What African American Parents Want Educators to Know

What African American Parents Want Educators to Know, by Gail L. Thompson. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2003. 232 pp., $64.95 hardcover. Far too long, the voices of African American parents/guardians have been ignored and misunderstood. Because of current legislation, No Child Left Behind, educators are responsible for the education of all children. This new legislation also empowers parents/guardians to become more active in the education of their children. The purpose of What African American Parents Want Educators to Know is to improve the quality of education received by African American students and to increase parental involvement in schools by providing educators with feedback from African American parents/guardians concerning the academic achievement of these students. Furthermore, this book is a response to the common misperception that many educators hold due to the lack of parental participation in school events such as Back to School Night or Open House lending itself to a belief that parents/guardians do not care about the education of their children. One parent who rated her involvement in her child's education as good stated: I'm very involved in their life. I don't just send them out there. I'm involved to make sure that they're doing the right thing, to respect adults, to listen, and learn. I tell them to work on their goals now, instead of waiting until they get to high school, (p. 49) Therefore, Gail Thompson's book is from the perspective of African American parents. The study was designed to capture the voices of African American parents/guardians and present them with the opportunity to describe the characteristics and aspects that impact the school experiences of their children Qualitative and quantitative data were collected describing the facets of their children's schooling experiences. There were 129 African American parents/guardians who participated in the quantitative phase and 23 parents who were interviewed in the qualitative phase. Each chapter presents questionnaire results, quotes, and narratives from the interviews. Chapter 1 explores how the parents/guardians thought their children felt about school. From the questionnaire results, how parents/guardians thought their children felt about school were correlated to nine variables. The strongest correlation was linked to racism frequency (-.41). Parents/guardians who experienced racism frequently at school were less likely to believe that their children liked school. Venisha, a business owner and mother of two described her frustration regarding racism and low teacher expectations of students: I've gone to the school and spent a whole day there, as if I'm a student. I have to because I don't know what's going on.I sat in one class where the teacher was ignoring all of the other kids who were raising their hands and only calling on one White girl. I was really mad. (p. 8) Additionally, Venisha stated: When I ask the teachers how to better assist her, there are no make up tests for it. The only thing I can do is help her with the book by reading it to her and going through the chapters. She's gone to tutoring after school and they're still not helping, (p. 8) Another strong correlation was found with the parents'/guardians' beliefs about whether or not most teachers care about students (.33). Parents/guardians who believed that teachers cared about the students also tended to believe that their children liked school. Parents/guardians who felt that teachers did not demonstrate genuine care for the students were more likely to believe that their children did not like school. Peggy, a parent of three children in the school district, stated: . A lot of things can be avoided by teachers stepping in a simply saying, "I'm not gonna have it" . But the teacher was sitting up there sleeping in class because they feel, "Well, this is a Black school, so they can cuss each other out. …