Haley Mattei

Dr. Lewis

Connections in Education

24 April 2018

Family - School Partnerships

Becoming a teacher is a daunting task. Although children are so cute and their little minds

capable of so much, there is so much more to them. We live in a world with so much diversity.

Even here in Marin County we can see an increase of diversity in Public schools. According to

Marin County Public school’s district information; the number of caucasian students have

lowered while students of other races have increased. This increase is making classrooms in our

area much more diverse and for some educators, this is a challenge. With this diversity come a

wide range of parents. Parents are huge influences on their children. They can inspire and

encourage them, and they can do the exact opposite. There are parents that work so much to

provide for their children, that they barely see them. There are parents who have many other

children or other children with special needs that require a large amount of time and attention.

There are parents who feel they are not knowledgable enough to help their child withs school

work. There are parents who do not speak English and cannot help their child with school work

either. And then there are parents who do not think school is important. We as educators need to

recognize the unique home-life situations for our students and help involve families. But the

question is: How do you create these strong family-school partnerships and connections?

My interest in this topic started when I was introduced to the Common Beliefs survey.

The statement that stood out to me the most was Common Belief 5: “When students come from
homes where educational achievement is not a high priority, they often don’t do their homework

and their parents don’t come to school events. This lack of parental support undermines my

efforts to teach these students.” This stood out to me because I feel like education was something

that my parents always stressed. They treated school like my job, and they expected me to do my

job. I can’t imagine not having that. When I was in school there was so much temptation to go be

with my friends and be social. My parents would always check my homework and other

schoolwork before I was allowed to do any of this. I think parent involvement in education is

crucial, but I do not know how to create that involvement when it is not there. I was so happy to

be able to research this topic and really become aware of all the strategies I can use as a teacher

to encourage parent school partnerships.

When reading more on the Common Belief 5’s background, it made more sense. It was

made it clear that a lot of the time it’s not that parents don’t want to be involved, its that they

don’t have the time or the resources. “The reasons why families don’t get involved are many.

They may lack interest, but more often parents cannot get to the school, feel that that they lack

the knowledge of resources to help, or feel that they do not know what their role should be. This

is especially true, of course, for families from some cultures, for those who do not feel

comfortable with English and for single parents who may work more than one job and have

responsibilities for caring for other children. Schools that support teachers in reaching out to

families in several ways, and that see family engagement as a school-wide responsibility, can

significantly increase the extent to which families help their children do well in school.” This

statement brings up the topic of parents who may not speak english not feeling like they have the

knowledge to help their child with school. Here in California, we have a large Spanish speaking
population so this is especially relevant. In Marin County Public schools alone, 27.7% of the

students are Hispanic. There is also a very high cost of living in California, so many parents have

to work more than one job. These reasons for lack of family involvement in school are serious

problems. I soon would see the effect of this lack of involvement, in a classroom.

I completed my fieldwork in a 2nd grade classroom at Penngrove Elementary School. On

my first day, I asked my directing teacher about the diversity in the classroom. She told me about

the different types of learning disabilities that many different children had; but she never

mentioned race. When I met the students, I realized it was a very racially diverse classroom. The

students were also very diverse when it came to their level of learning. I started noticing a trend,

many of children in the classroom seem to be really struggling. Some were struggling with the

curriculum and some were struggling with being social. Many of the children don’t have lunches

or snacks packed for them. And even more of the children don’t have their homework completed

when they come to school. After talking to my directing teacher, she started to fill me in on the

details of the students lives. Many of the children come from homes that make learning very

hard. They have different things going on at home that really affect their success in school. One

student has a parent in prison, and another has a parent in a halfway house. It broke my heart. I

could tell just by spending one day with these children that they were behind their classmates.

Those questions came back into my head: How do you create these strong family - school

partnerships and connections? How can we help these children?

While reading a journal article I learned about another new topic in family school

partnerships. This journal dives into the topic of education for black students. The statistics make

it clear, “Black students are three times more likely to be suspended from high school and at least
twice as likely to exit school without a high school diploma” (Aud et al., 2013). Something needs

to be done for these students. The journal states “One attempt to address the achievement gap

and improve the academic outcomes of Black students is to increase parent involvement in

schools. Parents’ involvement in their children’s education has a positive impact on student

academic achievement” (Auerbach, 2009; Lopez, 2012; Noguera, 2001). This attempt to increase

parent involvement has proved to be difficult. “While incorporating parents as partners in the

educational process is critical, the partnership is one in which parents of color are often

powerless, silenced, and marginalized” (Lewis & Foreman, 2002).

