Family Engagement and an Ethos of Community Organizing: Negotiating Belonging and Membership Within Education Policy Making

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 11:40 am Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Leadership at the Crossroads: Navigating Race, Racism, Power, and Community-Driven Leadership (Table 8)

Abstract

Research shows how families have sought to partner with educators to foster more inclusive educational environments. Yet, they are often confronted with the formal and rationalizing logic that structure schools, making it difficult to nurture relationships and develop a sense of belonging. In this paper, I conduct a field-level analysis of a diverse urban district to explore how various stakeholders—parents, district staff, and community partners— negotiate a sense of belonging and membership within decision-making venues to influence district-wide policy. The findings demonstrate how stakeholders drew from principles of community organizing to foster a sense of belonging and built power to gain access to decision-making spaces, suggesting their influence in expanding whose experience matters and belongs within education policymaking.

Author

• Diana Casanova, California Department of Education