Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges: School Opportunities for Family Engagement and Advancing Educational Equity (Poster 20)

• In Event: AERA Promising Scholarship in Education Research: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research

Abstract

"This dissertation explores the extent to which school opportunities for family engagement (FE)—or the school-level routines and practices that build relationships with families—address or exacerbate challenges to FE. The three studies use data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11.
The first study uses parent data and path analysis to examine how family characteristics, including race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status (SES), relate to FE and the barriers confronted by families. The findings suggest that scheduling and environmental barriers negatively mediate the relationship between family background and FE practices conducted at school; barriers are unrelated to FE practices conducted at home. Schools may be systematically excluding some racialized and lower-income families by emphasizing school-based practices.
The second study uses school-level data and latent profile analysis to categorize schools with similar opportunities for FE. This reveals variations in the quantity and the types of FE practices emphasized by schools. The third study, using multi-group path analysis, explores how the relationships identified in the first study differ across the school profiles identified in the second study. Preliminary analyses indicate that schools with high outreach to families may weaken the association between family background characteristics and barriers, suggesting a reduction in the systematic exclusion of minoritized families.
This dissertation suggests that when schools critically implement FE—particularly focusing on outreach to families—school-based FE experiences may become more equitable. Schools should also recognize and encourage the home-based practices that are already conducted by minoritized families and less hindered by barriers."

Author

• Megumi G. Hine, Washington University in St. Louis