This descriptive, embedded case study sought to explore the phenomena of how to improve and create effective partnerships between urban parents and urban schools. The study examined a novel parent involvement program in Detroit that involved over 500 urban parents. The program, called the Community Reviewer Program, trained parents and community members to assess and evaluate the quality of schools in the city of Detroit through the use of citywide school visitations and evaluations. The purpose of the study was to describe the Community Reviewer Program and to examine how participation in the program influenced parent’s experiences with their children’s schools. To better understand the program and its influences on participants, I conducted ten months of formal and informal program observations, obtained and analyzed program documents, and conducted in-depth pre- and post interviews with nine parents who participated in the program. The Community Reviewer Program reflected a theory of action and a program model emphasizing parent and community access to transparent information on school performance trends, new experiences for parents as school quality reviewers, and the development of relationships and interactions among and between urban parents, schools, and program organizers as a way to build parent’s social capital and positively influenced their interactions with their children’s schools. Findings suggests schools and programs must recognize urban parents as assets rather than liabilities, utilize new and diverse forms of parent involvement, and design programs and initiatives to meet the specific needs of parents.
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