April 8, 1998
It's well-documented that the more involved parents are with their
children's education, the greater the likelihood of those children succeeding.
General belief holds that the poorer the child, the higher the likelihood
that the child's parent or parents are not or will not become involved
in such a fashion — hence, they become children who are "at risk" of failure
because their parents are "hard to reach."
That view is challenged, however, in an interesting paper, The
"Hard-to-Reach" Parent, Old Challenges, New Insights, by Renee White-Clark
and Larry E. Decker. The paper is available for Internet users at the ERIC
website, http://eric-web.tc.columbia.edu/families/hard_to_reach/
For the record, I stumbled on the site while looking for more
evidence of intrusive federal government policies. Reading this, though,
gave me reassurance that at least some of those involved on the "other
side" of the national education debate continue to regard parents and their
children, not business, as the primary beneficiary of educational excellence.
Clark and Decker take issue with the stereotype of "at-risk"
families as unemployed, on welfare, unmotivated and disinterested, and
suggest that it's misunderstanding on the part of the educators, combined
with hesitancy on the part of parents, which represent the true obstacles
to better school-parent relations.
"Fewer parents might be labeled 'hard-to-reach' if educators
took a more optimistic approach to them," Clark and Decker write.
Clark is an assistant professor at Pace University in New York,
while Decker is a professor at Florida Atlantic University. Their paper
spells out the basic problem of parent involvement for "at-risk" kids:
false stereotyping, of a mutual nature.
The misconceptions run both directions: educators may feel these
parents aren't interested in what's going on, while the parents may feel
the schools don't want their intrusion. "Chances are these parents
want very much to be part of their child's education but feel they cannot."
Clark and Decker suggest that "...schools neglect non-participating
parents in favor of 'enthusiasts' — actively participating parents."
They stress that teachers' attitudes help play a large role in determining
the amount of parent involvement, and that, especially with economically-disadvantaged
families, educators must take into account the different problems faced
by these parents (such as two-job hours, child-care costs, both parents
working, etc.)
The first step in increasing involvent among these parents, they
say, is to dismiss those basic stereotypes. Poor parents, if anything,
have greater hopes that a good education will improve their child's status
in life. They want to help — they just don't know how.
The professors urge educators to actively try to encourage involvement
by "making the call" themselves — a practice which has borne fruit here
in Katy ISD, where the parent-involvement program at Katy Elementary, to
name one, has earned national acclaim for doing exactly that.
Clark and Decker suggest that some parents would be only too
happy to get involved, but fear they're not wanted. Those who are themselves
lacking in education are especially fearful that they can't help their
children in areas such as homework.
They also urge educators to rid themselves of the notion that
parents shouldn't be part of the decision-making process. Among the "don'ts"
they list are "Don't allow school staff to do all the talking at meetings,"
"Don't call a school council meeting on short notice or neglect to send
an agenda in advance or provide background materials," and "don't establish
groups which exclude parents."
The professors note that the No.1 concern of all parents, regardless
of socioeconomic status, is curriculum, not job skills or career preparation.
(Tap-tap-tap!) Hello? Texas Education Agency? Are you listening?