“BLACK FATHERS INVOLVEMENT IN THE ACADEMIC LIFE OF
THEIR CHILDREN”
Presented at
The 12th Annual International Fatherhood Conference
“Parents and Communities Working Together to Ensure the
Academic Success of Children”
Dr. Delia Robinson Richards
University of the District of Columbia
Dr. Gertrude C. Jackson
North Carolina Central University
Brief Description of Research
• A quantitative descriptive study of Black fathers’
involvement in the academic life of their children was
analyzed. Fathers completed a self-administered
questionnaire of fathers’ attitudes and behaviors in
relationship to their children’s academic life. Four
categories related to academic life are: home
environment, school-related activities, teachers and
school, and barriers hindering fathers’ participation.
Three Key Objectives of the Research
1) Identify fathers’ attitudes and behaviors toward
their children’s learning
2) Identify fathers perceptions of how teachers and
school personnel engage them in the academic life
of their children
3) Identify how teachers perceive Black fathers’ role in
the schooling of their children
Review of Literature
Intellectual Development:
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Answering questions
Providing advice
Providing stability at home
Demonstrating a genuine interest for child
Staying inform about events occurring in the child’s
life
• Listening and talking to the child
Sources: Ahmeduzzaman & Roopnarine (1992); Bright & Williams (1996);
Caldwell & White (2006); Grief, Hrabowski, & Maton (1998, 2006),
Hurd & Rogers (1998); Hyde & Texidor (1994)
Review of Literature (cont.)
Intellectual Development:
• Monitoring school activities, assignments, &
experiences
• Helping with homework
• Expressing love and warmth
• Visiting the school and talking to teacher
• Making expectations about the child’s success
• Being available to the child
• Advocating for child within the educational system
Sources: Ahmeduzzaman & Roopnarine (1992); Bright & Williams (1996);
Caldwell & White (2006); Greif, Hrabowski, & Maton (1998, 2006),
Hurd & Rogers (1998); Hyde & Texidor (1994)
Demographics of Fathers
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15 Black fathers
29 to 59 years old
13 married; 1 separated; 1 divorced
All employed
Incomes ranged $30,000-$89,000 per year
14 biological fathers; 1 non-biological (step-father)
13 residential; 2 non-residential
Spend 2 to 9 hours per week participating in
educational activities with children
Source: (Richards & Jackson, 2006)
Questions for Fathers
1. What kinds of relationships do fathers have with their
children’s teachers?
2. What barriers hinder a father from working with his child’s
teacher and school?
3. What kinds of activities do the schools use to encourage
father’s involvement?
4. What strategies are successful for engaging father’s
participation?
5. What recommendations would you make to improve father
and teacher relationship and father and school relationship?
Source: (Richards & Jackson, 2006)
Fathers Participate in the Academic Success of
their Children
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Listen to child
Show interest in child’s learning
Teach child good work habits
Make themselves available
Provide rules and set standards for their behavior
Provide rewards and punishments
Teach child to respect others
Provide a home environment conducive to learning
Reinforce what the mother does to promote the child’s learning
Help keep the child on track
Monitor child’s homework
Check to see if it is completed
Show child how to study
Ask the child questions
– Source: (Richards & Jackson, 2006)
Demographics of Teachers
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6 male; 5 female
6 certified; 2 not certified
6 African Americans
5 Caucasians
6 College Degrees
4 Masters Degrees
Earn $30,000-$49,000 per year
1 to 9 years at present school
Teach grades 3rd to 11th
Spend 20 minutes to 2 hours per day disciplining
children
Source: (Richards & Jackson, 2006)
Questions for Teachers
1. What kinds of interactions do you have with your
students’ fathers?
2. How important are these interactions for helping
students to be successful in school?
3. As a teacher, what barriers do you think hinder
fathers from being involved in their children’s
education?
4. What barriers hinder you from working with the
students’ fathers?
Teachers’ Questions (cont.)
5. At your school, what kinds of activities are
implemented to encourage father’s involvement in
their children’s education?
6. What activities have been successful?
7. What activities have been unsuccessful?
8. To promote the academic success of children, what
recommendations would you make to improve the
father and teacher relationship and father and school
relationship?
Teachers’ Relationships with Black Fathers
• Believe Black fathers are interested in their children’s
learning
• Don’t seek out fathers
• Call the school’s official number- “deal with that
particular person be it mother, father, extended
family member”
• Have not made a habit of speaking to the father
• Engage father when the father has developed a
relationship with the school
• Contact father when there is a problem
Source: (Richards & Jackson, 2006)
Father’s responses:
“I feel that teachers will go the extra mile for my children
because the mother and I take an interest in our children lives
and education.”
“I feel that I have built a good relationship with my kids’
teacher. It gives me and the teacher a positive affect and we
both are a contributing factor for the children.”
