Organization and School Leadership Faculty Publications and Presentations

Engaging the Families of ELs and Immigrants: Ideas, Resources, and Activities

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

2021

Abstract

When schools partner with families, everyone benefits. This chapter begins the book’s discussion about how to build school–family relationships in light of changing demographics. The four major challenges to immigrant family partnerships are a mismatch between family and educator expectations, language barriers, lack of educator preparation for family engagement, and the digital divide. The chapter explains some ways to overcome these challenges by becoming more aware of one’s own beliefs and those of the families, establishing two-way communication with families, and respecting the families’ skills and knowledge. This chapter includes two activities. One activity explores attitudes about family engagement from different perspectives. The other activity provides guidance in setting up an immigrant family panel that can speak to educators and other staff members about what the families do to support their children’s education and what they would like from the schools.

Comments

Original published version available at http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003102601

Publication Title

Engaging the Families of ELs and Immigrants

DOI

http://doi.org/10.4324/9781003102601

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