Navigating Race, Racists, and Racism in Schools: Shifting the Analysis of Black Parental Involvement in Education

• In Event: Critical Issues in Parent Involvement: Race, Ethnicity, and Social Class

Abstract

Although schools are often presented as race neutral institutions, racial inequities persist in schools from academic achievement to student discipline. In spite of what seems to be a result of institutionalized racism, we live in an age of “racism without racists”. Thus, Black American parents have to respond to the difficult effects of institutional racism with little acknowledgement that these crimes are happening. I argue that racism has been under-theorized in studies analyzing parent involvement. Therefore, using critical race theory as a framework, this critical qualitative study, is devoted to understanding how race and racism play a role in parental involvement among Black parents and families in the age of race neutrality.

Author

• Jada A Phelps-Moultrie, Indiana University - Indianapolis