Hillsdale Revisited: Can We Bridge the Gap of Unequal School/Lives Through Parent Narratives?

• In Event: 14.045 - Roundtable Session 2
  In Roundtable Session: 14.045-15 - The Role of Parents and Parent Narratives in Addressing School and Community Equity

Abstract

This study follows up on Brantlinger’s 2003 ethnographic study, Dividing Classes, and aims to pinpoint how parents, across social class distinctions, currently navigate personal interests for their children in the community referred to as “Hillsdale.” Given the expansion of “school choice” since Brantlinger’s study, these narratives reveal the complex, contradictory, personal/moral, and structural factors behind parental sense-making (Dervin, 1998) and decisions. As action researchers involved in local organizing for school equity and social justice, we want to understand the hidden and not-so-hidden ways parents are making sense of how power works to restrain and/or encourage their parental agency as they navigate school choices for their children. This research reveals challenges and opportunities as the struggle around school inequality continues.

Authors

• Christy Wessel-Powell, Purdue University

• Regina Marie Weir, Indiana University

• Bita Hazel Zakeri, Indiana University - Bloomington