Equity in School–Parent Partnerships: Cultivating Community and Family Trust in Culturally Diverse Classrooms

Socorro G. Herrera · Lisa Porter · Katherine Barko-Alva

01/2020 · Teachers College Press

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Starting from the premise that children learn better when their learning community respects their families and cultures, this thought-provoking resource shows what it means—and what it takes— to include today’s diverse parents in their children’s learning. Moving readers away from out-of-date practices that can potentially marginalize and devalue the cultural assets of families, the authors provide practical, ready-to-use strategies to help schools re-envision the meaning of parental involvement and engagement. Based on the research and K–12 teaching experience of three educators, chapters address contemporary issues such as the absent parent, homework, vulnerable populations, limitations of current school-based family programs, and pedagogies of hope.

“Framed by the work of critical pedagogues, such as Freire, Bourdieu, and Noddings, the authors skillfully guide educators toward disrupting fossilized educational practices while building confianza, cariño, y respeto (trust, loving care, and respect) with culturally and linguistically diverse families. This book fills a critical need and a step forward in rehumanizing education in the 21st century.”
—Maria R. Coady, University of Florida

“In this book Herrera and Barko-Alva invite educators to reframe and re-imagine traditional, top-down, school-centered parent involvement, and propose a new paradigm that centers family engagement as locally informed, assets-based relationship-building (‘radical kinship’) and as a process of mutual accommodation. As parent involvement has become a centerpiece of school reform, this book is a must-read for all educators, including administrators.”
—Ester de Jong, University of Florida; president of TESOL International Association (2017–2018)