Cambodia has experienced remarkable educational expansion at all levels
since the fall of the Khmer Rouge in 1979 (Ayres 2000), yet provision
of basic education 1
to all children remains challenging (Chhinh and
Dy 2009). Two major obstacles hamper the provision of basic education
to all children: (a) low transition rates from primary to lower secondary
school, 2
and (b) high dropout rates 3
in grades 7–9. According to
Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS) statistics, 76.8 percent
of all promoted 6th graders in 2012/13 transferred to lower secondary
school; 21.2 percent of lower secondary students dropped out each
grade (MoEYS 2014).
Parents’ expectations have received considerable attention in educational
research to explain students’ educational success in school (Yamamoto and
Holloway 2010). Many studies have found that high parental expectations
are positively related with students’ academic achievement (Fan and Chen
2001; Jeynes 2005, 2007), retention (Rumberger and Lim 2008; Hannum,
Kong, and Zhang 2009; Yamamoto and Holloway 2010), and other outcomes
such as student educational aspirations (Williams 1972; Hossler
and Stage 1992).