UC San Diego

Title I schools are required to promote meaningful parent and family engagement; however, research suggests that many parents in minoritized communities often feel ignored, undervalued, or unwelcome in school settings. In mathematics education, parents frequently mentioned feeling ill-equipped to support their children's learning, in part because schools often fail to recognize or leverage the mathematical knowledge and resources families possess. This study contributes to ongoing efforts to reexamine parental involvement in middle school mathematics education within culturally and linguistically diverse communities. Using an ethnographic case study approach, this dissertation examined parental involvement at two Title I middle schools—a public school and a charter school—serving predominantly minoritized student populations. Guided by Civil and colleagues’ (2005) framework of parents as intellectual resources and Moll et al.’s (1992) concept of funds of knowledge, the study investigated how educators conceptualize parental involvement in education and mathematics education, and how Latinx and other minoritized parents understand and describe their roles in supporting their children's learning. Data sources included participant observations, school documents, and interviews with parents, teachers, administrators, and other school personnel. Data were analyzed using inductive and deductive thematic analysis. Findings indicate that parental involvement at both sites was primarily framed through traditional school-centered expectations, positioning parents largely in supportive and compliance-oriented roles rather than as intellectual resources. Parent-school communication was often limited, and opportunities for meaningful family-school partnerships were constrained by institutional and structural factors. Although both schools demonstrated efforts to engage families, existing practices only partially recognized and leveraged parents’ cultural, linguistic, and experiential strengths, particularly in mathematics education. The findings extend existing understandings of parental involvement during the transition to middle school by highlighting how school structures, increasingly complex mathematics content, and adolescent development shape opportunities for family engagement. The study suggests that advisory programs, mathematics-focused parent workshops, and partnerships with community organizations may strengthen family engagement and parent advocacy. More broadly, the findings support expanded, asset-based conceptualizations of parental involvement that recognize the diverse ways families contribute to students’ mathematical learning across home, school, and community contexts.