Just Schools: Building Equitable Collaborations with Families and Communities

“Ishimaru’s book provides an imaginative and inspiring approach.” —Teachers College Record

“Full of practical steps that educators and administrators can and must take to build strong collaborations with families.” —Mark R. Warren, University of Massachusetts Boston

Just Schools examines the challenges and possibilities for building more equitable forms of collaboration among nondominant families, communities, and schools.

This popular text explores how equitable collaboration entails ongoing processes that begin with families and communities, transform power, build reciprocity and agency, and foster collective capacity through collective inquiry. These processes offer promising possibilities for improving student learning, transforming educational systems, and developing robust partnerships that build on the resources, expertise, and cultural practices of nondominant families. Based on empirical research and inquiry-driven practice, this book describes core concepts and provides multiple examples of effective practices.

Book Features:

• Broadens the dominant conception of leadership to include traditionally marginalized parents and communities as potential educational leaders.
• Explores partnerships from both a systemwide and in-school basis, with detailed portraits of what is possible.
• Translates theoretical principles at multiple scales: systemic, school, and individual practice.
• Shares studies focused on a broad range of contexts, strategies, and practices for enacting equitable collaboration with families.