Social workers' roles in facilitating the collective involvement of low-income, culturally diverse parents in an elementary school

Social workers have pivotal roles to play in facilitating collective parent involvement in economically poor school communities. Using a community-based, participatory, and empowerment-oriented approach to social work practice and research, this study provides empirical support for this claim. It examines the narratives of 17 economically poor parents who were involved for at least six months in a collective parent involvement program, which served a low-performing Title One elementary school in a western state. An analysis of parent interviews yielded six themes-as-facilitators for parent involvement. Parents described each facilitator in relation to their previous perceptions of (poverty-related) constraints on their own involvement and well-being. The authors conclude that school social workers implementing collective parent involvement programs can act as powerful bridging agents between families and schools. This facilitative bridging role hinges on the extent to which social workers support parents' efforts to meet their social, economic, and developmental needs.