Mat 641 - Where Are Our Parents?

Where Are Our Parents?

By

Terri Edinburgh

May 29, 2010

MAT 641

Education and Social Pluralism

Where Are Our Parents?

        One of the fondest memories I have of school was making the winning shot at my basketball game and looking over to see the smiles on my parents faces and hear them cheering me from the stands.  Another not so fond memory of school was getting a royal tongue lashing for not getting my homework done.  Whether my memories of school are of the fondest kind…. or the not so fond kind, what I remember most were my parents being involved.  Not only were my parents involved, so were most of the other parents.  There were always enough volunteers for school dances, school field trips, after school activities and an abundance of parent tutors.  Unfortunately for students today, especially students of color and students with disabilities, parent involvement is a novelty that they do not always get to enjoy… or not enjoy depending on how you look at it.  Why is this a problem?  This paper will not only attempt to answer that question, but also look at a solution to the problem, challenges in implementing this solution, strategies to overcome these challenges and conclude with who benefits from this solution.

        I chose to tackle this issue because, as a special education teacher myself, I struggle with parent involvement even more so then regular education teachers.  Banks & Banks states that the involvement of culturally and linguistically diverse groups (CLD) parents in their child’s special education is significantly less than their majority culture counterparts  The call for parent help on field trips were to no avail.  Parent involvement in IEP’s was at a minimal; if they even bothered to show up at all.  An attempt at a back-to-school night for our students and there parents brought in one family out of twelve.  Although IDEA mandates parent-professional collaboration not only when individualized educational plans (IEP) and individualized family service plans (IFSP) are being developed but also throughout the entire special education process (Banks & Banks 2010, Pg. 348); it was not happening.  After our back-to-school night fiasco, I decided to take a more serious look at why this is a problem.

        After delving into research and talking with parents; I found there to be a lot of reasons parents may not become involved.  Some of these reasons are pragmatic issues of daily life, including other engagements and responsibilities such as employment and caring for other children. Other factors are more esoteric, such as the treatment parents receive when attempting to interact with the school system (Taliaferro 2009); especially of parents with CLD students.  Parents may feel that they are not valued and respected by professionals; that they are blamed for their child’s difficulties, and that their requests

for information are ignored.  Parents also report being discouraged from involvement because of professionals’ negative attitudes and treatment of their children.  Mistrust of professionals was frequently reported as was feeling disheartened by the ever-present focus on their child’s weaknesses and labeling accompanied by low expectations.  

        There can be culturally based reasons for parental noninvolvement as well. Parents report being reluctant to engage with professionals because of majority-culture ethnocentrism, negative cultural stereotyping, insensitivity to cultural and religious beliefs and family traditions, a propensity to lump different ethnic groups (e.g., all Polynesians) together, and discriminatory practices (Banks & Banks 2010, Pg. 349).  In the study by Zionts et al. (2003), for example, several African American parents

‘‘believed that their children would not have been judged as severely or held to the same

expectations if they had been Caucasian’’ (Banks & Banks 2010, Pg. 349).  What teachers do not realize is that cultural deficit thinking can be reflected in undervaluing or ignoring a child’s ethnicity and their capabilities altogether.  

        Arguably, however, the greatest cause of parental noninvolvement relates to professionals’ limited knowledge of diverse cultures and their failure to understand how their own cultural beliefs and attitudes influence their teaching and service provisions. Differing cultural concepts, values, and practices relating to disability provide fertile ground for cultural conflict and misinterpretation (Banks & Banks 2010, Pg. 349). Parents’ reluctance to participate in their child’s special education is understandable if they do not believe the child has a special need; a lot of cultures, like my Hmong families believe that the disability is spiritual, and not physical.  And then there is the communication piece.  Differing cultural communication styles, a differing language, and expectations about involvement in their child’s education can contribute to parent noninvolvement.  Based on these competing interests, historical contexts, attitudes and beliefs, both meaningful and mutually beneficial parental involvement is challenging, but it can be done.  And for me, the solution had to begin with defining what parent involvement means.