Stakeholder Engagement and School Reform: How Families and Communities Build Power to Affect Education Policy

• In Event: Advocating, Educating, and Policy Making: Family and Community Engagement to Advance Equity

Abstract

Researchers underscore that parent involvement in schools yields positive outcomes. However, families engaging in district-wide planning decisions are relatively uncharted territory. This case study is a field-level analysis of a district-wide family and community engagement process that tracks the resources and challenges that flow through the district to explore the relationship between school reform, democratic engagement, and patterns of interaction between key stakeholder groups (e.g., district administrators, community-based organizations, and parents). Findings demonstrate the ways that conflict and crisis have shifted the value placed in engaging and learning from the lived experiences of families and community and highlight the persistent tension between what it means to engage in shared decision making.

Author

• Diana Casanova, University of California - Berkeley