Terms Defined

Familycentric approach - places families at the center; because teachers learn parents’ hopes and dreams for their children and for themselves, come to know parents and the knowledge they hold and employ, this approach promotes parent engagement both on and off the school landscape.

Parent - a particular role in a family, one which is defined by responsibility, sole or shared, for the provision of acts of caregiving. The term ‘to parent’ names acts or actions fulfilled by individuals in that role. 

Many different individuals parent: persons in biological or non-biological relationships with a child or adolescent; grandparents or other family members; individuals in relationship with family members; workers in group homes, detention centers, and hospitals; individuals significant in the lives of children and youth through fostering, adoption, or combined families.

Parent Knowledge - The particular knowledge held and used by someone who nurtures children in the complex act of childrearing and in the complex context of a home and family.

Parent Engagement – the meaningful and authentic place and voice of parents in decisions that affect their children’s teaching, learning, and development, both on and off the school landscape

Parent Involvement – serving as aide, organizer, fundraiser, spectator or audience member, as requested by the school or teacher, in support of your child’s schooling

Education – a birth to forever process in which parents nurture, support, and facilitate their children’s learning, growth, and development

Schooling – the formal, mandated, and often institutionalized part of a child’s education

Schoolcentric approach -  structured and defined for parents by schools; because the school’s agenda is central, this approach perpetuates parent involvement.

School Landscape – more than a physical place, it is an intellectual and moral landscape filled with people, things, and processes all in interaction

Walking Alongside – living in practice a philosophy and pedagogy of parent engagement, in which parent knowledge is used alongside teacher knowledge to inform the teaching and learning of children and adolescents

Gentle Revolution – consciously working to shift and change the landscape of schools to create greater place and voice for parents, in ways that show love, respect and care for parents and teachers