Minority Parent and Community Engagement

[Pages:44]Minority Parent and Community Engagement:

Best Practices and Policy Recommendations for Closing the Gaps in Student Achievement

The National Education Association is the nation's largest professional employee organization, representing 3.2 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired teachers, and students preparing to become teachers.

Published June 2010

Copyright ? 2010

Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund 634 S. Spring Street, 11th Floor Los Angeles, CA 90014

National Education Association of the United States Office of Minority Community Outreach 1201 16th Street N.W. Washington, DC 20036

All Rights Reserved

Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund

Founded in 1968, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) is the nation's leading Latino legal civil rights organization. Often described as the"law firm of the Latino community", MALDEF promotes social change through advocacy, communications, community education, and litigation in the areas of education, employment, immigrant rights, and political access

Parent School Partnership

Since 1989, MALDEF's Parent School Partnership (PSP) program has empowered parents and community leaders throughout the nation to become change agents in their communities. The PSP program provides them with the tools necessary to become effective advocates in improving their children's educational attainment.

National Education Association

We, the members of the National Education Association of the United States, are the voice of education professionals. Our work is fundamental to the nation, and we accept the profound trust placed in us.

Vision

Our vision is a great public school for every student.

Mission

Our mission is to advocate for education professionals and to unite our members and the nation to fulfill the promise of public education to prepare every student to succeed in a diverse and interdependent world.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The National Education Association (NEA) and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) are grateful for the invaluable work of numerous individuals who contributed to this report. NEA staff who worked on the report include: Robin Butterfield, Matthew Finucane, Rita Jaramillo, William Moreno, and Cynthia Swann. MALDEF expresses appreciation to: Araceli Simeon-Luna, Veronica Rivera, Gabriela Hurtado, and Gina Montoya.

NEA and MALDEF would also like to thank the many parents and staff of different programs and organizations from all over the country who took the time to participate in the MALDEF/NEA Ethnic Minority Parent Engagement Summit to share their expertise with us.

National Indian Parent Information Center National Indian School Board Association National Latino Children's Institute National Parent Teacher Association Parent Institute for Quality Education Parent Organization Network Parents for Public Schools, Inc. Southeast Asia Resource Action Center Southern Echo, Inc. University of California at Santa Barbara/ Office of Academic Preparation University of California at Los Angeles/ Institute for Democracy, Education and Access (IDEA)

A very special thank you to Southwest Airlines for "sharing the spirit"through their generous support of the summit.

We would also like to give special thanks to the Summit Advisory Committee which met over the summer to help plan the event. The Committee Members include representatives from the following organizations:

Appleseed, Inc. Asian Pacific American Legal Center ASPIRA Association, Inc. AVANCE, Inc. Boston Parent Organizing Network Center for Community Development and Civil Rights of the Arizona State University Center for Parent Leadership/ Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Intercultural Development Research Association National Indian Education Association

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Letter from MALDEF's President and General Counsel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Letter from NEA's President. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Introduction to Improving Ethnic Minority Parent and Community Engagement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

ethnic minority organization's best Practices for Engaging Minority Parents. . 17 A.Practices and Strategies from Organizations Serving the

African-American/Black Community. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 B.Practices and Strategies from Organizations Serving the

American Indian and Alaska Native Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 C.Practices and Strategies from Organizations Serving the

Asian American and Pacific Islander Community. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 D.Practices and Strategies from Organizations Serving the

Hispanic/Latino Community. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 E.Practices and Strategies from Organizations Serving Parents

from Multiple Racial or Ethnic Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Common Barriers Hindering Parent Engagement & Successful Strategies to Overcome Them A. Lack of Relationship Building Between and School Officials and Parents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 B. Lack of Trust in School Officials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 C. Parents' and School Officials' Beliefs and Assumptions Engender Fear and Mistrust . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 D.Lack of Cultural Competency Creates Unwelcoming Environments

for Ethnic Minority Parents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 E.Lack of Understanding of the Roles and Responsibilities of the

Local School Board and School Districts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 F.Lack of Funding and Coordination of Resources to

Provide Services to Parents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 G. Failure to Prioritize Parent Engagement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 H. Failure to Adjust to the Role of Parent Involvement in the 21st Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 I. Key Challenges to Specific Racial and Ethnic Minority Subgroups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Policy Recommendations to Improve Ethnic Minority Parent and Community Engagement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

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A.Increase Accountability for the Implementation of Parent Engagement Plans and Policies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

B. Increase Professional Development for School Staff and Parent Engagement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 C. Increase Funding for Parent Involvement/Engagement in Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 D.Standardize Parent Engagement Through a Parent

Engagement Act and Other Legislation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 E. Support the Expansion of Community Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 F. Address Linguistic Diversity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 G. Other. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42

Works Cited. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

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