lyndon Johnson and ending with President Barack Obama. Over the forty years, however, the report didn’t find too many solutions, and towards the end asks the Obama administration, with its interest in evidence-based solutions for early learning challenges, to find out what works.

On one level the answer is simple.

“You don’t have to give parents a college education,” (Joyce) Epstein, (founder of the Center on School, Family and Community Partnerships at Johns Hopkins University) said. “You just have to give them a strategy for having an interesting conversation with their third grader about a book they’re reading even if the parents haven’t read the book.”

Now we need to figure out what strategy works.

Check out the on the Foundation for Child Development’s Web site.