Building parents’ leadership capacity for engagement in the New Orleans education reform landscape

This dissertation explores the role of a community organization’s parent leadership training program in building parent leadership capacity. Many scholars have recommended that parents find ways to become authoritative and more active participants in school and community life (Hong, 2011; Oakes & Lipton, 2006; Warren, 2005; Oakes & Lipton, 2002). Federal policy also recommends that parents engage in regular, two-way, meaningful communication with school staff regarding academics and other school activities. While there is an expectation that parents will engage with school staff as equal partners in their child’s education, very few training programs exist to help parents develop the skills, knowledge, and confidence needed to negotiate multiple roles (supporters, encouragers, monitors, decision makers, advocates, and collaborators). This study seeks to understand the ways, and to what extent, the community-sponsored Parent Leadership Training Institute in New Orleans builds the leadership skills parents need to effectively engage in schools and community life. Narrative inquiry methodology was used to capture the impact of the Parent Leadership Training Institute from the participants’ perspectives. This methodology allowed parents the opportunity to reflect on their experiences and describe their evolving roles both as individuals and collectively in the New Orleans school reform context. Data for this research study was collected during the summers of 2015 and 2016. Twenty-five parents were interviewed who participated in a Parent Leadership Training Institute cohort in New Orleans from 2012 to 2014. The narratives reveal the reasons parents participated, the education-related projects they implemented after the Parent Leadership Training Institute, and the benefits of the training for parent leaders as well as other stakeholders with whom parent leaders interacted.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Policy Studies

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2017

Author dc:creator

• Parrott, Rebecca Tanya

Contributors dc:contributor

• Pratt-Clarke, Menah
• Pak, Yoon
• Hood, Stafford
• Mendenhall, Ruby

• School reform
• Education reform
• Charter schools
• Parent training
• Parent involvement
• Parent leadership
• Family egagement
• Social capital
• New Orleans school reform
• Parent capacity building
• African American parents
• Dual capacity building framework
• Epstein's Theory of Overlapping Spheres of Influence
• Parent engagement
• Community organizing
• Intermediary organizations
• Urban league training
• Parents self efficacy
• Parent empowerment
• Local participation in education
• Charter school research

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2017 Rebecca Parrott

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/97749

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/97749