Valuing Community Cultural Capital in Schools Through Parent-Learning Walks

• In Event: School and District Reform: Examining What Works

Abstract

The study’s purpose was to investigate stakeholders’ experiences in school-family partnerships across three selected Southern California Local Education Agencies: Elderberry District, a middle school in Primrose District, and Goldfields, an independent charter school (names are pseudonyms). These three sites participated in a partnership that transferred Elderberry’s Parent-Learning Walk (PLW) classroom observation program to latter schools. To deepen our understanding of educators’ and families’ experiences, we posed the following research questions: How do educators develop asset-based policies and programming to partner with families? How do educational leaders align their PLWs with the sociocultural and historical backgrounds of students and families? The findings offer implementation strategies for curriculum-aligned cultural programming, family engagement, and increasing navigational capital through PLWs.

Authors

• Ashley Pham, Chapman University

• Angel Miles Nash, Chapman University

• Michelle Hall, Chapman University