Soo Hong
Diane Silvers Ravitch ’60 Professor of Public Education and the Common Good & Professor of Education
Explores school-community relationships in K-12 urban schools with an emphasis on race, immigration, and culture.
I am a sociologist of education who studies the relationships between schools and families/communities, exploring the role of race, culture, social history, and political life. While we may typically view educational change through school-centered efforts, I explore the central role of families and communities in school transformation through models that emphasize parent leadership, community organizing and democratic forms of participation.
My recently published book, Natural Allies: Hope and Possibility in Teacher-Family Partnerships (Harvard Education Press, 2019) explores the experiences of five urban teachers who have found innovative and authentic ways to engage their students' families and communities. The book features discussions of culture and community, the deep-rooted histories of the teacher-parent relationship and the necessity of confronting racism, distrust, and misunderstanding when partnership and collaboration is the goal.
My 2011 book, A Cord of Three Strands: A New Approach to Family Engagement in Schools (Harvard Education Press, 2011) explored the role of community organizing efforts to transform public education in Chicago and demonstrates how these participatory models can reframe our conceptualization of parent engagement in schools.
At Wellesley, I teach courses on youth and family studies, capstone seminars on urban education and immigration, as well as a first-year seminar that explores issues in K-12 education through an exploration of popular films and TV shows. I am also the director of the Wellesley Teacher Scholars program which supports students who are interested in classroom teaching. My own career in education began as an elementary and middle school teacher, so it feels special to be working with the next generation of teachers.
Education
- B.A., University of Virginia-Main Campus
- M.A. or M.S. or M.B.A., University of Virginia-Main Campus
- Ed.D., Harvard University
Current and upcoming courses
Ecologies of Education: Youth, Family, Community, and Power
EDUC214
School-age children and youth are often understood through the complex lives they lead in schools--academic achievers, behavioral misfits, and rebellious adolescents. Beyond the routine analyses of behavior, test scores and curriculum, what else can the lives of youth tell us about educational change? And who has power and agency to be part of educational decision-making? This course seeks to explore education by looking outside of schools: What are the experiences of students’ families and what do they want for their children? How do relationships with peers influence a student’s concept of self and sense of belonging in school? How do historical, political, and social encounters with race, class, and inequality shape families’ interactions with schools? Through an exploration of research, memoir, children’s literature and film as well as interactions with the course’s community-based educators (caregivers, parent organizers, and community leaders), this course seeks to understand young people through their complex relationships and encounters within families, peer groups and community institutions, all the while interrogating the ways schools can integrate the holistic lived experiences of children and youth into theories of educational change.
The course is open to First-Years, Sophomores and Juniors. Seniors who are interested in this course should fill out this Google Form.
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Fieldwork in Culturally Diverse Schools
EDUC359
In this field-based seminar, students will explore the inner workings of schools and classrooms through their experiences across two contrasting environments: a dual-language school in Boston and elementary and secondary schools in Seoul, South Korea. Throughout the experience in Boston classrooms, students will examine the ways in which schools intentionally address students’ diverse linguistic and cultural experiences. By exploring how their own personal experiences interact with students’ language and culture, class participants will engage in their own investigations of self and identity as it relates to student culture. Throughout the course, students will learn about school-community relationships in culturally and linguistically diverse school communities. Students will also learn about participatory and action-oriented research in classrooms, and work towards designing and implementing their own inquiry-based practice as aspiring teachers. -
Inquiry-Based Fieldwork and Evidence-Based Practice in Culturally Linguistically Sustaining Teaching
EDUC341
This course is inquiry-based and field-centered research practicum for students admitted into the practicum phase of Wellesley’s teacher certification program. The course is designed to guide and oversee the teacher candidate’s knowledge and implementation of action-oriented, inquiry-based fieldwork throughout their practicum experience. The course is guided by DESE’s Standards of Effective Teaching Practice and focus on a teacher’s ability to teach all students, engage families and communities, and engage in a professional culture shaped by reflective practice, collaborative decision-making, shared responsibility, and professional growth. -
Practicum: Advanced Methods in Curriculum, Planning, and Assessment
EDUC340
This course is an advanced teaching methods practicum for students admitted into the practicum phase of Wellesley’s teacher certification program. The course is designed to guide and oversee the teacher candidate’s proficiency in curriculum development, planning, and assessment throughout their full-time practicum in the classroom. The student will work with the faculty instructor and the supervising practitioner in the school placement to develop their skills in curriculum planning and assessment during the 100 hours of required lead teaching during the practicum experience.