Keeping Black Children Pushed Into, Not Pushed Out of, Classrooms: Developing a Race-Conscious Parent Engagement Project

Black students in prekindergarten through Grade 12 (P-12) schools across the United States experience persistent educational disparities involving disproportionate disciplinary practices. This research study, using a qualitative methodological approach, describes and analyzes the impact of the Parent Mentor Program, which brings together Black parents, community members, school district personnel and university researchers working together to implement a race-conscious parent engagement project to transform the experiences of Black parents and Black children in the school district. Themes that emerged from the qualitative narratives include Black parents moving from marginalized outsiders to feeling accepted, teachers’ perspectives on the impact of the program, and the final theme—pushing kids into, not out of the classroom—which delineates the critical role of Black parents in addressing pervasive racialized disciplinary practices within school systems. Findings provide support for this culturally responsive innovative parent engagement program with Black parents based on a model that does not subscribe to a traditional framework of race neutrality and colorblindness situated in educational systems. This program instead proposes a race-conscious parent engagement model.