A01=Cheryl Fields-Smith
Author_Cheryl Fields-Smith
Black home education
Black homeschooling
Category=JNF
Category=JNFK
Category=JNH
community
deficit narratives
discipline
engagement
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
experiential learning
families
folk pedagogy
freedom
home education
home school
homeschool
identity development
justice
leadership
parents
privacy
racial healing
resources
rights
school administrator
school choice
school-family-community partnerships
teacher education
teacher preparation
teacher shortage
Product details
- ISBN 9781682539682
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 29 Apr 2025
- Publisher: Harvard Educational Publishing Group
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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A thoughtful, research-based discussion of Black homeschool experiences as models for educational improvement in K–12 public education
In Creating Educational Justice, Cheryl Fields-Smith upholds the decisions of Black parents to homeschool their children as acts of empowerment, resistance, and educational justice. The work spotlights the various motivations of Black families to home educate, bringing attention to key issues facing K–12 public schooling in the United States.
Fields-Smith shares the voices and perspectives of sixty Black home educators from a range of demographic backgrounds. Many of these families moved to homeschooling after students began their formal education in public schools, citing both problems endemic to US public schools (curriculum limitations, teacher shortages, and inadequate resources) and those faced particularly by Black students (marginalization of Black parents’ engagement, deficit narratives surrounding Black student ability, discriminatory disciplinary practices, and overrepresentation in special education) as reasons for their switch. Their stories demonstrate the many ways in which Black home education curates learning opportunities that promote positive identity development and racial healing, as well as academic success, in ways that traditional schools often cannot.
Fields-Smith argues that public educators can learn much from Black homeschool parents’ decision-making, folk pedagogy, and educational practice. This work offers a wealth of constructive feedback for teachers, school administrators, and policymakers that can inform teacher education practices, school administration approaches, and education reform measures and help build stronger school-family-community partnerships.
In Creating Educational Justice, Cheryl Fields-Smith upholds the decisions of Black parents to homeschool their children as acts of empowerment, resistance, and educational justice. The work spotlights the various motivations of Black families to home educate, bringing attention to key issues facing K–12 public schooling in the United States.
Fields-Smith shares the voices and perspectives of sixty Black home educators from a range of demographic backgrounds. Many of these families moved to homeschooling after students began their formal education in public schools, citing both problems endemic to US public schools (curriculum limitations, teacher shortages, and inadequate resources) and those faced particularly by Black students (marginalization of Black parents’ engagement, deficit narratives surrounding Black student ability, discriminatory disciplinary practices, and overrepresentation in special education) as reasons for their switch. Their stories demonstrate the many ways in which Black home education curates learning opportunities that promote positive identity development and racial healing, as well as academic success, in ways that traditional schools often cannot.
Fields-Smith argues that public educators can learn much from Black homeschool parents’ decision-making, folk pedagogy, and educational practice. This work offers a wealth of constructive feedback for teachers, school administrators, and policymakers that can inform teacher education practices, school administration approaches, and education reform measures and help build stronger school-family-community partnerships.
Cheryl Fields-Smith is professor of elementary education in the Department of Educational Theory and Practice at the Mary Frances Early College of Education, University of Georgia. She is a former elementary school teacher.
