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family engagement

Closing the Gap Between Home and School

February 21, 2022 By Zavia Jarrett

Image credit: Freepik

The COVID-19 pandemic has managed to achieve something that no other crisis could ━ it has closed the gap between home and school. Students of all ages were impacted by this unexpected turn of events and it’s safe to say that the parents were also taken by surprise. 

Bringing home and school together has managed to enhance the oftentimes neglected family engagement and achieve a newfound sense of cohesion between families and educators. 

This unprecedented social phenomenon will leave the lives of both the children and their parents changed forever. It’s up to us whether this change will turn out to be either positive or negative. You might still wonder why family engagement is important. Worry not, we’ve got you covered.

In this article, we invite you to explore the ways in which we can bring families and schools together as an indivisible force to be reckoned with. 

Encouraging Educators to Learn From Families

Image credit: Freepik

It’s safe to say that every parent is an expert in their own right. Perhaps not an expert at physics or algebra, but one at providing the best support for their children. Nobody knows their children’s needs as well as they do. 

Educators already have plenty on their hands, so why not value the parent’s expertise even more? Before the pandemic, parents and educators had very few chances of exchanging ideas and collaborating efficiently. All in all, family-school partnerships were practically unheard of. 

As people of African-American descent, we strongly believe that it’s important to provide educators with a culturally accurate outlook on what our children’s education should look like. 

Instead of being merely tolerated as minorities in predominantly white schools, we should encourage schools to celebrate our culture rather than downplay it. Cultural awareness is something that our children need.

Another important aspect when it comes to the family-school partnership is how it can positively impact the children’s grades and overall academic performance. It’s no secret that children love to feel encouraged and even praised for their good work. What better way to motivate them than by being actively involved in their school life? It’s the only way towards a more equity-based school system.

Getting Involved In After-School Activities

Another fantastic way to help close the gap between home and school would be to encourage our children to participate in after-school activities. Not only that but we should also get involved alongside them. 

The long-term benefits are impossible to ignore. Community engagement is more important than ever before. The turbulent times in which we live should drive us back to our communities instead of further apart. First-generation college students also rely heavily on the support of their communities. 

Black-owned, community-based organizations are the perfect fit for our youth. Not only will they have the chance to connect with like-minded individuals, but they’ll also receive culturally responsive youth development and parental engagement solutions among many other things.

These organizations must aim to develop cultural pipelines that will lead our children not only to academic excellence but also to having great careers that will ultimately enable them to give back to their communities. After-school programs encourage the dismantling of the family-school gap and counteract it with intensive family engagement activities. 

Counteracting Systemic Racism

Sadly, injustice has always played a pivotal part in our lives, as people of color. We can all agree that we don’t want our children to deal with systemic racism anymore. Schools have the tendency to interact with us in a biased manner. This only ends up perpetuating the same racist educational experience for our youth. Black student engagement should become a priority for all schools in our country.

With the help of family engagement in schools and culturally affirming after-school activities, we just might start seeing a significant change, for the sake of our children as future successful African-American adults. 

The gap between school and home will not go anywhere unless we collectively decide to invest more time and energy when it comes to our children’s education. Cultural responsiveness won’t happen overnight, it has to start one child at a time. This is the safest way towards an equity-focused society. 

The Conclusion Is…

The Coronavirus pandemic has facilitated the closing of the gap between home and school. We currently have the unprecedented power of bridging this gap and making sure that our youth is properly supported by both their families and educators. 

As we’ve seen above, educators should be urged to connect with the students’ families in a more wholesome manner. After all, parents are experts too. We’ve also emphasized the importance of after-school activities and how they play a relevant role for the Black youth. Last, but certainly not least, we’ve discussed the heavy weight that systemic racism has imposed upon our people. It’s time to start making liberating changes.

What better way to start than by supporting one child at a time? The Village Method is a well-known and highly respected community-based grassroots organization that has the empowerment and elevation of young Black people as its core missions. 

We do this by prioritizing family engagement, youth development, and community outreach programming. We kindly invite you to visit our website and find out how you can support our Black-owned initiative! 

Filed Under: Family Engagement, ScholarPrep Nation, Village Method Tagged With: after school activities, family engagement, family engagement activities, family engagement in schools, first generation college student, parental engagement, why is family engagement important

Preserving the Afrocentric Way of Educating Our Youth

February 17, 2022 By Mark Gaskins

Shall we kick off this article with a fact that affects us all? The U.S educational system is one of the most unequal in the industrialized world. The Afrocentric way of educating our young ones has always been under Western attack. The Village Method is here to lend a helping hand to all teachers, parents, and young scholars who are seeking their African roots. 

The unabridged African American history has yet to become a part of the school curriculum. That is because our lawmakers insist on censoring our centuries-long fight for education. Let us not forget that the segregated schools of the 60s continue to haunt our modern attitudes.

