African American Parents’ Educational Orientations

Abstract

Research on race, social class, and parent involvement in education often implies that parents' educational orientations result directly from their social class or racial group backgrounds. In this article, the authors study the involvement of working-class and middle-class African American parents. They argue that these parents' educational orientations are informed by the educational environments they navigate, their resources for negotiating these environments, and their prior social class and race-based educational experiences. Middle-class African American parents studied were more likely to select their children's schools, assess them favorably, and adopt supportive orientations toward them. In contrast, working-class African American parents studied were assigned to schools, tended to assess them less favorably, and adopted more reform-based orientations toward them. The article extends prior work by studying social class and parent involvement within the African American community and by highlighting the interaction between parents' perceptions of school context and their educational orientations.

Parents, Principals, and Power: A Historical Case Study of “Managing” Parental Involvement

“…As shown in the Chicago school reform movement, schools improve when stakeholders work together toward a shared goal (Bryk & Schneider, 2002). In addition, the literature is replete with studies showing the importance of parental involvement in schools (Bryk & Schneider, 2002;Cutler, 2000;Diamond & Gomez, 2004;Lareau, 2003). This literature does not, however, sufficiently address either the inherent tension between parents and school or the ways in which many principals work with parents, seeking their engagement and support while limiting and controlling their involvement and influence.…”

“…More recent work has focused on the power dynamics that often underlie the capacity of schools to work with a variety of parents and the capacity of parents to connect with schools. This recent work has focused on the notions of cultural capital (Crozier, 2001;Lareau & Horvat, 1999), self-efficacy (Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1997), social class (Lewis & Forman, 2002;Diamond & Gomez, 2004), and social networks (Sheldon, 2002) as researchers have grappled with the ways in which race and social class shape parents' interactions with schools and how power differentials affect the parent-school relationship. Some authors have connected parental involvement and leadership research, focusing on the degree to which authentic participation goes beyond traditional notions of school management involving stakeholders in a democratic process of power sharing (Anderson, 1998;Furman & Starratt, 2002).…”

“…The ways in which parents and school leaders have negotiated this relationship has changed, and it is affected by the context in which these relationships exist. Oftentimes, especially in urban areas, race and class differences exist between a predominantly White middle-class principal and teaching staff and parents and communities that include racial and ethnic minorities from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, thereby increasing the social distance between school personnel and parents (Delgado-Gaitan, 1991;Diamond & Gomez, 2004;Lewis & Forman, 2002). Effective principals learn to work with parents and the community.…”

What students do early college high schools serve? Unpacking social constructions of the target population

“…Parents tend to choose schools with students who are racially/ethnically similar to their children (Garcia, 2008;Stein, 2015). Higher income and more educated parents, meanwhile, may be more likely to know about and utilize school choice options (Diamond & Gomez 2004;Holme, 2002). Beyond race and class, parents who are more involved in their children's formal education may be more likely to exercise choice (Teske & Schneider, 2001).…”

Fostering the Cultural Experiences and School Engagement of Samoan American Students in Urban Schools

“…This rift is not unique to Samoans (see, for example, Desimone, 1999; Empleo, 2006; Hill & Tyson, 2009; Irizarry, 2007; Jeynes, 2005; Tyler et al, 2008; Wallitt, 2008; Weihua et al, 2012), but it does illuminate the disconnect between teacher and parent communication and expectations for students (Epstein & Sheldon, 2002; Moll et al, 1992; Pena, 2000; Valdés, 1996). Research has shown that parental engagement does affect achievement (Hill & Tyson, 2009; Jeynes, 2005) and that educational orientations are often influenced by different perceptions of the home and school contexts (Diamond & Gomez, 2004; Green & Hoover-Dempsey, 2007; Ice & Hoover-Dempsey, 2011). It is also a multidimensional construct (LeFevre, & Shaw, 2012; Weihua et al, 2012) that needs to account for systemic barriers and institutional obstacles (Martinez-Cosio, 2010), school climate (E.…”