From Collision to Enhancement

Natural Allies: Hope and Possibility in Teacher-Family Partnerships by Soo Hong
Harvard Education Press, October 1, 2019

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In her new book, Soo Hong engages readers in a commitment to finding a better way for schools to partner with parents. First, Hong exposes the problem: that schools, often unknowingly, define roles and create structures that distance parents from the genuine relationships with teachers that are proven factors in a child's school success. With intelligence, compassion, and optimism, she encourages a deep understanding of how race, class, family history, and teacher capacity affect family engagement. She introduces new perspectives on common missteps and outlines specific strategies for improving relationships by telling the richly detailed stories of five of the teachers she followed in her multi-year research on family engagement in schools. It is not possible to change the fact that educators and parents may find themselves vying for power over who knows best how a child should be schooled. This book helps readers to understand the struggle, and to shift it from collision to enhancement, from talking to authentic discourse. A belief that parents and teachers are natural allies is an essential pillar of an inclusive school culture.