In today’s article, let’s join forces and seek the light at the end of the tunnel together. All African-Americans deserve to become accustomed to their collective, African past. Read on to find out more about the preservation of the African way of educating our children!

An Afrocentric View on the History of Black Americans

Afrocentrism is often mistaken for a radical idea. Similarly to the Critical Race Theory, its critics are often enthusiasts of the European way of educating our people. A shift of perspective must take place. Educational inequity needs to be addressed but only by learning from the past.

Its counterpart, Eurocentrism, has managed to diminish the educational importance of African culture and tradition. In 1865, the Freedmen’s Bureau was not only a response to the Civil War  ━ it also marked a remarkable time during the Reconstruction period

4 million newly freed people needed help to get their lives back on track. With over one thousand schools built to instruct and educate our people, things were looking better than ever, until the Bureau’s termination in 1872. This short-lived emancipation speaks volumes about the systemic racism and educational inequity during that time in history.

Our children must know the real history of their people. Regardless of all hardships, academic excellence was a consistent goal for the African-American community. An Afrocentric perspective on history will replace the miseducation of all people of African descent and reconnect them with the real African history. Teach them how oppression did not stop African deep thought and that our ancestors were the original curators of spiritual, physical, scientific, mental, mathematical, astronimic and philosphic knowledge. The first universities were built in Africa (originally named Alkebulan) and the African Moors ruled Spain for over 700 years; teaching them how to cure diseases and use soap. When Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, it was soon discovered that Africans held in captivity had successfully created an underground literacy railroad throughout the South. This same education and school program became the foundation of the Georgia Public Education system. Read more about this here.

An Afrocentric Take On the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

The Civil Rights Movement brought forth ideas that are still being propagated today. This influential political movement initiated a national conversation regarding the end of racial segregation. Afrocentrism itself was a part of this debate. 

Overcoming a very overt and unapologetic systemic racism was a more difficult task back then than it is today. Specifically in terms of being enforced by the federal and state laws, the Brown case revealed the educational inequity and its roots in White supremacy. Western civilization tried its best to undermine the influence and richness of all African-derived cultures. 

Joint efforts of civil rights lawyers who had fought for desegregation were met with disdain by most White parents and teachers. The Brown case influenced communities throughout the nation and brought forth issues that had long been swiped under the rug of White supremacy.

Although our children were not legally constrained from attending White schools, they continued to face systemic racism and stereotyping. Contemporary African-American culture benefited from the Brown case, although its legacy remains quite an unfinished, Afrocentric symphony. In fact, similar to the passing of the Civil Rights laws, all people of color benefited from the beautiful struggle of Black people. The marching and resistance collectively made it possible for everyone to engage in the educational system as it is today. Yet, data still shows that Black children are still disproportionately represented in low academic performance and discipline. It would seem to us that the public education system accepted the bodies of Black children, but failed to embrace the culture and soul that has sustained us as a people BEFORE being kidnapped and forced to build this country. 

An Afrocentric Perspective on African Formal Education

Image credit: Freepik

Colonialism and Westernization paved the way for the educational inequity and systemic racism we are facing today. Critical Race Theory (aka CRT) is merely a thorough and unadulterated view of American History without centering Whiteness as the hero(ine) or savior. Although CRT continues to highlight the racial injustice directed at our people, there are still some things worth discovering in regards to the African way of educating our youth.

Did you know that in Botswana, the necessary knowledge and skills were passed on orally, through Afrocentric fables, folktales, legends, myths, and proverbs? This not only dismantles the oppression of our people through a sense of self-awareness, but also sheds new light on the concept of Afrocentrism.

Should culturally responsive after-school programs take the example of African education? This kind of Afrocentric knowledge could very well be implemented via culturally respectful family engagement activities. That way, the families, educators, and children could gain a newfound perspective on the African civilization as a whole.

Colonizers’ main efforts were directed at suppressing and, ideally, obliterating the African spirit. What schools and after-school programs should be aiming for is Afrocentric awareness and academic excellence, as the two go hand in hand. 

Family engagement activities have the power to reconnect our youth to their roots. Only an Afrocentric educational approach can dismantle the systemic racism that has been plaguing our nation for centuries. It is time that we aim to build strong communities of like-minded individuals.

Can We Preserve the Afrocentric Way of Educating Our Youth?

Yes, we most certainly can. Civil rights lawyers and countless scholars made sure of that. Professor Derrick Bell or Asa G. Hilliard III, to name only a few, both fought for an authentically Afrocentric way of living and educating our youth and “Reawakening the African Mind“. 

We can now bring awareness to the founding fathers of Afrocentrism, as well as to the history of our people with the help of culturally responsive after-school programs. Furthermore, family engagement activities can come in handy as a way to educate both the children and their families. This is what we like to call building a village.

