Parent Engagement Discussion

Welcome ED-CIFS 661 Group! For my self-selected book review, I chose to read Bicultural Parent Engagement: Advocacy and Empowerment, edited by Edward M. Olivos, Oscar Jiménez-Castellanos, and Alberto M. Ochoa. I look forward to discussing how we as professionals view and enact our visions of the role of parents in schools, as well as a close examination of values inherent in our actions. General blog readers that are not in ED-CIFS 661, please feel free to join in the conversation. We would love to learn with you!

In the book, the editors made a distinction between parent involvement and parent engagement, stating, "The generic term parent involvement therefore conjures up a passive one-way connection that benefits the school and places the accountability of student success and failure exclusively on the parent/family. In contrast, parent engagement, in our view, is a school-community process designed to bring or construct an open relationship between school personnel and the parent community in support of the student's social and academic development," (p. 11). 

Below are different avenues to consider/think about the content of the text. Please post one comment in order to respond to any of the prompts. Then post at least one reply to someone else's comment in order to engage in a professional dialogue. Feel free to leave links to relevant resources.

Questions to consider:

• How would you describe the role of parents in a school with which you are familiar? Does it seem to align with involvement valuing school-identified needs or does it seem to be an engagement model that fosters a collaborative process?
• Does the culture of parent-school interactions present "serve to replicate the status quo" (p. 4), or does it seek to empower parents and foster support for social change? To whose values are the interactions aligned - solely to the dominant culture or does it recognize the value of a range of cultures represented in the school community?
• What do you think teachers and schools can realistically do in order to improve school-family objectives?
• What is an idea that you have experienced or heard of that appeared to be especially beneficial? 
• How can educators build their capacity about the needs of parents and families in order to have culturally responsive models of parent engagement?

Video Responses:

What is your reaction to the way parent engagement is portrayed in either of these videos? Note that both videos portray public charter schools; however, the ideas shared are also present in some regular public school contexts, such as Taft Elementary in Boise.

A Model for Parent Engagement:

The UCLA Parent Curriculum Project is featured in Bicultural Parent Engagement (Johnson, 2011). View the following site providing background about the program. Reflect on the possibilities when such a program is in place or any other university-community partnerships that can support school-parent interactions. The link is to the general program overview. Once at the site, you can click on Who We Are and Programs Offered on the left hand side of the page for further information.

Response to a Comment in the Book Review:
Feel free to share any other thoughts about something that stood out to you or that you thought about while reading my review of the text. 

Johnson, M. (2011). A parent advocate’s vision of a 21st-century model for bicultural parent engagement. In E. M. Olivos, O. Jiménez-Castellanos, & A. M. Ochoa (Eds.), Bicultural parent engagement: Advocacy and empowerment (pp. 145-158). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Olivos, E. M., Ochoa, A. M., & Jiménez-Castellanos, O. (2011). Critical voices in bicultural parent engagement: A framework for transformation. In E. M. Olivos, O. Jiménez-Castellanos, & A. M. Ochoa (Eds.), Bicultural parent engagement: Advocacy and empowerment (pp. 1-17). New York, NY: Teachers College Press. 

Change Leader

This summer I first heard about Michael Fullan and read one of his books, What's Worth Fighting For in Your School?, for a course. His professional voice and insights automatically hooked me because I could relate so much. Earlier phases of my career clicked into place as I thought about why the difference between school cultures that foster a value of building capacity vs. those that focus on one-size-fits-all programs felt so different.

When I was recently searching Amazon for some PD leadership books, Fullan was one of the names that came to mind. Over spring break I read his Change Leader: Learning to Do What Matters Most. When I first pulled it out of the box, I thought that I probably had not selected the best of all of his available books for my purpose. I realized that there was a pretty heavy focus on the business world, rather than being mainly an education leadership book. However, as I started to read, I was glad that I got this book. The About the Author section stated, "Fullan bases his work on policy and practice drawn from both the public and private sectors, finding and increasing convergence in the best of this literature," (p. xvii), and that was apparent throughout the text. Even when it was a business example, there was so much cross-over into educational context relevancy.

After a brief preface to frame the book, Fullan broke this book, which is the third in a set of three books he wrote for Jossey-Bass, into seven chapters. Each chapter highlights core practices of change leaders. He illustrates why each is vital, while always emphasizing that the different components are interrelated and even though they appear simple, it can be complex. There were also links to texts that I have previously read, both directly (such as Pink's Drive) and indirectly. Fullan included a self-assessment on page 63 to support self-reflection and to facilitate implications for future practice. What I appreciated most about the book was the constant emphasis once again on the merits of building capacity, as well as highlighting the value in professional experiences to drive practice. He had many statements to prompt thoughts about the role of theory, research, and practice.

