Strategic Decision Making: Reframing Parent Involvement for Families of Color

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 31
  In Roundtable Session: Engaging Research Alongside Community, Family, and Students

Abstract

Parent involvement is often narrowly defined according to racialized and ableist notions that privilege certain school-sanctioned activities (e.g., Christianakis, 2011). When judged against these narrow definitions, families of color are positioned as being uninvolved or uncaring about their children’s education (e.g., Allen & White-Smith, 2018; Christianakis, 2011), or in denial about their children’s disability (Lalvani, 2014). The purpose of this paper is to counter prevailing perceptions that families of color are “uninvolved” by highlighting the ways that families of color make strategic decisions about when and how to engage in school-based parent involvement that combats racism and ableism. We argue for an expanded notion of parent involvement that considers the circumstances under which families of color make parent involvement decisions.

Authors

• Hailey Love, University of Wisconsin-Madison

• Subini Ancy Annamma, Stanford University

• Sylvia N Nyegenye, University of Kansas

• Courtney Wilt, University of Kansas