ABSTRACT: This kindergarten-1st grade teacher is convinced
that engaging parents in their children’s education
is the key to bridging the gap in achievement. She
believes that the deficit lies in the majority culture’s
inability to respect and make bridges so that all
can succeed in a system that is stacked against
people of color, a system that ensures that white
children and their parents will stay on the top
of the academic and economic piles. This paper is a call to action as well as a manual
on how to effectively start and maintain parent
groups. It includes a bibliography for parents and
children. Because relationships and trust take time
to establish, persistence in starting and continuing
parent groups must be grounded in an underlying
belief in one’s absolute moral obligation to empower
parents of color to be advocates for their children’s
educational success. As this elementary school enters its sixth year
of parent groups, the author feels that the school
has only just begun to reach potential participants
and have merely scratched the surface of what this
can yield. She calls on readers to begin or continue
parent empowerment groups in their own settings. Data Collection Methods:
ACTIVITY LOGDISCUSSIONEVALUATION/FEEDBACK
STUDENT WORK
Study Descriptors:
PARENT COMPONENT RACE/EQUITYRELATIONSHIPS
SOCIAL JUSTICE
Barb
Rubin
Research
Focus:
Parental Involvement TNLI
Affiliate:
WisconsinSchool:
Franklin Elementary
1831 Rowley Ave.
Madison, WI 53705
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