Social Capital and Poor Communities

8: Transforming Urban Schools Through Investments in the Social Capital of Parents

Chapter 8 Transforming Urban Schools Through Investments in the Social Capital of Parents Pedro A. Noguera This chapter explores some of the ways in which parental involvement at local school sites can generate social capital that can be used to improve inner-city schools and the communities they serve. The form of involvement examined goes beyond traditional calls for parents to be more interested in the education of their children and more supportive of teachers (Epstein 1991). I make the case for schools to become more responsive to and supportive of the children, families, and communities they serve by consciously developing partnerships based on mutual accountability and responsibility. Given the poor state of most inner-city public schools, social capital-which can be viewed as the by-product of and the collective benefits derived through participation in social organizations and networks (Putnam 1995; Sampson 1998)-is most likely to become manifestin efforts to improve student achievement and through various forms of parental empowerment. Efforts to raise academic performance, though not the subject of this analysis, are likely to serve as a focal point for the development of social capital because research shows that high levels of achievement among poor children are generally made possible through organized cooperation between teachers and parents (Ladson-Billings 1994; Fischer et al. 1996). Similarly, efforts to organize the parents of disadvantaged children and to empower them as decisionmakers and advocates for their children have been shown to contribute to the improvement of schools and the betterment of the communities they serve (Hess 1995; Bryk et al. 1998). Despite the importance of schools as social institutions, there has been little recognition of the need to incorporate strategies for their improvement into development efforts in low-income communities (Fantini et al. 1970; Noguera 1996). Moreover, strategies for organizing and involving parents are typically not incorporated into most school reform plans, particularly since the advent of high-stakes testing (Ayers and Klonsky 2000). Such omissions undoubtedly contribute to the consistent failure of most poverty alleviation and school reform efforts in economically depressed urban areas. I 189 Social Capital and Poor Communities This chapter focuses on how efforts to organize and empower low-income parents so that they are able to exert influence over the education of their children can contribute to the improvement of inner-city schools. A central theme of the analysis presented in these pages is that such organizing efforts transform relations between school personnel and the parents they serve. Specifically, we examine how strategies aimed at increasing parental participation in school site decisionmaking can either compel schools to become more responsive toward the needs of students and parents or, put more positively, open up possibilities for constructive partnerships between the two parties. Using the role and treatment of parents as the central feature of this discussion, I will show that the primary benefit derived from social capital in this context is greater power and control by poor parents over the institutions that serve them. To illustrate this point, I begin by recounting two experiences that provide insight into my thinking on the central problem that I believe investments in social capital can help to address. As a researcher and educator, I am frequently called on to speak to students and teachers, to organize workshops for parents, and to assist in addressing some of the many problems facing urban schools. I often work on projects with parents, teachers, and students designed to improve conditions in schools through the use of action-oriented research. In some cases, I develop working relationships with schools based on a collaborative project that is carried out over an extended period of time, sometimes over the course of several years. Despite the intractability of the problems and issues we take on-student achievement , teacher effectiveness, discipline and safety, support services for children and families, race relations, bilingual education-I derive a great deal of satisfaction from the work because it provides me with a sense that I am doing something concrete about issues that affect people's lives in important ways. Because I spend a lot of time in urban schools, I've become fairly adept at discerning how the aesthetic aspects of the physical environment and the subtleties of the interactions between adults and children relate to the character of a particular school and the cultural norms that operate within it. The lighting of hallways, the cleanliness of restrooms, the positioning and demeanor of secretaries in the front office, the absence...