This policy brief presents evidence demonstrating a positive association between parental involvement in school activities and student performance in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2011. This association, which was evident in most of the 54 education systems analyzed, indicates that students enrolled in schools with higher parental involvement tend to have higher reading achievement. The analysis also showed a positive association between level of parental involvement in school and level of parental education. Thus, parents with lower education levels are likely to participate less in school and vice versa. The conclusions suggest that promoting parental involvement may be an effective strategy for increasing reading achievement, and that this kind of policy intervention could be particularly relevant for schools with students whose parents have lower levels of education. [This policy brief was produced with the collaboration of IEA Data Processing and Research Center and the Educational Research Institute-Slovenia.]