Marshallese Families’ Reported Experiences of Home-school Connections: An Asset-based Model for Critiquing “Parental Involvement” Frameworks and Understanding Remote Schooling during COVID-19

Abstract

COVID-19 closed school buildings across the United States, forcing a shift to remote education. How families navigated remote schooling likely varied across class, racial, and ethnic differences, raising questions about how the pandemic might deepen educational inequities. We talked to Marshallese migrant families in a town in the South Central United States about their experiences with remote schooling in Spring 2020. Findings suggest families engaged in school activities at home and were invested in their children’s schooling. They reported numerous inequities tied to technology access and “time-collisions” between familial and educational schedules. They also reveal culturally specific patterns of home-school interactions we call “distributed involvement.” These issues are relevant during in-person as well as remote schooling. Families’ reports suggest problems with normative models of “parental involvement,” revealing ways to make home-school connections more culturally sustaining. A better understanding of reported COVID-19 experiences can inform educational policies and practices in post-pandemic futures.