A Critical Review of Parental and Pedagogical Practices and Academic Achievement through the Culturally Responsive Pedagogy Framework

Historically biased school practices (e.g., zero tolerance, out-of-school suspensions) led to inequitable educational opportunities across the U.S. education system. In response, equity-focused parenting and pedagogical practices emerged to represent the interests of and improve the well-being of increasingly diverse learners in K-12 classrooms. In this review of the research, we present the history of parenting practices and academic achievement, focusing on how parents historically learn parenting practices, what parenting practices and pedagogical practices are demonstrated to be relevant to academic achievement, and the outcomes relevant to traditionally marginalized learners. Our examination of the literature is framed by Ladson-Billings’ culturally responsive pedagogical (CRP) framework (1994). The CRP framework considers the academic experiences and cognitive development of traditionally marginalized learners, in an effort to improve learning capacity (Ladson-Billings, 1994; Hammond, 2017). The literature indicates that childrens’ perceptions of parents, goal orientations, and maternal involvement may explain the relationship between parenting practices and academic achievement. Our goal in providing a review of the research is to facilitate a discussion about pedagogical and parenting styles as they pertain to academic achievement, while suggesting peer mentoring among today’s parents and teachers its potential influence for change in traditionally marginalized learners’ academic trajectories