Unsilenced voices : a narrative study of parental engagement practices for black parents of sons being served under IDEA 2004

Cultivating Parental Involvement Through the Lens of Perceived Success and Engagement

10.26716/redlands/doctor/2020.12 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Robin McMillon

Keyword(s):

African American ◽

Academic Success ◽

Parental Involvement ◽

Learning Community ◽

African American Males ◽

Southern California ◽

Parental Engagement ◽

Theoretical Frameworks ◽

Narrative Study ◽

Sphere Of Influence

This narrative study used theoretical frameworks of Epstein’s overlapping sphere of influence and parental framework to evaluate parental perceptions of success held by parents and guardians of African American males in a southern California public school and to determine whether those perceptions influenced school- and district-based involvement and engagement. The research investigated how parents defined academic success by their children, which instructional measures used by the site and district were most appreciated, and which forms of engagement they were most likely to utilize throughout the school year. The research secured thoughts and desires of parents who are often overlooked as community members and provided an opportunity to give feedback on the instructional integrity and academic attainment of their children. The research was designed to increase parental involvement by identifying the needs and desires of the participants. In California, district-based funding is predicated on integration of parental involvement, so most schools offer parental engagement activities. However, it is not clear whether parents and guardians of African American males consider those activities as relevant and participate in them. This research addresses achievement disparities between African American males and their grade-level peers in one urban southern California school district and parents’ concepts of student success measures. Therefore, this research has the capacity to build a strategic collaboration among all members of the learning community through their overlapping spheres of influence.

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Dynamic Assessment With Bilinguals: A Focus on Increasing Clinicians' Confidence

Perspectives on Communication Disorders and Sciences in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Populations ◽

10.1044/cds22.3.112 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 22 (3) ◽

pp. 112-121 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Brenda K. Gorman

Keyword(s):

Standardized Tests ◽

Dynamic Assessment ◽

English Speakers ◽

Bilingual Children ◽

Assessment Practices ◽

Speech Language Pathologists ◽

Idea 2004 ◽

Disabilities Education Act ◽

Effective Dynamic ◽

Education Act

Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are obligated to judiciously select and administer appropriate assessments without inherent cultural or linguistic bias (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act [IDEA], 2004). Nevertheless, clinicians continue to struggle with appropriate assessment practices for bilingual children, and diagnostic decisions are too often based on standardized tests that were normed predominately on monolingual English speakers (Caesar & Kohler, 2007). Dynamic assessment is intended to be a valid and unbiased approach for ascertaining what a child knows and can do, yet many speech-language pathologists (SLPs) struggle in knowing what and how to assess within this paradigm. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to present a clinical scenario and summarize extant research on effective dynamic language assessment practices, with a focus on specific language tasks and procedures, in order to foster SLPs' confidence in their use of dynamic assessment with bilingual children.

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