African American Fathers' Involvement in their Children's Education


Book Description

The literature tells us that parental involvement affects academic achievement. However, much of the literature on parental involvement focuses on the involvement of mothers with limited information about the involvement of fathers, especially African American fathers. The parental involvement literature on African American fathers is insufficient compared to their White counterparts. African American fathers do not have a “voice” in the literature on parental involvement. A racial and gender bias exists in the literature on parental involvement that marginalizes the voice of African American fathers. African American Fathers' Involvement in their Children’s Education seeks to understand the relationship that African American fathers have with the education of their children by using Critical Race Theory as a theoretical framework to privilege the "voice" of African American fathers. This text focuses on the contributions that African American fathers make in the lives of their children and families, challenges the master deficient narrative, and humanizes African American fathers. This book purposefully and unapologetically portrays African American fathers as the brilliant, excellent human beings they are.




Black Diamonds Create Black Brilliance


Book Description

ABSTRACT African American children continue to underachieve academically and the academic achievement gap between African American students, Latino students and White students continues to persist. America is also becoming significantly more diverse and by 2020 America's classrooms will be filled with more students of color. If the achievement gap continues to persist and if students of color do not receive the necessary education to compete in the global workforce then America will eventually have a future workforce problem. The literature tells us that parental involvement affects academic achievement. However, much of the literature on parental involvement focuses on the involvement of mother's with limited information about the involvement of fathers, especially African American fathers. When fathers are included in the literature on parental involvement, they are usually White and middle class. The parental involvement literature on African American fathers is insufficient compared to their White counterparts. African American fathers do not have a "voice" in the literature on parental involvement. In fact, a racial and gender bias exists in the literature on parental involvement that marginalizes the voice of African American fathers. The purpose of this study is to understand the involvement that African American fathers have in their African American children's education by using Critical Race Theory (hereafter referred to as CRT) as a theoretical framework to privilege the "voice" of African American fathers within the literature on parental involvement. The goal of this study is to better understand African American fathers involvement in their African American children's education in order to determine how to better engage African American fathers as partners in education. During this qualitative study interviews were conducted to privilege the "voice" of African American fathers through their counterstories. Findings revealed African American fathers are involved in their children's education, but not in the school.




African American Fathers' Involvement in Home and Schools: An Interpretive Analysis of Their Beliefs and Experiences


Book Description

The lack of research about “Black fathers” and their “involvement with schools” was the primary motivation for this “mixed method” dissertation study. This discourse provides a much needed account of what the nature is of Black father's involvement with schools, why and how they do it, and how “student performance” is influenced by Black fathers' engagement with schools. Stakeholders in the education of youth, parents, administrators, teachers, and the community whose work is concerned with Black education may learn from the results and not repeat past errors of prevailing notions that portray Black fathers as absent and uninvolved in their children's educational endeavors. One of the goals of the present study was to address current ideology by demystifying the notion of African American fathers and their participation in “homes and educational settings” from uninvolved and non-concerned to active, engaged, and involved.




The Lone Unheard: African American Fathers' Experience Navigating the Special Education System


Book Description

Research has consistently shown that parent involvement positively influences students' academic outcomes (Henderson & Mapp 2002). Interestingly, studies of parent involvement focus largely on the role of mothers. This is particularly true for studies of African American parent involvement, where participants are often cast as single mothers and fathers assumed to be absent. As a result, little is known about the experiences and engagement of fathers in the education of their children - and even less is known about African American fathers. This narrative study intends to add the voices of African American fathers to this incomplete scholarly record. Given the persistently disproportionate numbers of African American children in special education, this study examines the involvement of fathers in the education of their children with special needs - with attention to their participation in their children's individual education plan (IEP) meetings. Six African American fathers participated in two in-depth interviews. Analysis of the data revealed: 1) Participants' experiences present a counternarrative to the deleterious stereotype of the absent African American father; 2) Participants' experiences also offer a counternarrative to the dominant narrative of mothers as a proxy for "parent" in discussions of parent involvement; 3) Participants' initial reactions to learning about their children's diagnosis with autism corresponds with KuÌ8bler-Ross' Grief Cycle; 4) Participants' experiences present a counternarrative to the stereotype of the dysfunctional African American family; and 5) To varying degrees, the intersection of race and gender shaped participants' involvement in their children's schools. Findings from this study inform both practice and future research.




