Skip to main content

Family-School Partnerships in Ethnocultural Communities: Reorienting Conceptual Frameworks, Research Methods, and Intervention Efforts by Rotating Our Lens

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Research on Family-School Partnerships ((RFSP))

Abstract

In this introductory chapter, the authors will explore research seeking to “flip the script” with respect to where authority and expertise are located within home-school connections in ethnocultural communities. The primary aim is to describe how a reorientation from the predominant “school-to-home” perspective to a “home-to-school” perspective in the field of family-school partnership research could revolutionize programmatic and intervention efforts. By adopting a rotated lens through which to view family-school partnerships that acknowledges these partnerships are both relationally and culturally situated, this introductory chapter will also focus on the need for a diversity of methods and transdisciplinary approaches to guide research with ethnoculturally diverse communities. Throughout the volume, challenges and potential directions for research that contribute to better understandings of culture and context in the family-school space will be explored.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  • Adair, J., & Tobin, J. (2008). Listening to the voices of immigrant parents. In C. Genishi & A. Lin Goodwin (Eds.), Diversities in early childhood education: Rethinking and doing (pp. 137–150). New York, NY: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Auerbach, S. (2007). From moral supporters to struggling advocates: Reconceptualizing parent roles in education through the experience of working-class families of color. Urban Education, 42(3), 250–283. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085907300433

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berry, J. W. (1969). On cross-cultural comparability. International Journal of Psychology, 4, 119–128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cole, M. (1996). Cultural psychology: A once and future discipline. Cambridge, MA: Belknap/Harvard.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crozier, G., & Davies, J. (2007). Hard to reach parents or hard to reach schools? A discussion of home-school relations, with particular reference to Bangladeshi and Pakistani parents. British Educational Research Journal, 33(3), 295–313.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Carvalho, M. E. (2001). Rethinking family-school relations: A critique of parental involvement in schooling. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Delgado-Gaitan, C. (1991). Involving parents in the schools: A process of empowerment. American Journal of Education, 100, 20–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Delgado-Gaitan, C. (1994a). Consejos: The power of cultural narratives. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 25(3), 298–316. https://doi.org/10.1525/aeq.1994.25.3.04x0146p

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Delgado-Gaitan, C. (1994b). Empowerment in Carpinteria: A five-year study of family, school, and community relationships. Baltimore, MD: Center for Research on Effective Schooling for Disadvantaged Students.

    Google Scholar 

  • Doucet, F. (2008). How African American parents understand their and teachers’ roles in children’s schooling and what this means for preparing preservice teachers. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education [Special Issue on Multicultural Teacher Education in Honor of Leslie R. Williams], 29(2), 108–139.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doucet, F. (2011a). Parent involvement as ritualized practice. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 42(4), 404–421. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1492.2011.01148.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doucet, F. (2011b). (Re)Constructing home and school: Immigrant parents, agency, and the (un)desirability of bridging multiple worlds. Teachers College Record, 113(12), 2705–2738.

    Google Scholar 

  • Downer, J. T., & Myers, S. S. (2010). Application of a developmental/ecological model to family-school partnerships. In A. L. Reschly & S. Christenson (Eds.), The handbook on school family partnerships for promoting student competence (pp. 176–203). Oxford, UK: Routledge/Taylor and Francis Group.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fantuzzo, J., McWayne, C., & Childs, S. (2006). Scientist-community collaborations: A dynamic tension between rights and responsibilities. In J. E. Trimble & C. B. Fisher (Eds.), Handbook of ethical research involving ethnocultural populations and communities (pp. 27–49). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fine, M. (1993). [Ap]parent involvement: Reflections on parents, power, and urban public schools. Teachers College Record, 94(4), 682–709.

    Google Scholar 

  • Graue, M. E., Kroeger, J., & Prager, D. (2001). A Bakhtinian analysis of particular home-school relations. American Educational Research Journal, 38(3), 467–498.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hall, G. N., Yip, T., & Zárate, M. A. (2016). On becoming multicultural in a monocultural research world: A conceptual approach to studying ethnocultural diversity. American Psychologist, 71(1), 40–51. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039734

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hanhan, S. F. (2003). Parent-teacher communication: Who’s talking? In G. Olsen & M. L. Fuller (Eds.), Home-school relations: Working successfully with parents and families (2nd ed., pp. 111–133). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill, N. E. (2010). Culturally-based worldviews, family processes, and family-school interactions. In S. L. Christenson & A. L. Reschly (Eds.), Handbook of school-family partnership (pp. 101–127). New York, NY: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hong, S. (2011). A cord of three strands: A new approach to parent engagement in schools. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hurtig, J., & Dyrness, A. (2011). Parents as Critical Educators and Ethnographers of Schooling. In A Companion to the Anthropology of Education (pp. 530–546). Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Kapferer, J. L. (1981). Socialization and the symbolic order of the school. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 12, 258–274.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim, E. M., & Sheridan, S. M. (2015). Foundational aspects of family-school connections: Definitions, conceptual frameworks, and research needs. In S. M. Sheridan & E. M. Kim (Eds.), Research on family-school partnerships: An interdisciplinary examination of state of the science and critical needs, Vol. 1: Foundational Aspects of Family-School Partnerships (pp. 1–14). New York, NY: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lareau, A., & Horvat, E. M. (1999). Moments of social inclusion and exclusion: Race, class, and cultural capital in family-school relationships. Sociology of Education, 72, 37–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence-Lightfoot, S. (2003). The essential conversation: What parents and teachers can learn from each other. New York, NY: Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lightfoot, D. (2004). "Some parents just don’t care": Decoding the meanings of parental involvement in urban schools. Urban Education, 39(1), 91–107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mapp, K. L., & Hong, S. (2010). Debunking the myth of the hard-to-reach parent. In A. L. Reschly & S. Christenson (Eds.), The handbook on school family partnerships for promoting student competence (pp. 176–203). Oxford, UK: Routledge/Taylor and Francis Group.

