FAMILY ENGAGEMENT REIMAGINED: EXTENDING MAINSTREAM CONCEPTUALIZATION OF DIVERSE FAMILIES’ ENGAGEMENT EXPERIENCES

Abstract

Despite the well-established effects of family engagement on students’ academic and non-cognitive outcomes, policymakers know little about how diverse families engage differently in children’s education. As a result, traditional school-based family engagement programs often cater to specific ways of engagement and unintentionally create barriers for others. This narrow understanding of families’ engagement experiences can perpetuate inequitable engagement practices that adversely affect student outcomes. Families from racial/ethnic, socioeconomic, and language minoritized backgrounds frequently report feeling misunderstood and unwelcome when engaging with teachers and schools. This collection of studies aims to address the limitations of mainstream education policy’s deficit-based conceptualization of family engagement and to inform policymakers and practitioners in developing inclusive engagement strategies that better address diverse families’ needs and strengths.This three-paper dissertation empirically explores (1) what mainstream frameworks reveal about the varied ways diverse families engage in education; (2) how teacher bias regarding engagement levels correlates with family backgrounds, and whether these biases can be mitigated; and (3) whether having a teacher who is socially closer to the student and family increases family engagement and ultimately contributes to improved student outcomes. To address these questions, I use both public- and restricted-use data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:2011). The longitudinal design of the ECLS-K:2011, combined with appropriate statistical techniques such as school and teacher fixed effects, enables stronger causal inference. Furthermore, as one of the most authoritative and comprehensive surveys linking rich families’ engagement information to student outcomes, the ECLS-K:2011 is well-suited for this investigation. Together, these three studies contribute to the broader goal of this dissertation: advancing a more equitable, asset-based conceptualization of family engagement in distinct yet complementary ways. As one of the few empirical studies to explore in depth how policy mainstream conceptualization of family engagement might hinder equitable family engagement practices and outcomes, the findings from this dissertation pave the way for researchers and policymakers to explore alternative family engagement efforts beyond the traditional school-based and academic-focused activities measured in most surveys. A more nuanced understanding of family engagement can inform the development of policies and programs that address diverse families’ challenges and highlight their assets in supporting children’s education.