Writing for and with Families: Centering Parental Voice in Urban Education Research

• In Event: Reconstructing School-Family Partnerships in Urban Schools through Culturally Sustaining Leadership

Abstract

This paper explores how writing collectives rooted in equity and relational scholarship can uplift the often-silenced voices of parents in urban school systems. Grounded in a critical literature review of family engagement, culturally responsive leadership, and urban parental advocacy, the authors interrogate how deficit-based narratives continue to shape educational policy and research. Drawing on their own collaborative writing practice, the authors illustrate how writing circles can operate as generative spaces for re-framing parental engagement—not as compliance, but as resistance and leadership. The paper concludes with a framework for engaging families as co-authors in knowledge production and school reform, offering recommendations for scholars committed to justice-based community research.

Authors

• Gina Delgado, UnidoUS

• Carmen Beck, California State University - San Bernardino

• LeAnne C. Salazar Montoya, University of Nevada - Las Vegas