Building School Partnerships with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Families

Abstract

After many efforts to lift the achievement of its high numbers of culturally and linguistically diverse students, a district in Massachusetts realized that the missing link was parent involvement. Ms. Colombo describes a program the district created to improve relationships between teachers and families and the enormous difference it has made in each side's understanding of the other. ********** EVEN before the superintendent opened the large, thick envelope containing the standardized test results from the Massachusetts Department of Education, he knew he had a problem. Each year, his mainstream students were scoring just above the state average, but the scores for culturally and linguistically diverse learners lagged far behind. He had no reason to believe this year would be different. This was not a small problem for his district. Approximately 20% of the district's 7,000 students were culturally and linguistically diverse, the majority coming from Caribbean families. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Over the past several years the district had instituted a full-day kindergarten program, committed to a new integrated reading program, and consistently reviewed and updated the curricula for core academic subjects. The superintendent expected teachers and administrators to participate in extensive professional development for each major initiative, and the staff responded to the challenge. All of this effort had resulted in a slight increase in reading achievement for culturally and linguistically diverse children in grades K-3, yet their scores continued to fall far below those of mainstream students. Lower test scores were only part of the problem. In general, teachers reported more instructional and behavioral problems for students from culturally and linguistically diverse families. Teachers identified lack of school preparedness and insufficient family involvement as key factors that interfered with the academic achievement of these students. Though the teachers knew that parent participation was important, and mainstream parents typically attended school activities, the parents from culturally and linguistically diverse families remained conspicuously absent. A few individual teachers had created classroom programs to increase parent participation, but not much had been done system wide. Teachers wanted the children to succeed, they wanted higher test scores, and they remained frustrated with the ongoing lack of parent involvement. The parents needed to take an interest. For many years experts have touted parent/teacher relationships and the resulting shared understandings between home, community, and school as instrumental in creating school environments of acceptance, caring, and high expectations. (1) Family involvement has a powerful influence on educational success, but it's not an equal opportunity practice. Parent/teacher relationships are formed with relative ease when groups share a common culture, language, and background. Relationships that must bridge cultures and languages, however, require more effort to create and sustain. DISCONNECT BETWEEN TEACHERS AND FAMILIES The unopened envelope sat on the superintendent's desk as his mind wandered to the many conversations he'd had with the director of bilingual services. There had been many changes in the district since he had relocated to this midsize northeastern Massachusetts city to accept his position nearly 15 years ago. The population of culturally and linguistically diverse families continued to grow each year, but almost all of the teachers and administrators were from mainstream, middle-class backgrounds. The director of bilingual services had suggested that perhaps this explained the lack of involvement on the part of parents who were new to the district and often to the country. Though the district had implemented extensive professional development, the training offered teachers little more than a cursory reference to cultural and linguistic diversity. …