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Journals
Social Sciences
Special Issues
School Approaches to Creating Equitable Family Engagement
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School Approaches to Creating Equitable Family Engagement

A special issue of Social Sciences (ISSN 2076-0760). This special issue belongs to the section "Family Studies".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2021) | Viewed by 10202

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Steven B. Sheldon

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Education, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Interests: education; families; school leadership; family and community engagement

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

For decades, researchers have produced studies showing that students who perform better academically are more likely to have family members involved and engaged in their schooling. The fact that families impact children’s education experiences and outcomes is not new. Less research, however, has been able to show whether and how school and educator practices to strengthen family–school relationships are associated with children’s academic, social-emotional, and behavioral outcomes. This Special Issue will focus on how educators engage families to support student learning and development.


The nature of school–family relationships is varied throughout the world, with different ideas about how educators and families should or should not work together. As populations continue to shift and change, educators face increasing and new challenges to working with students’ families. These challenges involve issues stemming from differences in race, family income, languages spoken, cultural assumptions, and other factors that impact parent–teacher and family–school relationships. Optimal school practices recognize and address these challenges.


For this Special Issue, we are calling for papers that investigate the impact of educational practice and/or policy to strengthen family–school relationships, demonstrating that this is an educational practice necessary to achieve social justice and equity. This includes, but is not limited to, studies on teacher practices to engage families; school-wide practices to engage families; local or national policy; school or educational leadership. Studies do not need to look at educational outcomes, but can investigate social-emotional outcomes, physical outcomes, and behavioral outcomes of students, families, and/or educators.

Dr. Steven Sheldon
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Social Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • family engagement/involvement
  • school/teacher practices
  • school leadership
  • system policy
  • school-family relationships
  • equity
  • social justice
  • student/child outcomes

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 995 KiB  
Article
Toward an Integrated, Systemic, and Sustainable Model of Transformational Family Engagement: The Case of the Kentucky Statewide Family Engagement Center
by Danielle M. Perry and Joanna Geller
Soc. Sci. 2021, 10(10), 402; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci10100402 - 19 Oct 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3030
Abstract
Transformational family engagement fundamentally changes relationships between families and schools and interrupts deeply held beliefs about low-income, Black, Latinx, Indigenous, or immigrant families, each of which are rooted in systems of racism, classism, sexism, xenophobia, and their intersections. In this paper, we use [...] Read more.
Transformational family engagement fundamentally changes relationships between families and schools and interrupts deeply held beliefs about low-income, Black, Latinx, Indigenous, or immigrant families, each of which are rooted in systems of racism, classism, sexism, xenophobia, and their intersections. In this paper, we use a community-based collective impact theoretical framework to better understand how the KY Collaborative is aligned with transformational family engagement strategies and promotes and implements systemic, statewide evidenced-based family engagement policies and practices. We present data from interviews with KY Collaborative partners, observations of KY Collaborative events and activities, and survey data. Key findings suggest the KY Collaborative leverages each regional partner’s strengths to break through historical barriers that fail to acknowledge the critical role families play both within and outside of schools. Their collective programs and services demonstrate a commitment to strengthening families, building capacity amongst schools and educators, and supporting communities to achieve educational equity. Our findings present implications for other statewide family engagement centers and community-based collaborations for transformational family engagement by highlighting the ways in which the KY Collaborative develops bottom-up leadership, builds dual capacity, shifts power, attends to policy change, and diffuses shared messages, visions, and practices statewide. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue School Approaches to Creating Equitable Family Engagement)
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17 pages, 475 KiB  
Article
Challenges and Positives Caused by Changing Roles during Emergency Remote Education in Estonia as Revealed by Facebook Messages
by Marina Lepp and Piret Luik
Soc. Sci. 2021, 10(10), 364; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci10100364 - 29 Sep 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3238
Abstract
At the beginning of 2020, education worldwide, including in Estonia, was affected by the coronavirus pandemic, which necessitated the transfer of all levels of education to distance learning. Emergency remote education created both challenges and positives for different stakeholders, especially during the early [...] Read more.
At the beginning of 2020, education worldwide, including in Estonia, was affected by the coronavirus pandemic, which necessitated the transfer of all levels of education to distance learning. Emergency remote education created both challenges and positives for different stakeholders, especially during the early part of this staggering situation. This study aims to describe the challenges and positives encountered by people in different roles, using data from the Facebook group ‘Homeschooling with technology’ from 6 March–26 April 2020. Members of the Facebook group were divided into eight role groups. A qualitative method study design was used and inductive thematic analysis of 130 messages posted by different roles was conducted. 72 messages were coded as expressing negative sentiments and describing various problems and challenges, which were then used to create a thematic map with seven main themes. Two themes (teachers’ unreadiness and problems related to technology) were reported by all stakeholder groups except members from government institutions, who did not post any messages about challenges. Seven main themes describing positives in the Facebook messages were identified using 58 messages coded as expressing positive sentiments. All role groups posted some messages about the positives but only the theme ‘Stress management’ was mentioned by all roles. Several themes (e.g., digital tools, teachers) included both negative and positive reports. The results help capture the effect of changing roles on challenges and positives experienced by different stakeholders during the implementation of emergency remote education, which can be used for future application of distance learning in education. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue School Approaches to Creating Equitable Family Engagement)
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22 pages, 406 KiB  
Article
ECE Program Supports and Teacher-Perceived Support from Families: Are They Connected?
by Natalie Schock and Lieny Jeon
Soc. Sci. 2021, 10(10), 361; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci10100361 - 28 Sep 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2881
Abstract
According to the Conservation of Resources theory of stress, early care and education (ECE) teachers who receive greater tangible and interpersonal supports from their workplaces will be more positive and effective in their roles. This may translate to them perceiving or eliciting greater [...] Read more.
According to the Conservation of Resources theory of stress, early care and education (ECE) teachers who receive greater tangible and interpersonal supports from their workplaces will be more positive and effective in their roles. This may translate to them perceiving or eliciting greater support from families, which is a key component to family engagement, a growing area of study in the ECE landscape. This study explores whether four program-level supports (benefits, professional development supports, teacher social supports, program-level family involvement activities) are associated with teacher-perceived support from families. The hypothesis was that all four will be positively associated. This study uses survey data from 102 preschool teachers and 13 preschool program directors in urban areas of two US states. We use ordinary least squares regression with cluster-robust standard errors and a stepwise build-up modeling procedure to determine associations between independent and dependent variables. While teacher social supports had the expected positive association with teacher-perceived support from families, family involvement activities were negatively associated. Our findings suggest that programs looking to improve family engagement may consider interpersonal/cultural supports for teachers and the larger school community. All else equal, simply offering more family involvement activities may not improve engagement culture. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue School Approaches to Creating Equitable Family Engagement)
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