Rethinking parental engagement: Perceptions of single African American mothers

Federal law stresses shared accountability between schools and parents for high student achievement. Yet, there is minimal regulation regarding what parental engagement programs must actually look like. As a result many school districts fail to consider nontraditional constructs of parental engagement that honor the available cultural capital, human capital, and social capital of families with divergent structures. Marginalized parents are often described as apathetic, unresponsive and uncaring about their children's education. Female-headed households, in particular, have been linked with poverty, limited English proficiency, decreased supervision, and low educational attainment.;While research has established the benefits of parental engagement fewer studies have focused on how single parent families perceive their role in shaping their children's education. This phenomenological study uses in-depth interviews to explore the phenomena of parental engagement from the perspective of 10 single African American mothers of elementary school age children with or without disabilities. Findings suggest that regardless of education, wealth, and or cultural background parents have an innate desire to help their children succeed academically. Parents' practices around parental engagement were analogous to Epstein's framework for six types of engagement that include 1) parenting 2) communicating 3) volunteering 4) learning at home 5) decision making 6) collaborating with the school community. However, practices were distinguished by the parent's ability to use capitals acquired through socialization rather than through formal learning. This study adds to strengths based narratives that support setting policy and practice that move away from the one-size fit all model of parental engagement.