Natural Allies

In Natural Allies, Soo Hong offers a paradigm shift in how we think about family engagement with schools. Hong challenges the conventional depiction of parents and teachers as 'natural enemies,' and shows how, through teachers’ initiative and commitment, they can become natural allies instead.

Based on a three-year ethnographic study, the book features the experiences and motivations of five urban school teachers who have successfully created meaningful, productive relationships and partnerships with students' families. In Natural Allies, the teachers' personal narratives are juxtaposed with rich descriptions of their interactions with families and children. The book explores how the dimensions of race, class, culture, and family history shape the interactions between teachers and families, particularly in schools where teacher-parent dynamics may be fraught with distrust or misunderstanding.

The book demonstrates how commitment to families and community can become a central part of educators' development as professionals. In addition, the research provides new insight and seeks to merge the study of family engagement with the field of culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogies.

Offered with optimism and urgency, Natural Allies addresses an area in which many educators feel ill equipped and unprepared. Readers will emerge from a reading of the book with new ideas on family engagement that are grounded in an analysis of the deep contours of the parent-teacher relationship.

“" Natural Allies was a pleasure to read and is suitable for practitioners, higher education students, and family engagement researchers alike." -- Christine M. McWayne and Jayanthi Mistry , Teachers College Record”

"Natural Allies was a pleasure to read and is suitable for practitioners, higher education students, and family engagement researchers alike." --Christine M. McWayne and Jayanthi Mistry, Teachers College Record

Soo Hong is an associate professor and chair of education at Wellesley College.

In Natural Allies , Soo Hong offers a paradigm shift in how we think about family engagement with schools. Hong challenges the conventional depiction of parents and teachers as "natural enemies" and shows how, through teachers' initiative and commitment, they can become natural allies instead. Based on a three-year ethnographic study, the book features the experiences and motivations of five urban school teachers who have successfully created meaningful, productive relationships and partnerships with students' families. The book explores how the dimensions of race, class, culture, and family history shape the interactions between teachers and families, particularly in schools where teacher-parent dynamics may be fraught with distrust or misunderstanding. "This seminal work by Soo Hong makes clear that the practice of engaging with families as partners in the education of our nation's children is an essential component of effective and proficient teaching. These captivating stories of five educators who see the authentic engagement with families as key to their success as educators should be required reading for all current and future educational practitioners." --Karen L. Mapp, senior lecturer on education and program director for the Education Policy and Management Master's Program, Harvard Graduate School of Education " Natural Allies provides us with a detailed and thoughtful treatise on what it takes to turn parents and teachers into partners who work together in the interests of children and schools. Hong's book avoids the vacuous platitudes that often characterize books about parents and schools. Instead, she cuts straight to the issues that frequently divide these critical stakeholders and shows how they can be broached with fairness and mutual respect." --Pedro A. Noguera, distinguished professor of education, Graduate School of Education and Information Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles " Natural Allies reminds us of the critical connections between teachers and parents that lead to opportunities for students, families, and schools. I love how Soo Hong engages us through her superb storytelling and has us all longing to bring parents into schools in very real ways." --Nancy Aardema, executive director, Logan Square Neighborhood Association Soo Hong is an associate professor and chair of education at Wellesley College.

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