Intro: Parents and Teachers In Title I Schools

Parent Engagement is Good for Student Achievement

A broad body of research demonstrates that students do better in school when their learning is supported at home. Teachers write newsletters and make phone calls, principals host back-to-school nights, and districts hire family outreach coordinators – all with the goal of encouraging parents to interact with their children in particular ways. These strategies are rooted in the assumption that if some engagement is good for student learning, then more is better. But what exactly are parents supposed to do more of? The consensus definition of parent engagement may exist only on the school side of the school-family dynamic – that is, consensus between teachers, policymakers, and school leaders. How parent engagement is defined by these school-side actors, then, may not reflect the ways in which some parents choose to be engaged in their child’s academic development. What does this mean for student learning, when parents and teachers have different understandings of parent engagement?

A naïve observer might assume that there is an easy confluence of interests around increasing parent engagement. Policymakers, for example, put tremendous pressure on schools that serve low-income children of color; increasing parent involvement is seen as a policy strategy for addressing school achievement goals. Most teachers and principals would love for parents to be involved in the student’s learning, and parents across all race and class profiles want what’s best for their children. In the best scenarios, teachers and parents both act to support the student’s growth and learning. Yet as it is currently understood by teachers and policymakers alike, parent engagement policies and practices are rife with cross-cultural misunderstandings. This is particularly true for schools serving communities in concentrated poverty, or where there is racial incongruence between the community and the school faculty. For these schools, existing concepts and policies actually may be counterproductive for the parent-teacher relationship and consequently for student learning.

In this paper(1), I situate parent engagement practice and policy in the context of school improvement pressures, and review the research about how teachers make sense of parents. First I illustrate the three main ways in which teachers understand parent engagement. Using Tennessee data to illustrate nationwide trends, I then situate my analysis in the comparative demographics of students and teachers in Title I schools. Using a lens informed by critical race theory, I illuminate the negative images and racialized discourse around parent engagement, identify ways in which bias can enter into a teacher’s understanding of parents, and show the paths by which these subtle attitudes can actually disincentivize parents from certain engagement behaviors. Finally, I offer suggestions to move from the current models of parent engagement toward a more robust and affirmative understanding of families.


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(1) Introduction to my major degree-required paper, "Parents and Teachers In Title I Schools: A Critical Race Theory Analysis of Parent Engagement". I am happy to provide a copy of the entire manuscript (PDF) to interested parties.
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