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Connection Collection

Annotation from the Connection Collection

You are viewing a record from the Connection Collection, a searchable annotated bibliography database. It links you with research-based information that you can use to connect schools, families, and communities.

Annotation:
This article promotes parents becoming co-participants in the school reform process. Often school personnel consider families in inner-city communities as lacking in resources and knowledge to educate their children. Schools attempt to overcome these "cultural deficits" through curriculum programs that assume all wisdom to educate children. In doing this, schools are adopting a "deficit model" and ignoring the rich knowledge that can be gained from these families and their cultures. The authors advocate for an "asset model," where parents and communities are considered equal contributors to the education process. Parents are seen as resources rather than obstacles to the schoolsÕ work. They call for a shift in the connection between families and schoolsÑfrom involvement to mutual partnersÑin the education and school change process. Specifically, the authors describe the School Community Partnership Development (SCPD) program as a useful model in shifting the power imbalance between home and school. The SCDP program centers around capacity-building, done by parents for parents on a long-term basis. It focuses on math and science reform, but can be a useful model for creating partnerships so that any reform effort can be shared by the family, the community, and the school.

Suggested Citation Style:

• Hulsebosch, P., & Logan, L. (1998). Breaking it up or breaking it down: Inner-city parents as co-constructors of school improvement. Educational Horizons, 77(1), 30-36. EJ571436.