This brought a whole new view for me. This idea that racism affects family - school

partnerships was very sad for me to read. The journal states that parents of color are devalued

and perceived as lacking knowledge. They formed a study and found the experiences of Black

parents. Lack of Cultural Enrichment, Feeling Isolated, and Colorblind Racism and Cultural

Ignorance were the main experiences. Parents felt that they had a cultural disconnect with their

communities and that culturally relevant activities cost a lot of money, so they are not accessible

to many. The feeling of isolation came from the lack of support in the community, many spoke

about how they felt lonely. The problem of colorblind racism was the one that was the hardest

for me to read. This colorblind racism hurt so many of these parents. So many white people in

their community pretend not to notice race or color. They do and say awful and hurtful things

thinking they are being color blind. One parent said: “I worry if there is a situation, a police

officer’s gonna look at [my son] and put him in that group that I think they tend to put all Black

kids into: you’re a troublemaker, you come from a broken home.” (Yull, Blitz, Thompson, &

Murray)
 The study concluded with some recommendations. They stated that the first step:

“Professional development for all school personnel that includes the history of race in America

and highlights the social and cultural dynamics of privilege and oppression is beneficial.” (Yull,

Blitz, Thompson, & Murray) They believe that educating teachers and implementing a strategic

plan that integrates culturally responsive practices into the classroom is vital. We as teachers

need to know how home life characteristics might affect a student's experience in schools. This

statement about home life characteristics and race really spoke to me. “It is also critical to

unpack the complexities of poverty and race so that problems can be understood separately and

through their intersections. Becoming informed about the physiological impact of toxic stress

and trauma often associated with poverty helps school personnel to understand how this impacts

learning and behavior” (Yull, Blitz, Thompson, & Murray)

In conclusion, I have found that parent involvement is absolutely necessary in education.

Children are more likely to thrive in schools when their parents are motivating and supporting

them. This parent involvement can be difficult to get. There are parents that work so much to

provide for their children, that they barely see them. There are parents who have many other

children or other children with special needs that require a large amount of time and attention.

There are parents who feel they are not knowledgable enough to help their child withs school

work. There are parents who do not speak English and cannot help their child with school work

either. My research and personal experience has shown that it is so important to make parents

feel welcome and part of the community. Doing small things such as sending home notes in

Spanish for the Spanish speaking families can make all the change in the world. When racism is

brought into the classroom and affecting the family - school partnerships, it is important for
schools to implement a plan that integrates culturally responsive practices into the classroom.

Teachers need to be aware of these things that affect the family - school partnerships and do

everything they can to promote parent involvement. When parents are made aware that parent

involvement is linked to achievement and success in school (Nitecki), they can also work harder

to encourage their children.

 References

Auerbach, S. (2009). Walking the walk: Portraits in leadership for family engagement in urban

schools. School Community Journal, 19(1), 9–32. Retrieved from

http:www.schoolcommunitynetwork.org/SCJ.aspx

Aud, S., Wilkinson-Flicker, S., Kristapovich, P., Rathbun, A., Wang, X., & Zhang, J. (2013). e

condition of education 2013 (NCES 2013-037). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of

Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/

pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2013037

Lewis, A. E., & Forman, T. A. (2002). Contestation or collaboration? A comparative study of

home–school relations. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 33(1), 60–89.

Lopez, N. (2012). Hopeful girls, troubled boys: Race and gender inequality in urban education.

New York, NY: Routledge.

Nitecki, E. (2015). Integrated School-Family Partnerships in Preschool: Building Quality

Involvement Through Multidimensional Relationships. School Community Journal,

25(2), 195-219.

Noguera, P. A. (2001). Transforming urban schools through investment in the social capital

of parents. In S. Saegert, J. P. ompson, & M. R. Warren (Eds.), Social capital and poor

communities (pp. 189–212). New York, NY: Russell Sage.

Yull, D., Blitz, L. V., Thompson, T., & Murray, C. (2014). Can We Talk? Using Community-

Based Participatory Action Research to Build Family and School Partnerships with

Families of Color. School Community Journal, 24(2), 9.