Abstract
This ethnographic research was conducted over a three-year period, and documents the efforts of a committed group of parents and community members who through community-based research sought to address the disproportionate underachievement of African American students within their city’s public school system. Specifically, the parents and community members who make up the group Parents of Children of African Ancestry (POCAA) offer a refreshing theory of action that explicitly addressed issues of racial inequity, and called upon the larger community to respond with the urgency the youth deserved. In effect, POCAA challenges dominant views of African American parents and re-envisions their involvement in school reform as a site of radical resistance.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Throughout this article, pseudonyms are used for all personal and institutional names.
Although POCAA as an organization developed in an organic manner as the parents and grandparents responded to a situation that directly affected their children and their community, it is important to note the links the organization had with the local University based research collaborative and the strength the data provided them throughout their organizing efforts.
This “insider’s perspective” was important in many ways. For example, it provided POCAA access to an institutional memory they would otherwise not have. Also, since Yolanda was a trusted member of the larger African American community and the school community, her position within the school allowed POCAA somewhat easier access to teachers, administrators, and community.
At the time of this study, the student demographics were as follows: 37 % White, 32.7 % African American, 10.8 % Latino, 8.3 % Asian/Pacific Islander, 0.6 % American Indian, and 10.6 % other/mixed race.
The group was given district approval to search and hire their own teachers. None of the three teachers held California Teaching credentials at the time of hire. One teacher was in the process of getting her credential, while another teacher as one of the core members of POCAA.
It is important to note that POCAA worked closely with members of the fore-mentioned University based research collaboration as they designed the intervention program. This means that they had professional educators and researchers help in the design and implementation of the program.
In fact, the curriculum offered mirrored that of Benton High’s ninth grade, yet the way the curriculum was presented, the pedagogy, class size and the expectation that the students could be successful was vastly different. For example, each teacher focused on “progress” made, assured that all students participated in meaningful ways, and had strong connections with students’ families.
The district only funded this particular intervention for a seven-month period with funds that were not renewable. The board believed at the time that there were several interventions already in place to support struggling students. Towards the end of the seven months, POCAA went in front of the board to extend the intervention but the board denied their request citing a lack of funds.
References
Anyon, J. (2005). Radical possibilities: Public policy, urban education, and a new social movement. New York: Routledge.
Cammarota, J., & Fine, M. (2008). Revolutionizing education: Youth participatory action research in motion. New York: Routledge.
DeCuir, J. T., & Dixson, A. D. (2004). “So when it comes out, they aren’t that surprised that it is there”: Using Critical Race Theory as a tool of analysis of race and racism in education. Educational Researcher, 33(5), 26–31.
Fine, M. (1993). Apparent involvement: Reflections on parents, power, and urban public schools. Teachers College Record, 94(4), 682–717.
Fine, M. (1994). Working the hyphens: Reinventing self and other in qualitative research. In N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Fuentes, E. (2009). Learning power and building community: Parent-Initiated Participatory Action Research as a Tool for Organizing Community. In: S. Koirala-Azad & E. Fuentes (Eds.), Activist scholarship: Possibilities and constraints of Participatory Action Research. Social Justice Journal, 36 (4).
Fuentes, E. (2011). Practicing citizenship: Latino parents broadening notions of citizenship through participatory research. Journal of Latino Studies, 9(4), 396–415.
Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures. New York: HarperCollins.
Hall, B. L. (1992). From margins to center? Development and purpose of participatory research. The American Sociologist, 23(4), 15–28.
Jay, M. (2009). Race-ing through the school day: African American educators’ experiences with race and racism in schools. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 22(6), 671–685.
Lopez, M.E. (2003). Transforming schools through community organizing: A research review. Paper prepared for the Harvard Family Research Project, December 2003.
Madison, D. S. (2005). Critical ethnography: Method, ethics, and performance. California: Sage Publications.
Moses, R., & Cobb, C. (2001). Radical equations: Civil rights from Mississippi to the Algebra Project. Boston: Beacon Press.
Noguera, P. (1994). Where race and class are not an excuse: Reflections on education in Barbados and the American education dilemma. In W. Ayers, M. Klonsky, & G. Lyon (Eds.), A simple justice: The challenge of small schools. New York: Teachers College Press.
Noguera, P., & Yonemura-Wing, J. (2006). Unfinished business: Closing the racial achievement gap in our schools. New Jersey: Jossey-Bass.
Oakes, J., & Rogers, J. (2006). Learning power: Organizing for education and justice. New York: Teachers College Press.
Oakes, J., Rogers, J., Blasi, G., and Lipton, M. (2006). Grassroots organizing, social movements, and the right to high quality education. Paper prepared for the Rethinking Rodriguez Symposium. The Warren Institute, University of California, Berkeley, April 27–28.
Solórzano, D. G., & Delgado-Bernal, D. (2001). Examining transformational resistance through a critical race and Latcrit theory framework: Chicana and Chicano students in an urban context. Urban Education, 36(3), 308–342.
Solórzano, D. G., & Yosso, T. (2002). Critical race methodology: Counter-storytelling as an analytical framework for education. Qualitative Inquiry, 8(1), 23–44.
Stovall, D. (2005). A challenge to traditional theory: Critical race theory, African-American community organizers and education. Discourse Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 26(1), 95–108.
Su, C. (2007). Cracking silent codes: Critical race theory and education organizing. Discourse Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 28(4), 531–548.
Tate, W. F., Ladson-Billings, G., & Grant, C. (1993). The Brown decision revisited: Mathematizing social problems. Education Policy, 7, 255–275.
Warren, M. R. (2001). Dry bones rattling: Community building to revitalize American democracy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Warren, M. R. (2005). Communities and schools: A new view of urban education reform. Harvard Educational Review, 75(Summer), 133–173.
Warren, M., & Mapp, K. L. (2011). A match on dry grass: Community organizing as a catalyst for school reform. New York: Oxford University Press.
Yosso, T. (2005). Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth. Race, Ethnicity and Education, 8(1), 69–91.
Yosso, T., Smith, W., Ceja, M., & Solórzano, D. G. (2009). Critical race theory, racial microaggressions, and campus racial climate for Latina/o undergraduates. Harvard Educational Review, 79(4), 659–690.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fuentes, E.H. On the Rebound: Critical Race Praxis and Grassroots Community Organizing for School Change. Urban Rev 44, 628–648 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-012-0208-3
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-012-0208-3