<- Previous Page

Lawrence-Lightfoot Looks at Parent-Teacher Relationships

Published: 9/30/2003

Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, the Emily Hargroves Fisher Professor of Education at Harvard University and author, came to talk to the TC Community about her book, The Essential Conversation: What Parents and Teachers Can Learn from Each Other, in an event sponsored by The Education Leadership Program in the Department of Organization and Leadership in September. Lawrence-Lightfoot was introduced by Maxine Greene, the William F. Russell Professor of Education (Emeritus) at Teachers College.

The Essential Conversation explores the rich and passionate sub-text of parent-teacher conferences and examines the ways these ritual encounters serve as mirror and metaphor for the larger cultural forces that define family-school relationships. Lawrence-Lightfoot, a MacArthur Prize Winner, has studied the culture of families, schools, and communities and pioneered "portraiture," and written eight books including The Good High School, Balm in Gilead, and Respect. She is the first African-American woman in Harvard's history to have an endowed professorship named in her honor.