Father Involvement in Young Children’s Lives


Book Description

This vital addition to Springer’s ‘Educating the Young Child’ series addresses gaps in the literature on father involvement in the lives of young children, a topic with a fast-rising profile in today’s world of female breadwinners and single-parent households. While the significant body of theoretical understanding and empirical data accumulated in recent decades has done much to characterize the fluidity of evolving notions of fatherhood, the impact of this understanding on policy and legal frameworks has been uneven at an international level. In a field where groups of fathers were until recently marginalized in research, this book adopts a refreshingly inclusive attitude, aiming to motivate researchers to capture the nuanced practices of fathers in minority groups such as those who are homeless, gay, imprisoned, raising a disabled child, or from ethnically distinct backgrounds, including Mexican- and African-American and indigenous fathers. The volume includes chapters highlighting the unique challenges and possibilities of father involvement in their children’s early years of development. Contributing authors have integrated theories, research, policies, and programs on father involvement so as to attract readers with diverse interest and expertise, and material from selected countries in Asia, Australia, and Africa, as well as North America, evinces the international scope of their analysis. Their often interdisciplinary analyses draw, too, on historical and cultural legacies, even as they project a vision of the future in which fathers’ involvement in their young children’s lives develops alongside the changing political, economic and educational landscapes around the world.




Promising Practices for Fathers' Involvement in Children's Education


Book Description

A timely collection of sound research addresses father involvement in their children’s education. Promising Practices for Fathers’ Involvement in Their Children’s Education visits a less known side of parent involvement, the side of fathers’ active engagement with their children’s education in the home and that is less visible in the schools. Their contributions from preschool to career decision-making and accessibility to their children’s education are covered in ten chapters, focusing on in-depth research from Canada to Argentina and Korea to Africa.




Black Fathers Are Real


Book Description

Have you ever heard the sayings, "Black Men Are Not Present in Their Kids' Lives"? The Increasing Number of Single-Parent Homes is Exclusively A Black Problem? Black Fathers Are An Anomaly? If so, Black Fathers Are Real: We Do Exist is the book for you. This classic children's book conveys the importance of fathers in lives of their children. Narrated by Camren J. McRae, he specifically highlights Black Fathers, making known to the world that they do exist. Black Fathers are hardworking, educated, loving men who wants the best for their children. this book shines a light through on Black Fatherhood through Camren's eyes, the views from a child about his hero. According to the National Health Statistics Report, Fathers' involvement in their children's lives has been shown to have a positive effect on children and their well-being in many areas. for example, on increasing the chances of academic success (2 out of 3) and in reducing the chances of delinquency and substance abuse. (4 out of 6). According to a CNN report, statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that "children under the age of 5: Black Fathers prepared and/or ate meals more with their children vs their white and Hispanic counterparts. Children 5 through 18: Black Fathers took children to and from activities daily more compared to their white and Hispanic counterpart's. Children 5 through 18: Black Fathers also helped their kids with homework more than their white and Hispanic counterparts." (Source cited: Aaron Paxton Arnold. "dispelling the myths about black fathers," http: //www.cnn.com/2015/07/20/opinions/arnold-black-fathers/index.html) In an effort to educate, inspire, motivate, and captivate the audience, Black Fathers Are Real: We Do Exist is a great depiction of day to day interactions with a black father. it involves lessons learned, the culture, and the inspiration Camren receives, which is received by millions of African American children.







Engaging and Working with African American Fathers


Book Description

Engaging and Working with African American Fathers: Strategies and Lessons Learned challenges traditional and historic practices and policies that have systematically excluded fathers and contributed to social and health disparities among this population. With chapters written primarily by African American women – drawing on years of research, interviews, and practical experience with this demographic – each section explores current evidence on engagement approaches, descriptions of agencies/programs addressing specific issues fathers face, and case studies documenting typical clients and approaches to addressing their diverse needs. Offering an expansive overview of issues affecting African American fathers, the book explores such important topics as public, child and mental health, education, parenting, employment, and public initiatives among others. Engaging and Working with African American Fathers is a key resource for social work, public health, education students, researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and members of communities who are challenged by meeting the diverse needs of African American fathers.




Parental Involvement and Academic Success


Book Description

Providing an objective assessment of the influence of parental involvement and what aspects of parental participation can best maximize the educational outcomes of students, this volume is structured to guide readers to a thorough understanding of the history, practice, theories, and impact of parental involvement. Cutting-edge research and meta-analyses offer vital insight into how different types of students benefit from parental engagement and what types of parental involvement help the most. Unique among works on the topic, Parental Involvement and Academic Success: uses meta-analysis to enable readers to understand what the overall body of research on a given topic indicates examines research results in terms of their practical implications focuses significantly on the influence of parental involvement on minority students’ academic success Important reading for anyone involved in home-school relations/parental involvement in education, this book is highly relevant for courses devoted to or which include treatment of the topic.