Imagine this. I am a rather strong person, someone who is willing to take on challenges that inhibit Black and other minoritized children from reaching their potential in schools and society. When raising my son (now an adult and father), I always found parent-teacher conferences intimidating. Imagine that. There was usually more than one teacher, so I felt outnumbered. But as an educator myself, I knew that attending the meetings was essential so that educators would not dare to mistreat my son. Even after getting my doctoral degree and could attend the meetings as ‘Dr. Ford’, I was never called such. When my (former) husband, a university dean, would accompany me to meetings, I still felt outnumbered and on the defense. Imagine that. If this can happen to me with my credentials, what are other Black caregivers feeling about home-school relationships?
Dr. Donna Y. Ford
“Family engagement is a full, equal, and equitable partnership among families, educators, and community partners to promote children’s learning from birth through college and career.”
A litany of data and reports overwhelmingly demonstrate that families matter in every way, having a significant impact on all aspects of their children’s overall well-being – academically, cognitively, socio-emotionally, psychologically, and vocationally. Given the lower achievement and other negative outcomes of Black and Hispanic students in our schools often due to racial prejudice and discrimination (i.e., achievement and opportunity gaps, underachievement, excessive and unjust suspensions and expulsions, overrepresentation in special education, and underrepresentation in gifted and talented education, Advanced Placement), it behooves educators to not just increase minoritized students’ engagement, but to also increase their family’s engagement.
In 2022, the U.S. Department of Education created the “National Parents and Families Engagement Council to Help Ensure recovery Efforts Meet Students’ Needs.” More specifically, the council is designed to facilitate strong and effective relationships between schools and parents, families and caregivers. Families’ voices play a critical role in how the nation’s children are recovering from the pandemic (and more). They recognize the timeless adage that “Parents are a child’s first teachers, and there’s no one better equipped to work with schools and educators to identify what students need to recover” (U.S. Secretary of Education Dr. Miguel A. Cardona).
The council consists of parent, family, or caregiver representatives from national organizations that will work with the department to identify constructive ways to help families engage at the local level…. The council is a channel for parents and families to constructively participate in their children’s education by helping them understand the rights they have, create a feedback loop with schools to shape how American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds are deployed to meet students’ needs, and identify summer learning and enrichment opportunities for children in their communities.
Barriers to Black family engagement are numerous, too many to share in this short piece where I focus on school-based roadblocks. Mapp and Bergman (2021) in The Carnegie Reporter, and Good Reason Houston share several:
