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What Kind of School Would You Like for Your Children? Exploring Minority Mothers’ Beliefs to Promote Home-School Partnerships

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Abstract

The purpose of this article is to describe an approach that can be used by schools to understand low income minority parents’ goals for the education of their children and to design responsive strategies to support these goals. Focus groups of minority mothers with low income levels are conducted and the information collected is used by schools for promoting dialogue and self-reflection to potentially improve the quality of the school’s home-school partnerships. The article includes examples of information collected through focus groups with two groups of mothers: Latina and African-American. Findings from the focus groups are used to design home-school partnership practices more responsive to the needs and beliefs of minority parents with low income levels.

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Notes

  1. A pseudonym.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina, Campus Box 8040, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-8040, USA

    Cristina Gillanders, Marvin McKinney & Sharon Ritchie

Authors
  1. Cristina Gillanders
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  2. Marvin McKinney
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  3. Sharon Ritchie
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cristina Gillanders.

Appendix

Appendix

Latino Mothers Focus Groups

Session 1

  1. 1.

    What are your hopes and dreams for your child?

  2. 2.

    What is your role for achieving these goals?

  3. 3.

    Who do you think has the responsibility of teaching children the things he/she needs to succeed in school?

  4. 4.

    How would you describe a successful year for your child?

  5. 5.

    What did you learn from your parents that has guided you in parenting your child?

  6. 6.

    How is it that you happened to come to this country?

  7. 7.

    Do you see your child/children staying until adulthood in this country?

  8. 8.

    What do you remember as the most enjoyable times when you were in school?

  9. 9.

    What do you remember as the most stressful times when you were in school?

Session 2

  1. 1.

    Who helped you learn to read and write?

  2. 2.

    In your opinion, what are the reasons why some Latino children are able to learn in school and others aren’t?

  3. 3.

    What makes learning easy for your child?

  4. 4.

    What things do you have in your home that you think help your child learn about math?

  5. 5.

    What things do you have in your home that you think help your child learn to read and write?

  6. 6.

    What things do you do in your home that you think help your child learn about math?

  7. 7.

    What things do you do in your home that you think help your child learn to read and write?

  8. 8.

    What would you like for your child to learn in school?

  9. 9.

    What do you think your child should know at the end of the school year?

  10. 10.

    What language do you use to speak to your children at home?

  11. 11.

    Some parents in this country believe that in order to learn English, they need to stop speaking Spanish at home. What do you think about that?

Session 3

  1. 1.

    How is your child doing in school? How do you know?

  2. 2.

    What would you like to know about your child in school?

  3. 3.

    How would you like the school to communicate this information to you?

  4. 4.

    When there is a problem with your child, how do you communicate this to the teacher?

  5. 5.

    Schools often conduct activities and invite parents in their children’s school. Do you participate in any of these activities? Which ones?

  6. 6.

    Which activities do you find most useful? What are the reasons why you find these activities useful?

  7. 7.

    Which activities would you like the schools to conduct so you can participate more?

  8. 8.

    How do you and your child spend time together?

  9. 9.

    Have you ever felt that somebody in the school has shown disrespect for you? Tell us about it.

  10. 10.

    Have you had a conversation with the school principal? What topics if any have you talked about?

Session 4

  1. 1.

    Most families have people who help them with parenting. Tell us who the people are that help you in this task.

  2. 2.

    What role do these people play in your family?

  3. 3.

    Where do you find support in the community to help your children’s learning?

  4. 4.

    How did you find out about this help?

  5. 5.

    Tell us about your child’s friends in school.

  6. 6.

    Who do your children play with when they are not in school?

  7. 7.

    Tell us about the activities you and your children commonly do in your community.

  8. 8.

    Tell us about how your child spends his day on Saturdays and Sundays when he is not in school.

  9. 9.

    Do you feel your children are safe playing outside in the community where you live?

African American Mothers Focus Groups

Session 1

  1. 1.

    What are your hopes and dreams for your child?

  2. 2.

    What is your role for achieving these goals?

  3. 3.

    Who do you think has the responsibility of teaching children the things he/she needs to succeed in school?

  4. 4.

    How would you describe a successful year for your child?

  5. 5.

    What did you learn from your parents that has guided you in parenting your child?

  6. 6.

    What do you remember as the most enjoyable times when you were in school?

  7. 7.

    What do you remember as the most stressful times when you were in school?

Session 2

  1. 1.

    Who helped you learn to read and write?

  2. 2.

    In your opinion, what are the reasons why some African-American children are able to learn in school and others aren’t?

  3. 3.

    What makes learning easy for your child?

  4. 4.

    What things do you have in your home that you think help your child learn about math?

  5. 5.

    What things do you have in your home that you think help your child learn to read and write?

  6. 6.

    What things do you do in your home that you think help your child learn about math?

  7. 7.

    What things do you do in your home that you think help your child learn to read and write?

  8. 8.

    What would you like for your child to learn in school?

  9. 9.

    What do you think your child should know at the end of the school year?

  10. 10.

    What things does your child enjoy from school?

Session 3

  1. 1.

    How is your child doing in school? How do you know?

  2. 2.

    What would you like to know about your child in school?

  3. 3.

    How would you like the school to communicate this information to you?

  4. 4.

    When there is a problem with your child, how do you communicate this to the teacher?

  5. 5.

    Schools often conduct activities and invite parents in their children’s school. Do you participate in any of these activities? Which ones?

  6. 6.

    Which activities do you find most useful? What are the reasons why you find these activities useful?

  7. 7.

    Which activities would you like the schools to conduct so you can participate more?

  8. 8.

    How do you and your child spend time together?

  9. 9.

    Have you had a conversation with the school principal? What topics if any have you talked about?

Session 4

  1. 1.

    Most families have people who help them with parenting. Tell us who the people are that help you in this task.

  2. 2.

    What role do these people play in your family?

  3. 3.

    Where do you find support in the community to help your children’s learning?

  4. 4.

    How did you find out about this help?

  5. 5.

    Tell us about your child’s friends in school.

  6. 6.

    Who do your children play with when they are not in school?

  7. 7.

    Tell us about the activities you and your children commonly do in your community.

  8. 8.

    Tell us about how your child spends his day on Saturdays and Sundays when he is not in school.

  9. 9.

    Do you feel your children are safe playing outside in the community where you live?

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Gillanders, C., McKinney, M. & Ritchie, S. What Kind of School Would You Like for Your Children? Exploring Minority Mothers’ Beliefs to Promote Home-School Partnerships. Early Childhood Educ J 40, 285–294 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-012-0514-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-012-0514-0

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