Black and Latinx Parents’ Perspectives as Critical Leverage for Equity in Schools: Examining Parent-School Partnerships, Literacy Education, and Curriculum in a Freedom Schools Program

Abstract In response to racial and cultural inequities that persist in areas of curricula and school-family partnerships, this study examines how parents’ perspectives (including primary caregivers) on their children’s experiences in one Freedom Schools program in a mid-sized urban city informs the ways traditional curriculum and pedagogy might be more fully centered on Black and Latinx families and their communities. Through analysis of parent interview data using theories of culturally relevant teaching and critical literacy, the following themes highlight significant aspects anchoring their children’s experiences: (1) Families feeling valued through the Freedom Schools approach, (2) Parents’ awareness, appreciation, and excitement around their children’s literacy experiences, and (3) Community-centered experiential learning. Implications focus on parent-school relationships, literacy education, and curriculum and pedagogy in traditional school spaces. Implications include parent-school relationship terms that are on shared, reciprocal ground and that begin with valuing families’ life experiences and histories. Additionally, centering culturally relevant literature to cultivate critical literacy must become a priority if youth are to engage in meaningful reading experiences that transcend school-home boundaries. Finally, parent perspectives could act as critical leverage for shifting traditional school curricula, an aim that continues to require more force and momentum in the movement toward equity- and justice-centered schools in urban communities.