Families as School Citizens: Family Positioning in the Spheres of Participation in Schools

Families have been recognized a key element of schools, and models have been developed to aid schools in involving them. Yet, families are not monolithic, and more needs to be understood about how different families position themselves relative to formal schooling. In this article, we explore this phenomenon by analyzing family and educator responses to an open-ended survey collected in a suburban school district. To make sense of these family’s perspectives, we draw on models of citizenship and democratic family engagement as well as positioning theory . We view families and schools through the lens of citizenship Analyzing family and educator comments, we construct three positions: Active participation, potential participation, and exclusion and explore nuances within these. We discuss dynamics of race and power differentials. Finally, we relate findings to a proposed Spheres of Participation model to better understand how families see themselves and are seen by educators in relation to schools. Informed by theory and research, this model supposes a position that did not appear in the comments: Transformative participation. We close with discussion of the implications and potential uses of the model.