Engaging African American Parents in the Schools: A Community-Based Consultation Model

Barriers and Facilitators to School-Based Parent Involvement for Parents of Urban Public Middle School Students

“…Parents’ self-efficacy for involvement may be a barrier to parents of low SES. For example, parents of limited educational backgrounds may lack the confidence to interact with teachers and navigate the school ( Kim, 2009 ; Koonce & Harper, 2005 ). For low-income African American parents, perceptions of racism as well as their own negative school experiences may shape their self-efficacy and serve to distance them from schools ( Van Velsor & Orozco, 2007 ).…”

“…However, power differentials related to educational achievement and professional expertise may lead to unequal relationships between parents and school staff, thereby marginalizing low-income parents instead of empowering them ( Barton, Drake, Perez, St. Louis, & George, 2004 ; Khan, 1996 ). Sometimes African American parents’ lack of confidence in their skills and capacity to interact with teachers ( Lareau & Shumar, 1996 ) and perceptions of racism may further distance them from the schools even when invitations to the school are given ( Koonce & Harper, 2005 ).…”

“…The impact of school and developmental transitions on parent involvement is compounded by a multitude of school and parent factors that serve as barriers to middle school parent involvement (e.g., Eccles & Harold, 1993 ; Gonzalez-DeHass & Willems, 2003 ; Kim, 2009 ). African American parents with low incomes and low educational attainment face considerable parent involvement barriers ( Halle, Kurtz-Costes, & Mahoney, 1997 ; Koonce & Harper, 2005 ; Trotman, 2001 ; Williams & Sanchez, 2013 ), and may experience these barriers to a greater extent than more advantaged parents or White parents do ( Frew, Zhou, Duran, Kwok, & Benz, 2012 ; Griffith, 1998 ). In the current study, we identify barriers to middle school parent involvement among a sample of predominately African American parents with low incomes and low levels of educational attainment whose children attend urban public middle schools.…”

Análisis de las características de la formación de familiares con colectivos vulnerables

“…La expectativa de "ayudar a los hijos" ha sido identificada como una variable que explica la participación de las familias en actividades de formación Walker, Wilkins, Dallaire, Sandler & Hoover-Dempsey, 2005). De acuerdo con la literatura previa, las variables que se suelen agrupar bajo epígrafes como motivational beliefs (Murray et al, 2014;Tuohilampi, 2016) sugieren que la autopercepción de las familias como incapaces de enseñar, las bajas expectativas adquiridas por autobiografías marcadas por la frustración y malos resultados académicos, la falta de self-efficacy limitan tanto la capacidad como la sensación y la motivación que tienen las familias para involucrarse en actividades de formación, principalmente con miras a ayudar a sus hijos (Kim, 2009;Koonce & Harper, 2005). Los resultados obtenidos en EDU-FAM sugieren que una actuación que contribuye a transformar estas barreras (muchas veces autoimpuestas) es ofrecer actividades de formación basadas en estándares de calidad (y no como una opción de remedial education).…”

The Strong African American Families–Teen Trial: Rationale, Design, Engagement Processes, and Family-Specific Effects

“…Moreover, many implementations of family-centered programs for adolescents rely on a school-based delivery system (Dishion & Kavanagh, 2000; Spoth et al, 2007). Schools, however, experience considerable difficulty in engaging parents in prevention efforts (Rohrbach et al, 1994; Stormshak, Dishion, Light, & Yasui, 2005); this is particularly true for African American parents, many of whom have not had positive experiences with school systems (Koonce & Harper, 2005). …”