Education Week - October 7, 2020 - 20

OPINION

INSIDE

No, Critical Race Theory
Isn't 'Anti-American'

The Real 'Patriotic
Education'

Letters to
the Editor

The Missing Link in COVID-19 Ed.

The importance of family engagement
OVID-19 has made it more obvious that
the public school system cannot fulfill its
mission without families. This pandemic-along with the many overlapping pandemics our nation now faces,
including racial, economic, political,
and environmental injustices-has also
heightened existing barriers between families and schools.
For the past few years, we at the Family-School
Collaboration Design Research Project-the community
research partnership facilitated by the University of Utah
of which all the authors of this essay are a part-have been
working with teachers, administrators, and culturally diverse
families in Salt Lake City to design new ways of increasing
family voice in schools. When we recognized the increased
disconnection between families and educators during
COVID-19, we asked them to share experiences, hopes,
frustrations, and needs in recorded Zoom videos. In those
videos, families and educators taught us how
COVID-19 is straining their relationships.
This reality challenged us to think creatively
about school and family engagement.
The coronavirus pandemic has magnified
deep-rooted racial and social injustices and
perpetuated educational inequities. With the
shift to online teaching, the digital divide has
become a chasm, separating those who have
access to school learning and those who
don't. Families in our project, like so many
other Americans, described struggling to
figure out new technology in a new language
with only one computer for multiple children
and unreliable or nonexistent internet
access. Meanwhile, the pandemic has left
many families with multiple crises-food
and home insecurities, loss of work, illness-
which compete for time and resources with
school. These crises are disproportionately
harming historically marginalized groups,
including families of Black, Indigenous,
immigrant, and refugee backgrounds like
those in our project.
We know from decades of research that
genuine, reciprocal, trusting relationships
are the foundation on which educators and
families can overcome educational obstacles.
And it is clear that educators and families want to be more
connected. As Evelia, a parent, said in her Zoom video
message to schools: "Include me in my child's education. [We
need] parents, students, and teachers working together to
establish routines, communication, and discipline." Victoria,
a teacher explained, "I am looking to my school and my
district to come out with a consistent plan that helps support
students, families, and educators and allows us to build
those meaningful relationships that are going to create good
learning opportunities that will support our students through
this school year."

Historically, family involvement has been defined
narrowly, judged mainly by the physical presence of families
in schools-which is impossible during a shutdown. The
education profession has rarely asked families how they
define "engagement" (or "family") and consistently devalues
many less visible ways that families support education at
home and in the community, such as passing along cultural
norms and building educational passion through real-world
experiences. Overall, engagement has been marred by
broken trust, racial bias, and educators' cultural assumptions
about what a "good" family does.
Re-envisioning this dynamic requires centering the families
traditionally left out by those cultural assumptions. COVID19 can be a catalyst for us to jettison old, school-centered
ways of doing things that haven't worked well. Below are
some recommendations based on what we learned through
our project and through decades working with families and
schools.

in. The most important goal is to keep communication with
families open and for educators to understand the realities
families are facing.

* Have staff dedicated to leading schoolwide family
engagement. Family engagement is everyone's responsibility,
not just an expectation of individual teachers. When possible,
hire and support people who can connect across racial, cultural,
and linguistic divides, such as bilingual individuals with roots
in local communities.

* Construct family leadership and decisionmaking
roles. We are not going to figure out COVID-19-era education
without the knowledge and expertise of the families most
impacted. Learn about the assets your families have and
welcome their contributions to this joint effort.

* Look for new spaces to engage families. With schools
closed, this is a perfect time to get away from the school
building and into community spaces for parent-teacher
meetings or even "classroom" instruction, while still
addressing the reality of the pandemic. As
Rebecca, a teacher, put it, "A classroom can be
a play area in an apartment complex, it can be
in a parking lot of a library."

* Invest in family members as coeducators. Many families do not feel ready
to take on the added teaching responsibilities
they have been given. Umu, a parent,
explained, "I think to home school a kid, you
have to equip the parents first before coming
to the child." Offer materials, workshops, or
one-on-one support to families so they can
build confidence in this new role.

* Work with community partners. Rebecca
explained that, "I, alone, as a teacher do
not have the skills and the strengths to go
ahead and diminish all of these barriers"
that students face. Addressing the racial and
social inequities heightened by the pandemic
requires working closely with local community
organizations, agencies, businesses, and
community leaders-some of whom will be
family members in the school.
iStock / Getty Images Plus

We are mindful that COVID-19 has brought many
uncertainties, including budget cuts that have resulted in
the loss of nearly 500,000 public education jobs in April of
this year alone. However, we encourage districts to prioritize
genuine relationships with all families whenever possible.
Here's what that looks like:

* Support paid time to connect with families. While
budget cuts may make paying overtime infeasible, districts
should work to carve out paid time for teachers to call, text,
Zoom, and (when necessary) meet with families to check

* Offer professional development.
Teachers, staff, and administrators need more
training on anti-racism and how to build authentic, equitable
relationships with multilingual families of all backgrounds.
These commitments will create the foundation we need
for families and educators to confront the new challenges
of distance learning in a time of pandemic. It is imperative
that we as a nation make education a priority and support
the educational success of our children by investing in these
essential commitments. When this particular crisis has passed,
we cannot return to normal. The inequities magnified by
COVID-19 will persist and must be addressed.

By Leticia Alvarez Gutiérrez, Laura Hernandez, Taeyeon Kim, Paul J. Kuttner, Gerardo R. López, Jennifer Mayer-Glenn, Amadou Niang,
& Almaida Yanagui
ALVAREZ GUTIÉRREZ is an associate professor in the Department of Education, Culture, and Society at the University of Utah. HERNANDEZ is a mother of ﬁve, a community advocate, and a school
community council member at her children's school. KIM is an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Administration at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. KUTTNER is an associate
director with University Neighborhood Partners at the University of Utah. LÓPEZ is a professor in the Department of Educational Administration at Michigan State University. MAYER-GLENN is the
special assistant to the president for Campus-Community Partnerships and the director of University Neighborhood Partners. NIANG is an African immigrant and refugee community leader and an
English-language-development teacher. YANAGUI is a parent of ﬁve and a community organizer/assistant partnership manager for University Neighborhood Partners.

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Education Week - October 7, 2020

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