School Staff and Parent Perspectives on School Family Engagement Climate: Examining Racial Differences

• In Event: Early Lessons Learned From a Statewide Initiative to Build Dual Capacity for Family-School Partnerships

Abstract

Objectives:
We use survey data collected from parents and staff across 50 schools to examine (1) How does race relate to parent and staff perceptions of school family engagement climate? And (2) How do parent and staff perceptions compare to one another?

Theoretical framework: Transformational family engagement strategies must interrupt deeply ingrained beliefs about low-income and BIPOC families (Warren & Mapp, 2011). Accordingly, the DCBF asserts that cognition is important to staff and parent capacity building, but there is little research on how parent and staff perceptions of schools align or differ.

Methods:
We use OLS regression models to examine racial/ethnic differences in parent and school staff member responses to surveys that address a variety of topics related to family engagement. Additionally, we examine 455 school staff responses to an open-ended question about their perceptions of barriers to family engagement.

Data sources:
The data come from surveys of parents (N = 1,954) and school staff (N = 1,200) from 50 public schools in Kentucky. Similar to the composition of the state, over 90% of both parents and staff were white (90%), with smaller proportions of Black, Hispanic, and Asian participants. Thus, we could only explore differences between white respondents and respondents of color.

Results:
Relative to parents of color, white parents had significantly higher (a) knowledge about academics; (b) perceptions of school outreach to families, (c) perceptions of welcoming and culturally responsive school climate, and (d) perceptions of the school’s climate, even while controlling for income and education. The differences, while statistically significant, all had a magnitude of less than 0.5 on a 5-point scale. Among staff, there were no statistically significant differences between white respondents and respondents of color in their perceptions of (a) the extent to which they had invited parent involvement; (b) school outreach to families; and (c) the school’s climate for family leadership.

Parents had a poorer perception of school outreach to families than staff, particularly parents of color. Whereas school staff had fairly high perceptions of school outreach (M = 4.15, SD = 1.07), white parents reported lower levels (M = 3.99, SD = 1.04) and parents of color even lower levels (M = 3.57, SD = 1.22). A similar pattern existed for climate for family leadership, where staff responses (M = 3.34, SD = 0.93) more closely aligned to those of white parents (M = 3.23, SD = 1.06) than parents of color (M = 3.07, SD = 1.20), although differences were less pronounced. Staff open-ended responses illuminated these differences: the primary theme was that parents - rather than the school - were the barrier to family engagement, whether because of their apathy, dysfunction, poverty, or a related perceived deficiency.

Significance:
As perceptions drive decision-making and behavior, understanding how staff and parents - particularly parents of color - perceive opportunities for family engagement differently illuminates the need for families and staff to arrive at common understandings of what it means for schools to develop meaningful home-school partnership.

Authors

• Benjamin W. Fisher, Florida State University

• Joanna D. Geller, New York University