From Moral Supporters to Struggling Advocates

Abstract

How do marginalized parents construct their role in promoting their children's access to educational opportunity? What lessons might their experience have for our understanding of parent involvement beyond the parameters of traditional models? This qualitative case study examined the beliefs, goals, and practices of 16 working-class African American and Latino parents whose children were in a college access program at a diverse metropolitan high school. It offers an alternative typology of parent roles, which reflects parents' contrasting social and cultural locations, biographies, and perceptions of—as well as relations with—their children and the school. With its highlighting of marginalized parents' voices at a critical juncture in student careers, this article contributes to a more inclusive discourse on families, schooling, and equity.