Cortez: If You Believe in Parent Power, What Are Your Values?
This article is part of a series on empowering parents, in collaboration with New Profit. To read the rest of the series, click here.
Education systems have the potential to undergo significant transformation when well-informed and organized parents use their inherent power, both individually and as a collective, to drive and sustain change.
However, the task of helping parents access their power is extremely challenging. This challenge is exacerbated by the unfortunate reality that education reform is not immune to bias. This bias often leads to the belief that parents do not possess the ability to bring about change in their communities.
Too frequently, well-intentioned education efforts overlook the importance of involving parents, mistakenly assuming that if parents were capable of solving the problems, they would have already done so.
These efforts often acknowledge the power imbalance experienced by communities with failing education systems, but unintentionally perpetuate this disparity by continuing to exclude parents. If we want education reform to achieve genuine and lasting change at a systemic level, we must operate based on different values.
Matt Hammer, the founder and CEO of Innovate Public Schools, wisely advises, "We must have the same belief in parents as we do in their children. We believe that every child has infinite potential to learn, grow, create, be brilliant, and lead. We need to extend the same belief to their parents."
All educational initiatives, especially those aimed at empowering parents, should establish a set of explicit values that outline how parents can lead the efforts to change education in their communities. These values should also define the role of nonprofit leaders and funders as allies in supporting parent-led initiatives.
The following six values were developed through extensive dialogue and introspection with leaders from 18 parent empowerment organizations. These values serve as a guide for empowering parents in education.
The pronoun "we" in these values refers to nonprofit leaders and funders reflecting on their role as allies to parent-led initiatives.
Six values that guide parent empowerment in education:
1. "High expectations for all" lays the foundation for education. This principle emphasizes the need to establish high expectations for every child. As Seth Litt, executive director of Parent Revolution, emphasizes, we must repeatedly acknowledge this principle until it becomes a common understanding.
2. Sharhonda Bossier, deputy director of Education Leaders of Color, recognizes that parents have unparalleled belief in their children and are deeply concerned about their future and success. When parents have access to information and know how to activate their power, they will work to address their children’s educational challenges. To create sustainable change, education initiatives need to partner with parents from the outset.
3. Parents cannot solve problems they are unaware of. Unfortunately, parents and children in failing education systems often remain oblivious to the system’s shortcomings until it is too late. Education reformers can become crucial allies to parents by providing them with the necessary information and insights. However, it is essential to avoid hoarding information, as this creates an asymmetry that prevents parents from making informed decisions. Sharing knowledge is empowering for both students and parents.
4. Jon Deane, CEO of GreatSchools, highlights the importance of parents understanding how schools serve their communities’ children. Accessible and trustworthy data and information are critical for parents to take action. By providing parents with easy-to-understand data, education initiatives can empower them to advocate for their children effectively.
5. The relationship between messengers and recipients is equally important as the message itself. People are more likely to listen to and trust those who have earned credibility within their community. Whitney Henderson, Navigator in Chief at EdNavigator, emphasizes that relationships built on trust are the key to effective communication. By prioritizing parents’ needs and actively listening to them, education initiatives can foster trust, which is necessary when delivering difficult truths.
6. This work fundamentally revolves around power. Allies must assist parents in harnessing and channeling their inherent power. Jamilah Prince-Stewart, executive director of FaithActs for Education, stresses the importance of giving communities of color agency in education reform. Instead of imposing reforms on these communities, true empowerment involves equipping community members with the skills and power to advocate for change within their own community.
In education reform, it is not uncommon to hear the call for parents to exercise their power in achieving certain goals. However, it is essential to recognize that the agenda for change should be driven by the parents themselves, rather than imposed on them. Empowering parents means giving them agency and ensuring their voices are heard.
Sharing the agenda and power with communities may make some people uncomfortable. However, it is important to consider how it feels for the communities we are committed to serving when they are excluded from setting the agenda.
Dennis Littky, co-founder of Big Picture Learning and College Unbound, advocates for community organizing and emphasizes the importance of including the people affected by decisions: "Nothing about us, without us, is for us."
Mary Moran, executive director of Our Voice Nuestra Voz in New Orleans, recognizes that education is crucial for parents, children, and communities, but it cannot be isolated. The challenges families face in education are interconnected with issues like criminal justice, housing, wages, healthcare, and immigration. When advocating for a better education system, it is essential to dismantle institutionalized systems of oppression and empower Black and Brown families to lead and create equitable and just systems.
Of course, values alone do not eliminate bias.
Many marginalized communities have been excluded from their education system (and broader social system) for generations. It is not surprising that they are hesitant to trust those in authority or outsiders. These communities have heard countless empty words, and our words will be meaningless without intentional and credible actions.
Nevertheless, words can be a starting point, especially when they clearly define an organization’s values. Values establish what an organization holds itself accountable for and what it expects from others.
As your organization, whether it is a nonprofit, school, or philanthropy, explores its role in driving educational change, I encourage you to involve your team in developing a clear understanding of your organization’s values regarding parent power. It is crucial to be allies to parents. Feel free to adopt or adapt the values shared here if they resonate with your organization.
For more information on empowering parents in education and leveraging measurement for maximum impact, please visit Parent Empowerment in Education.
Alex Cortez is a managing partner at New Profit.
