Chapter 15: Promoting Class Equity and Socioeconomic Justice for Children from “Communities of Promise”

Educational research often portrays culturally, linguistically, and economically disenfranchised (CLED) children’s disengagement from academics as a function of the individual while ignoring influencing factors such as race, gender, economics, ethnicity, and social class. This chapter analyzes a community engagement program–the Enhanced Learning Improvement in Networked Communities (E-LINCs), an innovative project that partners preservice teachers, high school students, and community volunteers with primary schools where many of the students are experiencing learning difficulties and school engagement problems. The E-LINC school-community engagement project works within CLED communities (i.e., “communities of promise”) to enable children and their families to view education as “for me” with an empowering and transformative agency. Drawing on the perspectives of the children and volunteers, and privileging their voices, the chapter describes how authentic and productive partnerships can be developed and sustained. Additionally, Connecting-Owning-Responding-Empowering (CORE) pedagogy is explored as a potential resource to enhance student engagement, achievement, and empowerment through community involvement.