HARD-TO-REACH PARENTS

A study conducted by Don Davies of the Institute for Responsive Education examined

relationships between hard-to-reach parents and the school. The conclusion was that most of

the parents in the study were, in fact, reachable, but that schools were either not really trying to

involve them or not knowledgeable about or sensitive enough to overcome cultural and

social-class barriers. The six primary barriers that limited school involvement for the

hard-to-reach parents were identified as follows:

1. Children from families not conforming to middle-class norms are often seen by school

officials as those who will have trouble in school.

2. Communication between schools and poor families is mostly negative. Most of these

parents are contacted only when their children are in trouble.

3. Teachers and administrators appear to think of these families as being deficient, and

they concentrate on the families’ problems rather than on their strengths.

4. School staff tend to believe that the problems of parents who are hard to reach are the

fault of parents, not the schools.

5. Many poverty-level families have a low assessment of themselves in their abilities to be

involved in their children’s schooling.

6. Most parents from all groups studied expressed a strong desire to be involved in their

children’s schooling.