    Google Scholar 

  • McLaren, P. (1999). Schooling as a ritual performance: Toward a political economy of educational symbols and gestures (3rd ed.). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

    Google Scholar 

  • McNamara, K., Telzrow, C., & DeLamatre, J. (1999). Parent reactions to implementation of intervention-based assessment. Journal of Educational & Psychological Consultation, 10, 343–362.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McWayne, C. M. (2015). Family-school partnerships in a context of urgent engagement: Rethinking models, measurement, and meaningfulness. In S. M. Sheridan & E. M. Kim (Eds.), Research on family–school partnerships: An interdisciplinary examination of state of the science and critical needs. Vol. I: Foundational Aspects of Family-School Partnership Research (pp. 35–53). New York, NY: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13838-1_3

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • McWayne, C. M., & Melzi, G. (2014). Validation of a culture-contextualized measure of family engagement in the early learning of low-income Latino children. Journal of Family Psychology, 28, 260–266.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McWayne, C. M., Foster, B., & Melzi, G. (2018). Culturally embedded measurement of Latino caregivers’ engagement in Head Start: A tale of two forms of engagement. Early Education and Development, 29(4), 540–562.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McWayne, C. M., Melzi, G., Limlingan, M. C., & Schick, A. (2016). Ecocultural patterns of family engagement among low-income Latino families of preschool children. Developmental Psychology, 52(7), 10881102.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • McWayne, C., Melzi, G., Schick, A. R., Kennedy, J. L., & Mundt, K. (2013). Defining family engagement among Latino Head Start parents: A mixed-methods measurement development study. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 28, 593–607.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McWayne, C. M., Mistry, J., Brenneman, K., Greenfield, D., & Zan, B. (2018). Supporting family engagement in STE curriculum among low-income immigrant families with preschool children. In M. Caspe, T. A. Woods, & J. L. Kennedy (Eds.), Promising practices for engaging families in STEM learning: volume in family-school-community partnership issues (pp. 79–95). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc..

    Google Scholar 

  • Melzi, G., Schick, A., & Scarola, L. (forthcoming). Interventions that promote home-to-school links for ethno-culturally diverse families. In C. M. McWayne, F. Doucet, & S. Sheridan (Eds.), Research on family-school partnerships: Understanding ethnocultural diversity and the home-to-school link. New York, NY: Springer Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mistry, J., & Dutta, R. (2015). Human development and culture: Conceptual and methodological Issues. In W. F. Overton & P. C. Molenaar (Eds.), Theory and method. Volume 1 of the Handbook of child psychology and developmental science (7th ed.). Editor-in-chief: R. M. Lerner. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mistry, J., Li, J., Yoshikawa, H., Tseng, V., Tirrell, J., Kiang, L., … Wang, Y. (2016). An integrated conceptual framework for the development of Asian American children and youth. Child Development, 87(4), 1014–1042.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moll, L. C., Amanti, C., Neff, D., & González, N. (2005). Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. In N. González, L. C. Moll, & C. Amanti (Eds.), Funds of knowledge: Theorizing practices in households, communities, and classrooms (pp. 71–87). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nasir, N. I. S. (2004). When culture is not in the students, and learning is not in the head: Essay review of ‘Black American Students in an Affluent Suburb’ by John Ogbu. Human Development, 47(2), 108–116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Noddings, N. (2012). The caring relation in teaching. Oxford Review of Education, 38, 771–781. https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2012.745047

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pope Edwards, C., & Kutaka, T. S. (2015). Diverse perspectives of parents, diverse concepts of parent involvement and participation: What can they suggest to researchers? In S. M. Sheridan & E. M. Kim (Eds.), Research on family–school partnerships: An interdisciplinary examination of state of the science and critical needs Vol. I: Foundational Aspects of Family-School Partnership Research (pp. 35–53). New York, NY: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13838-1_3

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Pufall-Jones, E. & Mistry, J. (2019). The sociocultural processes of child development. In C. Brown, M. B. McMullen, & N. File (Eds.), The Wiley handbook of early childhood care and education (pp. 59–78). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, Blackwell Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rogoff, B. (2003). The cultural nature of human development. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, V. (1979). Process, performance and pilgrimage. New Delhi, India: Concept Publishing Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Valdès, G. (1996). Con respeto: Bridging the distance between culturally diverse families and schools–An ethnographic portrait. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weisner, T. S. (2005). Discovering successful pathways in children’s development: Mixed methods in the study of childhood and family life. In D. The John & T. Catherine (Eds.), MacArthur Foundation series on mental health and development. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christine M. McWayne .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

McWayne, C.M., Doucet, F., Mistry, J. (2019). Family-School Partnerships in Ethnocultural Communities: Reorienting Conceptual Frameworks, Research Methods, and Intervention Efforts by Rotating Our Lens. In: McWayne, C., Doucet, F., Sheridan, S. (eds) Ethnocultural Diversity and the Home-to-School Link. Research on Family-School Partnerships. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14957-4_1

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics