Power to Engage, Power to Resist: A Structuration Analysis of Barriers to Parental Involvement (original) (raw)
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Urban Education, 2003
ED482680 - So What Are WE Going To Do? Family Advocacy as Involvement for Urban Parents of Children with Special Needs. Three families living in an urban area in the Midwest with elementary-age children diagnosed with disabilities were interviewed about their family involvement in special education programming and intervention. The study explored how three mothers used social networks to advocate and care for their child’s special education programming. Using Brigg’s distinction of social networks that serve as social supports and ones that serve as social leverage as a conceptual framework, we aim to help further understand how parents advocate for their children in the parent–school relationship.
SAGE Open, 2014
Using semistructured interviews, we explored barriers and facilitators to school-based parent involvement (SBPI) in a sample of predominately African American parents (N = 44) whose children attended urban public middle schools. Barriers to SBPI (e.g., perceptions of hostile parent-teacher interactions and aggressive, disrespectful students in the school) were more commonly reported than facilitators (e.g., child invitations for involvement). Findings suggest that parents' motivations for engaging in SBPI may be undermined by a variety of barriers, resulting in low participation. Implications and tailored strategies for enhancing SBPI in this population are presented.
Improving Parental Involvement in an Inner-City Elementary School
2017
Improving Parental Involvement in an Inner-City Elementary School by Veronica D. Marion MA, University of New Haven, 1999 BS, Albertus Magnus College, 1998 Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Education Walden University December 2017 Abstract A pattern of low parental involvement exists at in an inner-city school in the northeast region of the United States, where 90% of the students are students of color and fewer than 10% of parents attend school-based activities. Low parental involvement at the local school may lead to decreased student achievement and limited access to needed resources and information. A qualitative case study design was used to explore the problem. Epstein’s typology, which includes the traditional definition of parental involvement and acknowledges the parents’ role in the home, provided the conceptual framework for the study. Research questions focused on perceived challenges that prevent parent parti...
This article explores the difference between parental involvement, where parents' activity levels at school are primarily structured by schools, and parental engagement, where parents have a more active voice in how they take part in what goes on in schools. This difference is underscored as a means of illuminating ways of addressing the issue of racialized disproportionality in special education and acts of school discipline, particularly in urban settings. We highlight the ways schools need to transform the often microaggresively oppressive ways parents are invited into their children’s education process, as well as the way schools value the knowledge parents bring. Effective ways of activating parental engagement as a means of creating authentic community engagement are also examined. Additionally, recommendations are provided on how to prepare novice teachers to develop plans and goals alongside parents in order to help these new educators develop a pedagogical stance that authentically values the importance of one of schools’ most important stakeholders–parents.
Family-school partnerships between family members and school personnel can be successful as well as unproductive for parents who have children and youth with developmental disabilities (DD). This qualitative study sought to capture parents' identities as they negotiated family-school partnerships when making inclusive education decisions and discussing special education service-delivery options for their children and youth with DD. Seventeen participants shared their personal narratives in interviews and focus groups. Data were thematically analyzed after an initial round of open-coding generated broad themes. Findings revealed that the experiences parents have in partnering with schools span an identity spectrum, including (a) victim, (b) advocate, (c) perseverer, (d) educator, (e) broker and negotiator, and (f) surrenderer. Implications for policy, practice, and research focus on parent identity and family-school partnerships.