Real Parent Power: Relational Organizing for Sustainable School Reform

McAlister, Sara; Catone, Keith

doi:10.1002/ncr.21112

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Also, as privatization creates competing financial interests, parents may be used as “pawns” and “puppets” in charter school deliberations (Marsh, Strunk, Bush-Mecenas, & Huguet, 2015). Current efforts to mobilize low-income parents to support competing market agendas can be misleading and may ultimately lead to programs from which the parents are excluded (McAlister & Catone, 2013). Although the Brown and Mendez decisions created constitutional protections for nondominant parents who fight for their educational rights, these have been steadily eliminated by the courts.…”

Section: Hypocrisies Embedded In Market-based “School Choice” For Parmentioning

confidence: 99%

Permission Not Required: The Power of Parents to Disrupt Educational Hypocrisy

Fennimore

2017

Review of Research in Education

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This review is focused on literature documenting the experiences of nondominant and minoritized parents who challenge injustice and inequity in the public schools attended by their children. It interrogates hegemonic approaches to parent involvement favoring dominant groups and silencing efforts of nondominant parents to confront discriminatory assumptions and unequal opportunities. Research studies generally published between 1995 and 2016 reflecting grassroots parent activism encountering conflict and tension and exposing racism, classism, and discrimination in public school practices and policies were selected. Using the lens of critical race and social justice theories, the review is structured on three major public school hypocrisies: (1) hegemonic traditional school-controlled parent involvement that privileges dominant groups and devalues contributions of nondominant groups, (2) false claims of equity in schools characterized by stratified and differential opportunities, and (3) discriminatory market-based choice and privatization schemes. Ultimately the review calls on researchers to acknowledge ethical issues that arise when their work “confirms” nondominant parent and child inferiority. Further, it calls for observer–activist–participant research paradigms that acknowledge school-based resistance to critical nondominant parent activism and respectfully document the continuing struggle of nondominant parents for equal educational opportunities.

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Section: Hypocrisies Embedded In Market-based “School Choice” For Parmentioning

confidence: 99%

Permission Not Required: The Power of Parents to Disrupt Educational Hypocrisy

Fennimore

2017

Review of Research in Education

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“…10. Our analysis here builds off McAlister and Catone's (2013) insightful analysis of parent power and more generally the work of Mark Warren.…”

Section: Conclusion: the Silencer On The Parent Triggermentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining the Parent Trigger as a Strategy for School Reform and Parental Engagement

Rogers¹,

Lubienski

Scott

et al. 2015

Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education

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Background/Context Parent trigger policies have become a popular option in the education reform toolbox, giving parents the potential ability to induce substantial structural changes at their local public school. This reform approach emerged in California during the Great Recession, and has since proliferated to a number of states, spurred on by policy advocates, philanthropic funders, and associated reform organizations. These state-level policies allow a majority of parents at low-performing schools to petition to force school transformation through conversion to charter school status, replacement of school leadership and/or staff, or other corrective actions expected to improve outcomes at the school. Purpose This analysis considers the emergence, evidentiary basis, and potential of parent trigger policies. In particular, we focus on the policy, political and social circumstances in which parent trigger legislation emerged in California, the efficacy of the school improvement levers on which it draws, and the underlying assumptions about democratic engagement that inform the approach. Research Design This policy analysis draws on multiple forms of evidence to examine the efficacy of the parent trigger approach for school improvement and community engagement. The initial examination of the emergence of parent trigger considers public policy positions, media statements, and press accounts to trace the nuances of this policy landscape. Then, in lieu of useful research evidence on parent trigger itself, we turn to the research literature on the remedies that parent trigger tends to adopt, including studies in school choice, charter schools, and various school improvement strategies, as well as the implications for parental empowerment. Findings Reviews of extant evidence on policy remedies implicit and explicit in parent trigger indicate that, although parent trigger may have emerged from a deep-seated desire to improve educational opportunities for disadvantaged children, it is unlikely to actually improve the educational quality of schools, given that the overall effects of these policy interventions are mixed, at best, and parent trigger adds another element of instability to already unstable school communities in disadvantaged areas. Conclusions/Recommendations Our analysis suggests that parent trigger tends to assume an aggregative model of democratic action drawn from a market-style economic premise. Unless policy makers promote a more deliberative model of community engagement, empowerment, and school governance, it is likely that parent trigger could contribute to continual corruption of democratic institutions and avenues for school governance.

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Citizen Teachers: Why Teachers Should Organize

Wood

2022

Citizen Teachers and the Quest for a Democratic Society

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Real Parent Power: Relational Organizing for Sustainable School Reform

Cited by 3 publications

References 2 publications

Permission Not Required: The Power of Parents to Disrupt Educational Hypocrisy

Permission Not Required: The Power of Parents to Disrupt Educational Hypocrisy

Examining the Parent Trigger as a Strategy for School Reform and Parental Engagement

Citizen Teachers: Why Teachers Should Organize

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