Episode 161: From Engagement To Involvement — How Parents Of Color Drive K-12 Success

When grades lag and motivation dips, waiting for a quarterly report card is like checking the weather after the storm. I explore practical, research-backed ways parents of color can transform school engagement into true involvement that improves achievement, confidence, and attendance. Drawing on post-pandemic data and lived experience, I map out a clear plan: request weekly skill-level updates, leverage out-of-school time programs aligned with classroom goals, and build mentoring relationships that help students feel seen and capable.

I share compelling results from after-school and summer initiatives that have boosted GPA, assessment scores, and daily attendance—especially in high-poverty schools. You’ll hear how targeted enrichment, from STEM to arts, accelerates learning while building social skills and joy. I also spotlight a community-driven approach from Long Beach Unified, where the Black Student Achievement Initiative and the Center for Black Excellence address identity, wellness, advocacy, and intergenerational wisdom to create environments where students can thrive.

Parenting style matters, too. I break down how to apply one particular parenting style at home with simple routines, clear boundaries, and opportunities for student choice that build independence. Layer in a mentor who sets goals and checks progress, and you create a durable support system that turns short-term wins into long-term growth.

If you’re ready to replace uncertainty with a plan, this guide gives you the steps to start today: ask better questions, choose better programs, and lead with care and clarity. 

Subscribe, share with a friend who needs a boost, and leave a quick review to help more families find these tools. What’s the first change you’ll make this week?

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Chapters

• 1:01 Welcome And Host’s Mission
• 3:35 Post‑Pandemic Gaps And Family Communication
• 5:39 Power Of Out‑Of‑School Programs
• 8:39 Mentoring That Moves The Needle
• 10:59 Case Study: Long Beach Initiatives
• 13:56 Ten Elements For Black Excellence
• 16:42 From Engagement To Involvement
• 17:54 Why Authoritative Parenting Wins
• 18:55 Key Takeaways And How To Respond
• 20:50 Share Your Thoughts And Closing