Source: (Richards & Jackson, 2006)
Black Fathers’ Relationships with Public School
Teachers
• Take time to know the teacher and for teacher to know you
• Value and respect teachers
• Have teachers keep them informed about “everything” regarding
their children
• Let teachers know that they are always available
• Give teachers full authority regarding the child’s conduct and
discipline in school
• View teacher as a second parent to their children
• Communicate with teacher (i.e., e-mail, cell phone)
• Support teacher
Barriers Hindering Black Fathers’ Involvement
Black Fathers’ Perspective
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•
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“The ones that you put up for yourself”
Time
Work
Teacher style versus parent style for instructing
child
• Lack of familiarity with technology used at the
school
Source: (Richards & Jackson, 2006)
Sponsored School Activities to Encourage Black
Fathers’ Participation
Fathers’ Perspective
• Activities tend to be generalized for all parents
• Father and child dance
Source: (Richards & Jackson, 2006)
Barriers Hindering Black Fathers’ Involvement
Teachers’ Perspective
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Time
Work
Teacher’s exhaustion
Fathers not in the household (i.e., custody issues,
divorce, separation, started new family)
• School policy (i.e., communicating with identified
person only on record, confidentiality)
• Emotional issues of the father
Source: (Richards & Jackson, 2006)
Sponsored School Activities to Encourage Black
Fathers’ Participation
Teachers’ Perspective
• “There isn’t anything outside of the standardized
PTO and open school events.”
Source: (Richards & Jackson, 2006)
Recommendations for Improving Father and
Teacher/School Relationships
Black Fathers’ Perspective
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Go to school and have a face-to-face contact with teachers
Don’t threaten but talk to the teacher
Try to understand the issue from the teacher’s perspective
Know teachers are human and will make mistakes
Let the teacher call you at work and at home at anytime
• Make time to be at school-sit in classroom
• Volunteer, show-up and get involved
• Let everyone know that you want to support what they do and
do whatever is needed to help the school move forward
• Let everyone at the school know your name and child’s name
Source: (Richards & Jackson, 2006)
Recommendations for Improving Father and
Teacher/School Relationships
• Macro level- Provide mandatory time for fathers to
take off to be involved
• Sponsor father and son dinner
• Sponsor Father’s Day or Bring Your Father to School
Day
• Present Father’s Awards
Source: (Richards & Jackson, 2006)
Implications for Educators and Social Workers
1. From the teacher’s perspective, teachers are exhausted and parents are
exhausted, who becomes responsible for formulating the
father/teacher/school partnership to promote the academic success of the
black children?
•
a) What is the role of the father?
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b) What is the role the teacher?
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c) What is the role of the school?
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d) What is the role of the community?
2. There are many variables: time, multiple jobs, mother/father conflicts.
HOW/WHO/WHERE do we address these issues to assist Black fathers in
participating in the educational process of their children?
3. Are teachers adequately trained to involve parents in the school process?
4. How do you involve fathers in the school process without stirring up
unpleasant memories in students whose fathers are absent?
5. How do we consider the cultural factors and socioeconomic factors in
developing policies/programs that relate to Black fathers’ involvement?
Source: (Richards & Jackson, 2006)
References
American Families. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 54, 699-707.
Bright, J. A., & Williams, C. (1996). Childrearing and education in urban
environments. Black fathers’ perspectives. Urban Education, 31, 245-260.
Caldwell, L.D., & White, J. L. (2006). In M. E. Connor & J. L. White (Eds), Black
fathers in an invisible presence in America, Generative fathering:
Challenges to black masculinity and identity (pp. 53-69). Mahwah, NJ:
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Coleman, William,MD, Garfield,Craig, MD and the Committee on Psychosocial
Aspects of Child and Family Health (2004). Fathers and Pediatricians:
Enhancing Men’s Roles in the Care and Development of their Children.
American Academy of Pediatrics,112,vol. 5, 1406-1411.
Hrabowski, F. A., Maton, K. I., Grief (2006, In M. E. Connor & J. L. White (Eds),
Black fathers in an invisible presence in America, Father-son relationships:
The father’s voice (pp. 17-51). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
References (cont.)
Grief , G. L., & Hrabowski, F. A., & Maton, K. I. (1998). African American fathers of highachieving sons: Using outstanding members of an at-risk population to guide
intervention. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Human Services, 79
(1), 45-52.
Hurd, E. P., & Rogers, R. (1998). A friend and a brother: Understanding the role of
African American men in childrearing. Journal of Family Social Work, 3, 5-23.
Hyde, B., & Texidor, M. (1994). Childrearing and parental roles: A description of the
fathering experiencesthamong Black families. In R. Staples (Ed), The Black family:
Essays and studies (5 edition, pp. 157-165). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Jackson, G.C. & Richards, D.R. (2009). Black Fathers: Are They a Missing Link in the
Education of School-Age Children? Protecting Children, 24 (2),43-53.
Richards, D.R., & Jackson, G.C. (2006). Black fatherhood: Are they a missing link in the
education of school-age children? Unpublished paper, University of the District of
Columbia, Washington, DC.
Sampson, W. A. (2002). Black Student Achievement: How much do family and school
really matter? Lanham: Scarecrow Press.