Family and Community Engagement: Educators Debate the Role of Families in Education and Engaging Families

During September, a viral video of an educator criticizing students’ reading levels and attributing the levels to lack of parental involvement, leading to debates on the role of families in education. Many educators highlighted lack of resources, cultural differences and systemic barriers in education as factors that may prevent families from being involved in their children’s learning.

  • “I’m seeing a lot of trash talk about kids’ families on here today. I’m going to hold an asset-based mindset about EVERY SINGLE family I work with. If they show up, if they don’t. If they can’t or won’t. I’m rooting for them. No matter what.” —Early Education Teacher in Washington
    • “People also need to broaden their definition of what involvement looks like: it could be PTA president, it could be taking their kid to the park so they can run off energy to focus at school, it could be reading a book before bed. Involvement can look like so many things.” —Early Education Teacher in Washington
    • “Unfortunately, a lot of teachers want to dictate how and when parents show up. I remember how so many teachers wanted to control the actual homes of students during remote learning.” —STEM Teacher in Ohio
    • “Also, school involvement is different among different cultures. I’ve worked with families that were perceived as ‘uninvolved’ because where they’re from, the school is entrusted to handle everything and notify the parents if they need to come in.” —Educator in Washington
  • “I was avoiding this because of other people’s comments that it was disparaging to children. It certainly is. After watching, as someone who works at an independent LD school, I’d also add that parents are invested in children’s education but are often gaslighted by the system.” —Educator in California
    • “Our families come to us having fought many people who told them their student would be fine, give it time. They have self-advocacy and research skills. Many marginalized families trust the authority of the school and are led astray, expecting the school will do their part.” —Educator in California
    • “The family may know something is off but they may not have the vocabulary to articulate what isn’t working for the student in school, and even more so they may not have access to the resources and pathways that will support their child, especially if it’s an undiagnosed LD.” —Educator in California
  • “I like calling parents to introduce myself every year. I was cussed out by many parents the year we were virtual because schools were closed. Some were upset about not having childcare but many were upset that kids were just home with them.” —Special Education Teacher, N/A
  • “When we closed school buildings for COVID, parents screamed that they weren’t able to teach their kids and that they needed to go back to school. Now, when a video goes viral highlighting that many students aren’t at ‘grade level’ y’all are saying parents should be able to teach reading and that they are piss poor parents if they can’t.” —STEM Teacher in Ohio
  • “Teachers: we should be paid and valued more in society because the benefit our labor provides is incalculable. Also teachers: if parents don’t do what we believe is their job, we can’t be held accountable for children not learning. We gotta pick a lane, y’all.” —High School English Teacher in Texas 
    • “Those 2 things are not mutually exclusive, we can be in both lanes. Our ‘labor’ is to educate which comes with some benefits – relationship building, tracking well being, etc. The other things that are parental should come from them w/our support but the other way around.” —Math Teacher in Ohio
    • “Yep! We can’t say, ‘Respect us but we need parent help or we aren’t accountable’ but then expect parents to step out of the way when we want to be in charge.  Agree wholeheartedly.” —High School STEM Educator in Georgia
    • “I agree. It’s always helpful when parents want to be a part of the equation, but if they choose not to be (or can’t be) then we will work to fill that gap in spite of the kid’s situation. These kids are part of my community; they’re my kids, too.” —Teacher in New York
    • “It’s a definite conundrum. Society has piled more & more things on teachers that society, parents, social services, medical professionals & communities used to be held responsible for. While beating us up with state tests & looking for ways to replace us with script readers.” —ELA Teacher, N/A
  • “How about this: It is everyone’s fault. Maybe parents did know they were behind, and are relying on *checks notes* a school to help them? Also, I will never blame a school for ‘just passing them along’ because the SYSTEM we have created provides for no other outcome. Period.” —Middle School Teacher in Alaska
  • “A lot of our schools don’t have consistent outreach in the language some students speak at home but please, enlighten me about how parents aren’t involved…” —High School English Teacher in Texas 
    • “‘Have you tried using Google Translate? ‘There are also so many parents who WORK. When I return to teaching and try to parent my kid through school, I won’t be able to volunteer in the classroom and chaperone, I’ll be busy teaching other people’s kids.” —Teacher, N/A
    • “This gave me shivers as I flashed back to having ‘try using Google translate’ in  feedback for an observation a couple years ago lol. mind you I am ESL certified… and this person was recommending it for Ukrainian. I have no idea how good it is for that language.” —Educator in Texas
    • “Research also shows a lot of parents recognize teacher expertise and defer to teachers to know how best to support their student. Not involved doesn’t mean uninterested or unsupportive.” —High School Math Teacher, N/A
    • “SAY IT LOUDER. We (the system) create barriers to parents being involved, then people think it’s their place to share all of their  judgements and feelings on the internet.” —Educator in Iowa