The Myth of the “Disengaged” Parent
I’ve noticed a troubling trend lately. There’s a popular notion that parents are chronically “disengaged,” an idea that blunts school communicators’ impact and creates tension with families whose trust we need (to work for) now more than ever.
Today, we’re challenging this narrative in our work and want to help you do the same, informed by fresh data and new research on school-family engagement.
Why? Because we know that the moment district leaders like you reject this myth, something amazing happens. You can begin the hard work of developing compassionate and effective strategies to reach every family.
All families are facing challenges unique to their experience.
Every family wants to be included in the educational life of their children, from updates on everyday progress to timely conversations around reopening and school safety.
But parents and caregivers don’t raise children in isolation of the world around us. They’re balancing this desire alongside responsibilities and challenges unique to them.
We must understand how COVID-19 has hit Native American, Hispanic/Latinx, Black, and Asian families the hardest and the valid reasons some are unconvinced that schools are safe places for their children during the pandemic.
When we understand the challenges district families are facing, we can directly address them in our communications.
Did you know that twice as many Black women as White women have left the workforce since the pandemic began? Or that Native American and Latino Americans are 3.7 and 3.1 times more likely to be hospitalized due to COVID-19 than White Americans?
Native American, Hispanic/Latinx, Black and Asian families are not unaware of the developmental and social benefits of schooling: they are making calculated decisions based on their unique assessments of risk.
What do these challenges look like?
Outreach strategies that reach parents must start with understanding the complexity of their circumstances and a willingness to do the hard work necessary to build trust.
According to a December 2020 survey from C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, racism and COVID-19 were the top two health concerns for kids among Black parents—neither of which ranked in the top ten for White parents!
Alongside our present circumstances, we can’t forget that families’ experiences of schooling and other public institutions also inform their willingness to trust that schools can be safe places for their children.
If you’re a dad who graduated from the same middle school your daughter attends and experienced firsthand a lack of basic hygiene supplies like soap and tissues, would you bank on reportedly “new and improved” health protocols?
Or if your child was harassed at school with anti-Asian epithets during a rise of hate crimes—would mandated social distancing be enough to calm your mind?
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Every family engages differently.
Involvement in children’s educational lives looks different for every parent and caregiver.
Districts with effective family communication strategies understand this. In addition to offering diverse communication methods to accommodate differences (for example, using social and email as well as phone calls and door knocking) these districts take responsibility for engaging in ways that families need.
How we engage (and are engaged by) the world around us is partially informed by who we are—and how schools interact with families is no exception.
In their 2020 report “One Size Does Not Fit All,” the Center for American Progress found that certain groups of parents and caregivers face unique challenges.
“For example, immigrant parents may not speak the same language as school teachers or leaders, while LGBTQ parents may not be fully recognized by schools as a family unit. A focus group of predominantly Black parents found that a negative school climate, including hostile interactions with teachers and poorly organized communication channels, was the primary barrier to effective communication.”
So—even though many parents, educators, and school leaders often agree that information is shared frequently and repeatedly, we know that consistent communication is not a substitute for compassionate communication: they work together!
It’s time for a new narrative:
School communicators are not forcing the hands of “disengaged” families—we’re locking arms with deeply invested parents and caregivers who demand our support, now and in the future.
