Why Urban Parents Resist Involvement in Their Children’s Elementary Education

Authors

Peter McDermott, The Sage CollegesFollow
Julia J. Rothenburg, The Sage CollegesFollow

Abstract

We examined the perceptions of teachers and parents about family involvement in urban schools. The study generated from several others that we have been conducting about teaching in high poverty, urban schools. Using focus groups, our purpose was to learn how we could better prepare teachers for urban schools. The data revealed that teachers are frustrated with a lack of parental involvement in literacy activities at home and at school. Parents, however, expressed distrust toward the local elementary school because they felt the faculty has been biased against African American and Latino children and their families. Consequently, the parents said they deliberately decided not to participate in school activities. Parents explained they would only work with teachers who respected and valued their children. Results of our study point to the importance of helping new teachers learn strategies for developing strong trusting relationships and effective communication strategies when working with urban families.

Keywords

qualitative research

Publication Date

10-1-2000

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2000.1947

Recommended APA Citation

McDermott, P., & Rothenburg, J. J. (2000). Why Urban Parents Resist Involvement in Their Children’s Elementary Education. The Qualitative Report, 5(3), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2000.1947