Does parental involvement affect learning outcomes in students with mild special educational needs? Cross-sectional evidence from inclusive settings

Elvira Aslan, Anar Mukasheva

Frontiers in Education, 2026

Full text Open access: Gold Metadata (CSL-JSON)
DOI 10.3389/feduc.2026.1860083
Data confidence 70 medium
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Abstract

Background Over 290 million children under the age of 20 live with developmental disabilities that demand tailored pedagogies. In inclusive classrooms, learners with special educational needs (SEN) share space with peers, yet their grades still reflect familial influences. Recent literature spotlights socioeconomic status (SES), parental stress, and involvement as separate levers of achievement, but their interplay remains obscure. This investigation bridges the evidence lacuna by simultaneously examining these variables within a regression framework. Methods The cross-sectional study surveyed 264 parents of school-aged children with mild SEN enrolled in inclusive settings across 14 mainstream public schools. Participants completed validated measures of parental involvement, stress, and SES, while children's academic attainment was assessed via unweighted composite GPA. Data analysis employed confirmatory factor analysis and partial least squares structural equation modeling with bootstrapping to evaluate direct and mediated relationships. Results The measurement model demonstrated good fit and acceptable psychometric properties. Socioeconomic status was positively associated with both parental involvement and academic achievement. Parental involvement was positively related to GPA and partially mediated the relationship between SES and academic achievement. In contrast, parental stress was not significantly associated with either parental involvement or GPA, and no indirect effect through parental involvement was observed. Although several relationships reached statistical significance, the effect sizes were small and the model explained a modest proportion of variance in academic achievement. Conclusion Socioeconomic resources were positively associated with academic achievement among students with mild SEN in inclusive educational settings, both directly and indirectly through parental involvement. However, the observed effects were small, and parental stress was unrelated to either parental involvement or learning success. These findings suggest that family socioeconomic resources and parental engagement may contribute to educational attainment among students with SEN, although their influence appears modest and should be interpreted within the context of broader educational and support systems.