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:36

Welcome to another episode of K-12 Public Education Insights, Empowering Parents of Color Podcast. The podcast that converges at the intersection of educational research and parental actions. It's about making the trends, topics, and theories in public education understandable so that you can implement them into practical, actionable strategies that work for your children. My name is Dr. Kim J. Fields, former corporate manager, current education researcher, and advocate, and I'm the host of this podcast. I got into this space after dealing with some frustrating interactions with school educators and administrators, as well as experiencing the microaggressions that I faced as an African-American mom raising my two kids who were in the public school system. I really wanted to understand how teachers were trained and what the research provided about the challenges of the public education system. Once I gained the information and the insights that I needed, I was then equipped to be able to successfully support my children in their educational progress. This battle-tested experience is what I provide as action steps for you to take. It's like enjoying a bowl of educational research with a sprinkling of motherwood wisdom on top. If you're looking to find out more about the current information and issues in education that could affect you or your children, and the action steps you can take to give your children the advantages they need, then you're in the right place. Thanks for tuning in today. I know that staying informed about K-12 public education trends and topics is important to you, so keep listening. Give me 30 minutes or less, and I'll provide insights on the latest trends, issues, and topics pertaining to this constantly evolving K-12 public education environment. The K-12 public education community across the country is still working to overcome setbacks in student achievement and learning progress due to COVID-19 pandemic five years ago. In addition to this, there's a shift in how families engage with schools and understand their children's academic progress. That engagement has transformed into involvement as the best way to support your child's academic success. In this episode, I discuss the necessary elements to support your child's academic success and the environments that are most supportive to enhance your child's academic success. I also provide a brief discussion about what the research suggests is the best parenting style to promote academic success for your child. Let's gain some insight on this. Due to gaps in academic achievement that occurred during the COVID-19 shutdown, families are looking for more frequent and meaningful updates about their children's academic progress beyond just seeing report cards every quarter. According to a recent survey by School Status, 69% of families prefer daily or weekly communication, yet only 52% currently are receiving updates at that frequency. Even now, millions of U.S. students remain academically behind post-COVID. Research indicates that families play a crucial role in helping students recover academically if they understand how the child is doing and how they can support their academic success. Out-of-school time programs are an opportunity to supplement learning from the school day and provide targeted assistance to students whose needs extend beyond what they can get in the classroom. These programs play a meaningful role in improving academic achievement and academic success, as well as closing the gap between low and high-performing students. Out-of-school time programs should emphasize connection with school and classroom activities to achieve the overall goal of improving academic success. Additionally, these programs should deliver academic instruction in a way that responds to each student's needs and in such a way as to engage each student in learning. Improving these programs depends on how well the goals and expectations were stated, effective management, and the performance and experience of the staff. After school programs are one way to support your child's academic success. After school and summer programs across the country accelerate student growth, support student well-being, and help working families. These programs provide opportunities for students to enhance reading and writing skills as well as help students build their social skills and confidence. So they foster children's academic, social, and emotional development. A 2023 U.S. Department of Education report on 21st century community learning centers found that for after-school programs and summer programs, seven in ten students improved their engagement in learning. Nearly one in two students improved their attendance, especially for students who were chronically absent the previous year. More than four in ten students demonstrated growth on their state's math or reading assessments, and more than one in two students improved their overall GPA. Now these figures were particularly relevant for students attending high poverty, low-performing schools, yet they are applicable for all students of color. One example of the impact of an after-school program occurred in the Northview Public School System in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where the after-school program was able to expand from serving only 7th to 12th graders to reaching students in grades K-12. More than 850 students were able to take part in activities that included cooking and baking, carpentry, mountain biking, band, stem, and gardening. At the end of the spring 2022 program, Northview Public Schools saw a 51% increase in students' school day attendance and engagement. Another example would be a full-day summer program in East Orange, New Jersey that was run for four weeks in 2021. The program provided academic remediation, enrichment, and field trips. It ended up serving over 1,100 students in grades K through 5 at seven school sites. Nearly 30% of the students who attended for 30 days or more of the after-school program saw academic gains in literacy and math, and 90% saw a reduction in discipline referrals. I know from experience, having utilized after-school programs many times, that after-school programs are helpful for working families because they allow parents to keep their jobs, they give parents peace of mind, knowing that their children are safe, and they provide support for parents who are looking for jobs. Mentoring is another notable way to support your child's academic success. Mentoring relationships, both those that occur in formal educational contexts in and out of school, as well as those that form naturally in communities, can enrich academic achievement for students of color. Mentoring relationships that develop naturally support academic success through the support offered by extended family, friends of family, and community leaders, as well as through the meaningful relationships that are created between students and educators during the day. Mentoring programs generally produce positive impacts on a number of educational outcomes, and mentoring relationships have the potential to influence academic factors such as school connectedness, school engagement, educational self-confidence, and attitudes towards school. Worth noting, peer mentoring programs also support student success. Having the right environment to support students' academic achievement is vital. The right environment includes the home climate and the school climate because both are pivotal in student success. Let's