Do Cumulative Advantages and Inequalities Exist? Effects of Classroom Parental Networks on Students' Academic Performance

Parents are interacting with other parents in the childcare process, which forms parental networks in a variety of scenarios and places. The classrooms, with defined network boundaries, are appropriate contexts for researching the interweaving of parental ties, parental social categories and other multiplex classroom relationships fostered within the social systems of family, class, school and neighbourhood. As suggested by social capital theories, social networks are loaded with valuable social capital from which parents can gain advantages for themselves and their children. Shaped by the varying mechanisms specific to the type of classroom contexts, parental networks display different patterns of network structures, which can influence the overall classroom network effects and the individual students in terms of academic performance. There is an essential concern on whether parental networks might amplify the advantages of students derive from their family socioeconomic status (SES) thereby multiplying the existing inequalities in children’s education. This research investigates the effects of parental socioeconomic status (SES) and parental responsiveness on the formation of classroom parental networks, together with the effects of classroom parental ties on students’ grades. The findings will further contribute to the discussion on the relationship between social networks and educational inequalities.