Promoting Social Justice Through Home-to-School Connections: Leadership Supporting Parental Involvement in High Needs Schools. Brett C. Savage, Georgia State University
The purpose of this study is to examine the leadership qualities exhibited and actions taken in a high-needs, urban elementary school that has actively involved parents and is experiencing success with regards to student achievement on state-mandated standardized tests. Drawing on social justice leadership theory, this study will analyze semistructured interviews through case study methodology to understand how a leaders in a single high-needs, academically successful elementary prioritize, facilitate, and utilize parental involvement.
Centering Community in Collaborative Approaches to Educational Leadership: Contributions of Families’ Epistemology, Agency, and Resistance. Camille M. Wilson, University of Michigan; Muhammad Khalifa, University of Minnesota; Ann M. Ishimaru, University of Washington
This paper introduces a critical framework for “centering community” that promotes school-family-community engagement practices that af rm diversity, inclusion, and culturally relevant practice. The framework integrates five core themes related to educational leaders’ better understanding and responding to communities’ epistemologies, educational experiences, identities, and disengagement or political resistance. It considers important power differentials and families’ varied sense of educational agency. Our research in Detroit and metropolitan Seattle informs recommendations for community-based leadership, coalitions, and activism.
“It Was a Life-Threatening Problem”: Critical Moments Experienced by Parents and (Re)framing Parental Engagement. Erica Fernández, Michele Femc-Bagwell (University of Connecticut)
This study uses photographs and personal narratives taken by parents/caregivers of students enrolled in public schools located in urban settings to understand how they conceptualize parental engagement. Moreover, this paper expands our conceptualization of engagement by centering on a critical moment for parents related to their parental engagement experiences
(i.e. crossing the border) while also providing school leaders, practitioners, and scholars with implications for understanding and encouraging the multiple perceptions of parental engagement.
Pursuing Equitable Family Engagement Through a School District–University Partnership. Rebecca Lowenhaupt, Sarah Bradley, Joi Dallas, Nicholl Montgomery (Boston College)
This paper presents a study of a university–school district partnership focused on increasing family engagement. The paper explores the nature and impact of the partnership as a strategy to increase equity in a district serving an increasingly diverse student population. We found that the design of the partnership facilitated the development of strategies to support families that generally struggle to engage with their schools. We end with a set of implications for future partnerships.