The Village Method is here to build proudly Afrocentric villages. Unlike other after-school programs, we bring forth the richness and complexity of our ancestral culture through Youth Development, Family Engagement Activities, and Community Outreach programming.

Join us as we start building more and more villages. You can get involved today! 

 

Filed Under: Culture, Family Engagement, Village Method Tagged With: Afrocentric, afrocentrism, after-school programs, critical race theory, educational inequity, family engagement, family engagement activities, systemic racism

Family Engagement vs. the Pandemic

February 16, 2022 By Mark Gaskins

Things have changed dramatically. March 2020 was a turning point for so many of us. It was a confusing, frightening time that challenged our way of looking at our lives, including our children’s education. 

Before the pandemic started, educators and children had a direct relationship that rarely involved the parents’ input. It was a one-dimensional practice that in turn produced massive educational inequity and encouraged systemic racism.

If there is one positive thing that the COVID-19 outbreak has brought, it is definitely the increase in family engagement. Parents all across the country have had the rare opportunity to observe their children’s ways of learning, behaving, and interacting with their teachers and peers.

In this article, we’ll talk about the importance of parental engagement and how the pandemic has managed to bridge the gap between home and school. Continue to read as we’ll uncover the meaning of this unprecedented change!

Turning Families Into Valued Partners

The partnerships between families and schools have always been built upon faulty foundations. Before the pandemic, families that struggled with marginalization based on their race, social status, financial situation, language, and immigration status also struggled with how efficiently they were involved in family engagement initiatives. 

It’s a distressing fact that these families have had to deal with for the longest time. Schools have to treat children’s families as equals when it comes to the educational process. 

Parents should always have a final say when it comes to their children’s education. They should be celebrated and valued by educators, regardless of whether they’re part of a dominant or a non-dominant family. This is the only way in which we can achieve the conjoining of home and school, as well as taking steps towards the elimination of discrimination.

By turning families into valued partners, schools all over the country will make way for a future where systemic racism will be significantly diminished in its overwhelming intensity. We currently have the power to close the large gap between home and school. We have the extraordinary opportunity to get involved in our children’s educational journeys. It all starts with redesigning education as we know it today.

 

Unveiling the Importance of Family Engagement

According to research, parental involvement at home has double the impact on student test scores than the parent’s level of education or socioeconomic status. This is relevant because it shows that parents are more than capable of motivating their young ones to achieve better results at school. Basically, the success of students is directly impacted by how prioritized family engagement is. 

It’s safe to say that both COVID-19 and systemic racism are two pandemics that have to be dealt with carefully. Intentional change is what we believe to be the most important approach in this day and age. Remote learning has caused all of us to witness just how crucial and underrated parental engagement really is. 

The main question used to be “Why is family engagement so important?”. Now, the narrative has changed to “How come we never acknowledged the importance of family engagement?”. Schools and their educators are starting to see this partnership through a new lens. 

Marginalized families are slowly claiming back their power and showing schools just how pivotal it can be to embrace cultural differences. Family engagement activities are not inferior to the learning process ━ in fact, they’re an important component of it. 

Defining the Future of Family Engagement

According to the report Embracing a New Normal: Toward a More Liberatory Approach to Family Engagement by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the race-based caste system in the United States has severely affected the way in which families engage with their youth’s educators.

It’s important to dismantle the ongoing reign of this caste system bit by bit until we reach equity-based parental engagement in schools. The pandemic has brought things to a point of no return, where parents have seen first-hand the way in which their children are being educated. 

It’s time to encourage them by providing an empowering and affirming environment where they can fully express themselves. Solidifying the parent-educator relationship is oftentimes a hard thing to do, especially when the parent rarely shows up for meetings or feels like they’re not being seen and heard.

It’s the school’s duty to start valuing the families and their cultures. Their children will not only see this as a motivating factor but they will also perform better academically. Future first-generation college students will benefit from this greatly. The confidence built during their K-12 years will give them the drive to succeed during their college years. This is a win-win outcome for all involved. So, why not implement family engagement activities as soon as possible?

All in All…

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed an undeniable truth ━ the schooling system needs family engagement more than ever. It has always needed it but this time, the urge to implement this strategy is especially great.

We, at The Village Method, take great pride in providing Black youth and their families with the appropriate tools that will propel them into their desired colleges and careers. Together, we can achieve educational equity by supporting nonprofit community-based organizations. We offer our youth not just a regular after-school program, but a culturally responsive experience that will help them become the confident, self-aware adults of tomorrow.

Find out more about The Village Method today and help us by spreading the word! We’re all in this together as we fight for educational solidarity and creating a united community beyond the walls of the school!

Filed Under: Family Engagement, Newsletters, Village Method Tagged With: after school activities, family engagement, family engagement activities, family engagement in schools, first generation college student, parental engagement, why is family engagement important

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