Connecting Families and Schools through Mediating Structures.

Abstract

Despite increasing evidence that parental involvement improves children’s performance in schools and improves schools (Henderson, 1980, 1987, Henderson & Berla 1994), there are continuing problems of involving low-income parents and other low-status parents in the schools their children attend. Studies have shown that the problem of involving these so-called “hard to reach” parents in their children’s schooling exists in several countries (Davies, et al., 1987). Ogbu (1978, 1983) has examined the relationship between the poor school performance of lowstatus children in a society and discontinuities between the cultural backgrounds of those children and the culture of the schools they attend. His research suggests that while discontinuities exist between home and school for all children, the discontinuities are greatest and the school performance is poorest for caste-like minorities in societies. For these caste-like groups, their lower caste position of inferiority in the society surpasses any class stratication that exists so the groups may not view the schools as a means of upward mobility, because change upward in class status does not result in change in caste status. The problem of caste status is therefore a major social problem especially for racial minorities in some societies. The existence of the larger societal issue of the caste-like status of some groups in societies has sometimes led educators to assert that schools are unable to counteract major societal problems of poverty and discrimination. Therefore until society changes, schools are unlikely to change. However, evidence of successful schools within communities of caste-like minorities challenges the assertion that schools must follow, rather than lead, positive social change (Comer, 1980, 1990, Slavin & Madden 2000).