As I read this chapter, I asked myself how many times I thought that my parents did not care enough to participate.  One year I taught first grade at a charter school.  As part of the charter, each parent had to volunteer 15 hours of service to the school in what ever capacity they could (make copies, Thursday papers, AR program, media center, fundraisers, class newsletters, posters, etc.).  My particular classroom had 15 students with 3/4 of the class either in EIP, ESOL, SST process, and/or free/reduced lunch.  When I had parent teacher conferences, about 50% of the parent(s) came.  I now wonder what could I have done to have more parents attend conferences, volunteer at school, etc.  Did I blame them for being poor parents since were not involved, or so I assummed?  Then I begin to think of my own parents as I grew up.  How involved were they?  Not really.  How many parent teacher conferences did they attend?  Not many.  Were they concerned about my education?  Absolutely.  Were they too busy to be involved?  Absolutely.  My parents left home at 6:00 and didn’t return until 7:45.  Why didn’t I think of my immigrant parents when I had my own classrooms?

I wish there was such a project as the Texas IAF or the UCLA Parent Curriculum Project here.  I think many parents of low SES, immigrant parents, and/or minority do not realize their rights.  I think this because it’s a lot different being a special educator in a middle to upper middle class school and in a Title 1 school.  The parents are much more demanding and know their rights whereas many of my parents at the Title 1 school didn’t question anything that was presented to them and didn’t demand certain services, accommodations, etc. for their children.  Just imagine how empowering these programs must be.  If I were not an educator and didn’t know my rights as a parent, I would want to be present to learn about what happens at school, how schools run, standardized testing, tracking, etc.  I would want to learn to ask the hard questions and what questions to ask. 

As an educator, what can I do to foster parent involvement?  “Because understanding is not enough, educators must act in ways that respond to their understanding” (p. 400).  I have a  lot of brainstorming to do.