discuss a case study of the school district that is near and dear to my heart, Long Beach Unified School District in Long Beach, California. Both of my children attended K-12 Public Schools in the Long Beach Unified School District. The Long Beach Unified School District launched the Black Student Achievement Initiative in 2021. This initiative offers a range of programs that aim to improve outcomes for Black students and families within the district. Although the district is making positive strides with this program, the latest academic performance data suggests that there is still quite a bit of work to do. The 2024 Smarter Balance English Language Arts Assessment Consortium data revealed that black students' scores were behind all other ethnic groups and English language learners, with only 20% meeting or exceeding achievement in math and 34% in English language arts. Based on graduation and completion rates in 2024, less than 50% of black graduating seniors met the University of California or the California State University system's course requirements and were therefore not qualified to attend a four-year California State University or college. The school district established a liberatory space, which is an environment or system that embodies and promotes true freedom, joy, and self-empowerment while helping black students, families, and community members achieve their fullest potential without constraints. The district also established the Center for Black Excellence that stands as a beacon of empowerment, opportunity, and progressive change so that students, families, and communities feel liberated to pursue their dreams while embracing their inherent brilliance, beauty, and agency that exists within each black child and community member. These following ten elements have been identified based on representative voices of the Long Beach Unified School District's Black Community to help students of color, especially Black students, embody characteristics of academic success and excellence. Number one, empowering genius, which involves recognizing and nurturing the inherent brilliance of black students. Number two, overcoming systemic barriers, looking at, addressing, and dismantling obstacles that have historically and persistently limited Black families' access to opportunities and resources. Number three, embracing black identity, which involves celebrating and elevating the importance of cultural education and awareness. Number four, liberating greatness. This basically involves striving to be exceptional in all endeavors. Number five, elevating intergenerational wisdom, which involves exchanging knowledge and experience across different generations. Number six, promoting advocacy and awareness by being well informed about critical issues impacting the black community and being well equipped to advocate for change. Number seven, centering health and well-being by enhancing personal and collective wellness. Celebrating and reflecting black unity and black joy is what's covered in this element. These were the elements that were identified by black parents, family, and community members. As a side note, these programs were instituted after my children graduated public schools in the Long Beach Unified School District. I think that what the district created with the Center for Black Excellence is admirable, and I hope that the work there continues. The ten elements that are identified as characteristics for academic success and excellence are something that could be utilized by all parents of color. So, what can you do with the information I just shared? Here are the action steps you can take regarding supporting your child's academic success. Your involvement in your children's academic progress is a definite way to support their academic success. Now I like to make the distinction between engagement and involvement with an analogy of the chicken and the pig, especially when providing sustenance for breakfast. The chicken was engaged by providing an egg, but the pig was involved because it gave up its life. Parent involvement for their children's academic success means more than attending a couple of parent teacher meetings. It means that you are actively overseeing their academic, mental, and physical well-being. Did you know that the research indicates that there is one parenting style that leads to more academic success? Can you guess which parenting style that is? You have a choice between authoritarian, permissive, authoritative, gentle parenting, or neglectful parenting. Okay, I won't leave you hanging. It's the authoritative parenting style. Reviews of the literature on parenting styles have come to the conclusion that children from authoritative homes score higher on measures of psychological development and mental health as compared to children from homes where other parenting styles are used. The authoritative parenting style taps into dimensions of high expectations, monitoring, psychological autonomy, warmth, and support. This style encourages independent decision making. Authoritative parents are highly involved in their child's academic and personal life. The results of this particular study reinforce the understanding of the importance of actively engaged parents in contributing to the academic success of their children. Here are this episode's takeaways. Research indicates that families play a crucial role in helping students recover academically if they understand how the child is doing and how they can support their academic success. Out-of-school time programs are an opportunity to supplement learning from the school day and provide targeted assistance to students whose needs extend beyond what they can get in the classroom. These programs play a meaningful role in improving academic achievement and academic success, as well as closing the gap between low and high-performing students. After school programs are one way to support your child's academic success. After school and summer programs across the country accelerate student growth, support student well-being, and help working families. These programs provide opportunities for students to enhance reading and writing skills as well as help students build their social skills and confidence so they foster children's academic, social, and emotional development. Mentoring is another notable way to support your child's academic success. Mentoring programs generally produce positive impacts on a number of educational outcomes, and mentoring relationships have the potential to influence academic factors such as school connectedness, school engagement, educational self confidence, and attitudes towards school. Peer mentoring programs also support student success. What are some of the ways that you help support your child? Academic success. Leave your thoughts on my website, text comment, for the podcast at K12Education Insights.buzzsprout.com. Here's how you can leave your text comment. Go to the episode description page and click on the Send Me a Text Message link. Again, leave your comments and your thoughts about the ways in which you're supporting your child's academic success by leaving a text message on K12 Education Insights.buzzsprout.com. If you enjoyed this episode, why not listen to another episode from our library? It could take as little as 15 minutes of your day. And remember, new episodes come out every Tuesday. Thanks for listening today. Be sure to come back for more insights on K 12 educational topics that impact you and your children. Until next time, learn something new every day.