Whose Homework? How Parents’ and Teachers’ Expectations for Student Responsibility Reinforce Inequalities in School

• In Event: 1554 - Parenthood

Abstract

All parents want their children to be successful in school, but parents differ in the resources they have to support such success. Those differences may impact not only parents’ involvement in schooling but also the role they expect their children to play in managing their own success in school. Those expectations, in turn, may create a higher burden of responsibility for some students than for others and may, in doing so, contribute to inequalities in school. This study examines those possibilities by focusing on the case of homework, asking: 1) How independent are children expected to be with homework? 2) What consequences do children face for failing to meet those expectations? 3) How do those expectations and consequences vary across children? And 4) How might those variations contribute to larger patterns of inequality in school? I answer those questions using data from a longitudinal ethnographic a study of students, parents, and teachers in a socioeconomically diverse public elementary school. In terms of parents’ expectations, I find that marginalized parents expect a higher level of homework independence than do more privileged parents. Because of their limited time and resources, marginalized parents need their children to be responsible for remembering homework and completing it without prompting or assistance. Privileged parents want their children to be independent with homework, but they ultimately intervene to protect their children from the possibility (and consequences) of failure. Teachers, meanwhile, report a preference for homework independence, but their actions ultimately favor students who receive more parental support with homework, thereby reinforcing inequalities between marginalized students and their more privileged peers. I discuss the implications of those findings for research on inequalities in education and the role children, parents, teachers, and policymakers can play in alleviating inequalities in school.

Author

• Jessica McCrory Calarco, Indiana University