Fullan's books are direct and to the point, written in an easy to read/clearly organized format, thought provoking, and inspiring. While reading this book, I made a note of one of his earlier books that he referenced that I wanted to read, All Systems Go. Then I received a Teachers College Press catalog in the mail and saw that he and Andy Hargreaves (who was actually a co-author of What's Worth Fighting For in Your School? as well) have a new book that was just released in March, Professional Capital: Transforming Teaching in Every School. One of my colleagues who was very familiar with Fullan before this summer talked about how his books have a lot of cross-over or ideas that are restated. Based on the titles and thinking about core ideas in the two I have already read, I can see how that is the case. And yet, I still added both to my Amazon cart and will be receiving them this week. There's just something about his voice and the examples he uses that make so much sense. I know that there is still a lot that I can learn with him by reading his books.

Turning High-Poverty Schools Into High-Performing Schools

At the start of spring semester, a colleague in my doctoral program showed me a book that was just published by a couple of professors at our university, William Parrett and Kathleen Budge. While I have not been able to take a class with either of the professors, I have heard many positive comments about both as researchers, leaders, and mentors throughout my program. When I saw the title of the book, Turning High-Poverty Schools into High-Performing Schools, as well as heard what it was about, I could not wait to read it.

In the book Parrett and Budge synthesize research related to poverty and provide a framework for action in order to prompt high-poverty, high-performance (HP/HP) schools. Their framework is not a one-size fits all approach, but rather a foundation for building capacity and reflective practice in order to carefully meet the needs of students living in poverty. Various components of their book supported their vision, providing frequent self-assessments and questions to prompt a high level of reflection. Many of their figures provided continuums with descriptors to support careful analysis.

In order to consider the effectiveness of the framework, the authors conducted research of seven HP/HP schools in various regions of the United States. After providing a context for each of the schools in an early chapter, the authors continued to highlight specific examples of these (and other schools) while explaining ideas. Showing multiple possibilities of practice aligned to needs of the specific schools, communities, and students, strengthened the overall presentation of concepts in the text.

One of my favorite features in the book were illustrative examples of "Uncommon sense," framed by an explanation in the introduction, "Leaders in the schools we studied consistently considered the research base in the context of their own schools. They also used strategies that were uncommon but made sense in the school context. We call this out-of-the-box thinking 'uncommon sense,'" (p. 4). While reading I made frequent notes of ideas that I want to continue to consider and reflect upon as my colleagues and I continue to collaborate and think outside of the box for the benefit of the students in our school.

Bicultural Parent Engagement: Advocacy and Empowerment

With Bicultural Parent Engagement: Advocacy and Empowerment, editors Edward M. Olivos, Oscar Jiménez-Castellanos, and Alberto M. Ochoa compiled current voices considering parent involvement and engagement, through the lenses of additive multicultural perspectives, critical perspectives, and operationalizing transformative parent engagement to express concerns that frequently cited models of parent involvement do not meet the needs of bicultural parents. The contributors’ discussions prompt readers to carefully examine how we define parent involvement and who is in control when determining potential roles, and as a result, the messages that we send with the way that we encourage avenues for parent involvement. As the editors state, “One of the goals of this book is to raise critical questions that will problematize how the current conceptualizations about parent involvement in public schools serve to replicate the status quo,” (Olivos, Ochoa, & Jiménez-Castellanos, p. 4).   

While discussing terminology, the editors describe the intentional word choice of engagement, rather than involvement, in the title as they see a need for more than mere involvement when considering needs of bicultural families and students. They explain, “The generic term parent involvement therefore conjures up a passive, one-way connection that benefits the school and places the accountability of student success and failure exclusively on the parent/family. In contrast, parent engagement, in our view, is a school-community process designed to bring or construct an open relationship between school personnel and the parent community in support of the students’s social and academic development,” (p. 11). After framing the book with this distinction, as well as stating, “Our ultimate goal is the transformation of schools into authentic institutions of learning and tools for social growth,” (p. 13) various chapters present research of a range of communities and interactions between families and schools. 

The text provides an excellent resource for school communities to consider their own conceptions, considering whether structures are in place to support parent involvement or parent engagement and then determine whether avenues in place are sending unintentional messages based on the inherent values of those systems. As contributors explore underlying issues in depth, educators may be considering some aspects mentioned for the first time. For example, those who have frequently heard Epstein’s Model mentioned with high regard, might be surprised to hear about its shortcomings with relation to bicultural parents. 

