Personally, I think there are several areas. There is the school involvement, to physically be there and help out. Then home involvement. Help your child with her homework, encourage reading, etc. You can also help the school by doing things from home, like typing, sorting, stuffing envelopes, etc. We often look at parent involvement as helping out during our Family Nights, attending our PTA/PTO meetings. Personally, I often get discouraged when only 12 people show up for our meetings and programs. Eventually someone will ask "how come I didn't know about a,b or c". DUH Come to a meeting or read the newsletter once in a while. Our district will be losing alot of funding next year. We will have to cut teachers, specials, possibly bus service. We've asked parents to write their local and state government officials to voice their concern over this. Our district has been paying teacher's salaries from their savings. If we are told our Kindergarten is gonna be reduced to half day, these parents are going to wonder "why?" or "What happened?"
I had a Financial Planner come on Tues and only 12 people showed up. When its time for their child to go to college, I'm sure they'll be complaining. Not Me!! I'm prepared. OK, I'll stop my whining. You get my point.