Chapter 2: Facilitating Change: Families and Educational Leadership Creating Equity

To develop equitable school systems, the voices of multiple actors must be heard (Hajisoteriou et al., 2018). School administrators, teachers, parents/guardians, and students must respond to changing sociopolitical, cultural, and economic considerations (Barajas-López & Ishimaru, 2020). Since schools and communities are often comprised of individuals from diverse cultural and language backgrounds (United States Census Bureau, 2018), interactions among multiple actors may occur in diverse ways. Within equitable systems, actions and dialogue support the human rights of individuals.

Students are at the center of overlapping spheres of influence within school communities (Epstein, 1995). Within these spheres of influence, families, schools, and communities all inform students’ perspectives of the goals and purposes of school. While this chapter focuses on programs that support parents/guardians and their influence on the literacy practices of children, we recognize that connections between individuals are complex. While many researchers position parental involvement at school and parental engagement at home (Jeynes, 2018), this chapter does not make these distinctions. Instead, this chapter intends to describe how parents/guardians, support staff, teachers, administrators, and community members can occupy multiple converging and diverging roles as they interact with students.