However, the text does not just point out limitations of popular models, it explores and provides solutions. One team of contributors, Moreno, Lewis-Menchaca, and Rodriguez (2011) propose, “In addition to emphasizing parents’ role as teachers, we propose adopting a parallel model of ‘teachers as compadres,’ or teachers as co-parent. If schools embrace the notion of teachers as compadres, then the caregiving role of the teachers become explicit. Just as the notion of ‘parents as teachers’ implies a particular teaching role for parents, ‘teachers as compadres’ implies a specific investment in the well-being of the child,” (p. 34). They emphasize that parents and teachers work as a team to focus on the well-being of children. I appreciated this role, and in particular, I instantly pictured one of my colleagues, who is already living the role of "teacher as compadre". In addition to the overarching theme of democratic schooling ideals, contributors provided suggestions focusing on specific aspects, such as cultural proficiency (Lindsey & Lindsey, 2011) and parents as action researchers (Montero-Sieburth, 2011). 

At times, contributors portray a sense of schools vs. parents, a distrust that schools are not working in the best interest for all of their students, but rather seeking to maintain certain aspects to the benefit of White cultural groups. For example, Johnson (2011) states, “The empowerment of working-class parents of color often makes school authorities, including classroom teachers, uncomfortable, as is the case in our work,” (p. 149). Referring to one program that UCLA offered to educate and support parents in being able to advocate for their children, Johnson (2011) explained that one principal expressed that she would not have supported a program had she realized the content of the trainings. Johnson (2001) stated, “These are the attitudes parents of color often face when they try to become advocates for their children. As long as we are humble in our demeanor, meek in our requests, and obedient in our relationships with school ‘experts,’ we are accepted in the schools. When we ask hard questions, demonstrate frustration, and make demands for basic educational rights, we are often rebuffed, repressed, and resisted by school personnel,” (p. 150). As a result, at times there is a sense of fostering collaborative relationships among educators and parents, while at other times contributors describe a sense of organizations outside of the school empowering parents in order to hold schools accountable.

When carefully analyzing existing systems in place based on ideas presented in the text, it is vital to consider which layers of support are feasible for both educators and parents, specifically with balancing other responsibilities and roles. However, it would be unfortunate to use time constraints as an excuse to disregard the concepts. Instead, educators and parents can carefully examine parent models, aims of the models, and alignment to the needs of parents represented in the school community in order to work toward continual growth. 

Anytime educators are called to consider a paradigm shift, much discussion and debate is necessary to truly engage in reflective practice and thoughtful decision-making. This text provides teachers with multiple lenses and angles from which to consider the way that we conceptualize the roles of parents in contemporary education in the United States. Each school will need to determine where they fall in relation to the contexts mentioned in the text; however, educators will have plenty to ponder in relation to the various perspectives that the contributors present. By expanding our own understandings, we can then consider the specific context of our schools and the needs of our students, in order to think of means to work as a team with parents to foster collaborative efforts to work toward the overall well-being of children (not just academic success) as the text suggests. By critically analyzing our school communities, both teachers and parents can expand current capacity together.

Chapters Specifically Mentioned:

Johnson, M. (2011). A parent advocate’s vision of a 21st-century model for bicultural parent engagement. In E. M. Olivos, O. Jiménez-Castellanos, & A. M. Ochoa (Eds.), Bicultural parent engagement: Advocacy and empowerment (pp. 145-158). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Lindsey, D. B. & Lindsey, R. B. (2011). Culturally proficient school communities: Connecting Bicultural parents to schools. In E. M. Olivos, O. Jiménez-Castellanos, & A. M. Ochoa (Eds.), Bicultural parent engagement: Advocacy and empowerment (pp. 39-57). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Montero-Sieburth, M. (2011). Bicultural parents as transformative change agents through action research in schools and in the community. In E. M. Olivos, O. Jiménez-Castellanos, & A. M. Ochoa (Eds.), Bicultural parent engagement: Advocacy and empowerment (pp. 159-185). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Moreno, R. P., Lewis-Menchaca, K, & Rodriguez, J. (2011). Parental involvement in the home: A critical view through a multicultural lens. In E. M. Olivos, O. Jiménez-Castellanos, & A. M. Ochoa (Eds.), Bicultural parent engagement: Advocacy and empowerment (pp. 21-38). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Olivos, E. M., Ochoa, A. M., & Jiménez-Castellanos, O. (2011). Critical voices in bicultural parent engagement: A framework for transformation. In E. M. Olivos, O. Jiménez-Castellanos, & A. M. Ochoa (Eds.), Bicultural parent engagement: Advocacy and empowerment (pp. 1-17). New York, NY: Teachers College Press. 

Write Like This

Kelly Gallagher's Write Like This: Teaching Real-World Writing Through Modeling & Mentor Texts made me even more excited to be going back to my 6-8 language arts classroom next fall. As with his other books I loved his voice and convictions related to teaching. This is a nice complementary text to Penny Kittle's Write Beside Them, one of my favorites. Both of the books heavily focus on the value of teachers writing with their students.

