Parents in poverty and science education reform: A relational systems approach

University Of Texas At Austin, Austin TX

Investigators

Abstract

The focus of this research is on parents in poor urban communities and the relationships they establish and the roles they play in elementary schools that are active in implementing reform-based science education. We intend to move the research around parents and science education beyond the underdeveloped belief that parent participation is good for students. We want to know what this participation looks like in centers of urban poverty involved in school science reform efforts, how parents negotiate their actions and understandings with others involved in school science reform, and how a relational systems model might help to shed new insights on the roles parents play in school science reform in poor urban areas. Because we are focusing on parents in urban poverty and because we intend to understand the complexity and depth of parent participation in school science reform, we will make a concerted effort to draw half of the parent participant pool from community, family homeless shelters. These questions are significant given that 20% of all children attend school in urban poverty, and the city represented in this study supports large numbers of homeless families. Specifically, this REPP proposal outlines a program of research designed to analyze the nature, qualities, and impact of parental relationships and interactions in elementary schools serving poor urban children in Austin, TX that are working to improve science instruction within the scope and spirit of current science education reform initiatives. While it is generally acknowledged that where you find good urban schools you will find caring and motivated parents, it has been difficult to construct an account of parental interaction, grounded in everyday practice, that goes beyond either a general belief that caring and motivated parents matter in effective school reform or a laundry list of things that "good parents" do for their children's education. Using qualitative research methodology, we will research the following questions: - BELIEFS AND ACTIONS. How do parents in poor urban settings perceive "best practice" in science education in schools initiating science education reform, and what do they see as their role in helping to enact such a process? How do such parental beliefs "measure up" against expectations held by others in the science education reform process (children, teachers, administrators, community leaders) about best practice and parents' roles in such a process? What do parents do to enact their beliefs: at home? in the community? at schools? - SUSTAINING RELATIONSHIPS. How do parents in poor urban settings negotiate common understandings about beliefs and practices and build sustaining relationships with each other and with actors within the school (teachers, administrators, and their children) in school districts acting to reshape science education in line with current ideas of best practice, especially if and when their beliefs and practices differ from expectations held by these audiences? What are the nature and qualities of these relationships? What kinds of support structures (institutional, material, intellectual) sustain these interactions and relationships? - SCIENCE EDUCATION REFORM. In what ways does documenting and analyzing the formation, nature, and qualities of sustaining relationships between parents and actors within schools- and the kinds of beliefs and actions those relationships support-shed light on what it means to enact school reform in science education for children in poor urban centers? How might we develop, refine, and implement this model in science education reform?