Understanding Families' Educational Decision-Making Along Extended Learning Pathways

Abstract

This paper explores the socio-cultural-historical influences on educational decisions made by a sample of families from an urban community in the northwestern United States. We report on three analyses of the everyday cultural and social contexts in which parents' and their children's ideas about formal and informal education are developed and applied through educational choices. The research employs a family-centered analytical focus and a cognitive ethnography of learning to examine educational decisions and knowledge about learning opportunities that families use in their homes, at school, and in their communities. Our analyses foreground the role of choice and values in families' everyday lives, their lived histories, and their educational decisions. Implications for better coordinating in-and-out of school learning experiences in light of extended learning pathways are discussed.