Gallagher organized Write Like This by starting with a rationale chapter highlighting the importance of writing instruction, followed by six chapters explaining how to scaffold specific writing purposes, a chapter about revision and editing, and a concluding chapter. Each of the writing purpose chapters provided multiple layers of support in order to familiarize students with writing related to the purpose that students would be able to connect to in their everyday lives (as well as in their future lives as productive citizens). I loved that the ideas will provide me with a lot of different ways to explore in my own writer's notebook over the summer.

The final chapter highlighted Gallagher's ten core values that have emerged over time throughout his teaching career. Gallagher stated, "If I sit and think about how daunting it is to walk into a classroom with the intention of teaching wave after wave of adolescents how to become better writers, it can be overwhelming. One way I avoid becoming overwhelmed is by consciously returning to my core beliefs--the philosophical underpinnings, if you will, of my approach to teaching writing," (p. 223). I agree with Gallagher, it is energizing as a teacher to return to core beliefs, to think about our convictions and our students and focus on what really matters in education. I continue to be inspired by Kelly Gallagher and am excited that I still have another one of his books, Teaching Adolescent Writers, on my TBR shelf.

Research Thoughts

Yesterday I posted about Living the Questions and about shifting a focus to view myself as a teacher-researcher. I have some ideas in mind about what I will research next year, and I look forward to mapping out my ideas into a more formal (yet tentative) plan during the summer. However, I know one thing for sure. One of my goals next year will be to capture and document more of the everyday life of my classroom.

In Living the Questions Shagoury and Power stated, "[...] much teacher research is rich in classroom anecdotes and personal stories," (p. 2). On my blog I often reflect about my students and my teaching, which I will continue to do, but I want to also focus on slice of life story style writing. I want to better capture book club conversations, casual conversations with students about books, read aloud discussions, conferences... Regardless of the research question, I agree with Shagoury and Powers, stories about teaching and my students will add so much.

I already participate in Two Writing Teachers' Slice of Life Story Tuesdays and the month long challenge on another blog, but I often focus more on my family. At times when I slice about school, I do not get as detailed with posts about individual students since it is so public. Instead, I will start a writer's notebook dedicated to classroom slices where I can candidly capture those moments and then later I can decide about sharing with student consent. I am excited to see what I will notice and discover in the years to come.

Another avenue that I am excited to mention to my colleagues is considering a staff research group. We already have a book club where we meet once a month at a local coffee shop. Some of my colleagues are approaching the point in their Master's programs where they will be conducting thesis research. If they are interested, I would love to grow together as researchers. Living the Questions would be a great resource to support us as we navigate the process together.

Living the Questions

"Asking questions of our classrooms is as natural as breathing. Teachers who conduct classroom-based research turn those wonderings into research questions they can systematically pursue," (p. 30). -JoAnn Portalupi in Living the Questions

This year has been a big year for me. I am in the last year of my doctoral program, finishing up my last classes and working on my dissertation (which I hope to defend in the summer or early fall). Another big shift was that I took a one-year-leave of absence from my 6th-8th grade dual immersion classroom where I taught reading and writing workshop. I have been thinking a lot about what I still want to do as an educator and what my dreams are after completing my doctoral program. Recently I decided that I will return to my classroom in the fall. This year I have discovered that I would have been happy in higher ed as well, but Kassia Wedekind summed it up well in her recent post reflecting on her own career related decision, "But the classroom is where I belong. For now."

It is often hard to pinpoint change over time, but I know for sure that one aspect that will be different is that I now view myself as a teacher-researcher and am excited to have a more intentional and focused research process throughout the year, in addition to observing and reflecting about various aspects as I have in other years. However, in my doctoral coursework, it seems that I hear more often about outside researchers. So much so that I almost sought a route to focus my dissertation on someone else's classroom. Thankfully, my committee guided me back to focusing on my teaching journey and my students, realizing that passions related to my topic were grounded in my experiences.

Knowing that I will be back in my classroom next year, it would only make sense that my research would center on self-study and practitioner research. As such, I was so excited to read Ruth Shagoury and Brenda Miller Power's Living the Questions: A Guide for Teacher-Researchers, second edition. I recognized Brenda Power's name from the Choice Literacy e-newsletter, so it was nice to learn more about teacher research from a voice I recognized, along with another colleague.

The book is organized into eight chapters, beginning with a rationale for teacher research, and then walking through various stages of the research process, including how to sustain research. I loved that the epilogue was titled "Why Not Teacher Research?", an invitation to get started. Each chapter had a balance of narrative from the authors mixed with features from other teacher-researchers, providing glimpses into many different ways to go about research within our classrooms. The appendix also had another set of sample research plans. I loved that I could connect to different plans in different ways, and thought of colleagues for others. It seems that the authors intentionally tried to have a nice balance of topics and methods.

Living the Questions will be a good resource to have and revisit throughout the research process. Tomorrow I will be posting about some of my thoughts on research for next year.