I chose to research this topic because I was curious about what impact parental involvement has on a child's ability to learn to read. I don't remember ever reading to them as a child; I have a memory of reading a school reading book "Janet and John" to my mother at the kitchen table and my father telling us bedtime stories about himself as a child (our favorite) . Despite this minimal contribution from my parents, I learned to read without any difficulty, and growing up, I never knew anyone who could not read or who had difficulty reading. However, my parents were avid readers themselves, there were books all over the house, mostly non-fiction, and reading for them was a daily activity. I wonder if the unstated expectations and example they set had a major influence on my ability to become a proficient reader. Of course, my first introduction to literacy was half a century ago, in a different culture and time. A lot has changed over the years and children struggling to learn reading skills are now commonplace. What has changed and how can we, as educators, intervene to ensure that all children with potential become successful readers? There has been a lot of interest in parental influence, and the literature I reviewed indicates that parental involvement was a strong predictor of student reading success. According to Henderson and Berla (1994), an analysis of 56 research studies showed that student achievement increased as a factor of success. direct result of sustained and intense parental involvement. Although outside the parameters required by this literature review, many studies I read cite this article and I felt it deserved my attention. Many of the studies reviewed in this article indicate that parents...... middle of article ......ading Teacher, 59, (8)774-784 doi:10.1598/RT.59.8.5Weiss, HB , Lopez, ME and Stark, DR (2011). An innovation: data systems are transforming family engagement in education. Alexandria, VA and Cambridge, MA: PTA and Harvard National Family Research Project. Harvard Family Research Project. (nd). A profile of the 21st Century Community Learning Center Evaluation – National. Cambridge, MA: Retrieved from http://www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/profile.Weiss, HB; López, ME; Stark, DR; Sparrow, J.D. Ayoub, C. (2011). Continuous child assessment and family engagement: new opportunities to involve families in children's learning and development. Retrieved from http://hfrp.org/family-investigation/projects/office-of-head-start-national-center-on-parent-family-and-community-engagement