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Examines ways in which school structures can change to increase parental involvement.
This book offers a response to the policy failures associated with parent involvement in schools by arguing against traditional, piecemeal approaches to enhancing parent involvement in schools, and amplifying the importance of parents' social networks in the discussion of family-school partnerships. The interaction between social structure and school organization provides compelling indications of the need to recast the concept of parent involvement to one of community building.
"The topic is extremely important. It is a cutting-edge issue about which policy-makers, educators, and parents desperately need more information." — Nancy Feyl Chavkin, author of Families and Schools in a Pluralistic Society
"The case material is well-written, graceful, and provocative. Parent involvement is a central issue and a complex dimension of the education reform agenda, and Smrekar's study illuminates an important and particular angle for policy to consider—the construction of community." — Milbrey McLaughlin, Stanford University
"The author weaves together disparate facts in an impressive way to create a very coherent interpretation. I was impressed time and again at the insights the author drew from the facts before her." — James G. Cibulka, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Chapter 1 In Whose Interest?
Chapter 2 St. Martin's School
Chapter 3 Carlton School
Chapter 4 Western School
Chapter 5 Family Life, School Organization, and Community
Chapter 6 The Call for Community
Appendixes
References
Index