Mothers United : An Immigrant Struggle for Socially Just Education.

ISBN:

9780816677108

Title:

Author:

Dyrness, Andrea.

Personal Author:

Dyrness, Andrea.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (264 pages)

Contents:

Cover -- Contents -- Abbreviations -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: A Fragile Partnership -- 1. Separate Journeys: The Road to New Small Schools -- 2. Baudelia's Leadership: Claiming Space for Parents in School Design -- 3. Contested Community: Negotiating Admissions in the New Small School -- 4. The Good Parent, the Angry Parent, and Other Controlling Images -- 5. Ofelia's Kitchen: A Counterspace for Resistance -- 6. En Confianza: Lessons for Educators on Working for Change with Immigrant Parents -- Conclusion: Participatory Research and the Politics of Social Change -- Appendix: Questions for Reflection -- Notes -- References -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y.

Local Note:

Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2019. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.

Subject Term:

Customer services.;Customer services -- Technological innovations.

Format:

Electronic Resources

Electronic Access:

Click here to view book

Publication Date:

2011

Publication Information:

Minneapolis :

University of Minnesota Press,

2011.

Available:*

Shelf Number	Material Type	Copy	Shelf Location	Status
371.8269120979466	1:E-BOOK	1	1:ON-DEMAND	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

In urban American school systems, the children of recent immigrants and low-income parents of color disproportionately suffer from overcrowded classrooms, lack of access to educational resources, and underqualified teachers. The challenges posed by these problems demand creative solutions that must often begin with parental intervention. But how can parents without college educations, American citizenship, English literacy skills, or economic stability organize to initiate change on behalf of their children and their community?. In Mothers United, Andrea Dyrness chronicles the experiences of five Latina immigrant mothers in Oakland, California--one of the most troubled urban school districts in the country--as they become informed and engaged advocates for their children's education. These women, who called themselves Madres Unidas (Mothers United), joined a neighborhood group of teachers and parents to plan a new, small, and autonomous neighborhood-based school to replace the overcrowded Whitman School. Collaborating with the author, among others, to conduct interviews and focus groups with teachers, parents, and students, these mothers moved from isolation and marginality to take on unfamiliar roles as researchers and community activists while facing resistance from within the local school district. Mothers United illuminates the mothers' journey to create their own space--centered around the kitchen table--that enhanced their capacity to improve their children's lives. At the same time, Dyrness critiques how community organizers, teachers, and educational policy makers, despite their democratic rhetoric, repeatedly asserted their right as experts, reproducing the injustice they hoped to overcome. A powerful, inspiring story about self-learning, consciousness-raising, and empowerment, Mothers United offers important lessons for school reform movements everywhere.

Reviews (2)

Choice Review

This unflinching work follows the story of five Latina mothers as they struggle to establish a new small school in California to combat the educational inequities found in the Oakland public school system. The narrative reveals the backstory of this effort at education reform to illustrate the mechanisms that make reform happen. This backstory employs an ethnographic narrative to describe the endeavors of these women to right the injustices that they saw in the public education system. It is in the subtext of this narrative that the work moves beyond educational reform to the power of feminist ideology and cultural determination. A central theme, and one that functions more on the periphery as a cohesive device, is the nature of "space" and how groups navigate these spaces. Dyrness (Trinity College) subtly but unmistakably emphasizes that how one navigates these spaces is key to public education. The central question emerges: is the "space" of education the domain of teachers or parents? What readers will find in Dyrness's book is the often-raw complexities that create barriers within these spaces, not just between educators and parents, but within cultural perspectives. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers, undergraduate students, and practitioners. P. L. Yoder Truman State University

Library Journal Review

It's probably no surprise to the majority of people in this country that American school systems with large numbers of low-income, minority, and/or recent immigrant children are usually overcrowded and underfunded and staffed by lower-performing teachers. So how does one go about changing these inequalities? Through participatory research, Dyrness (educational studies, Trinity Coll., Hartford) is able to share the experiences of a group of Latina mothers who decided to improve the inferior education system in Oakland. The Madres Unidas (Mothers United) came together to fight for better schools after continually experiencing overcrowding and underperformance at the school their children attended. They worked to create a smaller, more effective school in their neighborhood-for not only their children but their community. They encountered numerous obstacles, including teachers and administrators, as they strove to be heard. VERDICT The audience for this book will be limited primarily to parents and educators who have experienced similar situations. The educational terminology and frequent use of acronyms may be too distracting and confusing for casual readers.-Terry A. Christner, Hutchinson P.L., KS (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.