Eliminate Barriers To Family Engagement Colorín On The Go

Talk with families to find out what will help support their engagement and what challenges they face, such as child care, transportation, internet access, or work schedules. For example, some schools have been able to work with families’ employers to assure that families can attend conferences or school events. Guide for Engaging ELL Families: 20 Strategies for School Leaders How can schools (and school leaders) "think outside the box" when it comes to the family engagement of ELLs? What has worked for other schools? These strategies appear in Engaging ELL Families: Twenty Strategies for School Leaders.

The following strategies offer tips for thinking creatively about how to engage families around topics or activities that are important to them and their children. ELL parents may feel intimidated by or unprepared to help with homework or other schoolwork, especially if they have limited educational or English skills (Zarate, 9). You can help them understand their important role in supporting their child's success, however, with a few simple suggestions. (Related video: Reaching out to families, Kevin Eberle) Multilingual families can be powerful partners on behalf of their children. Yet what these partnerships look like will be unique to each school setting and community — and may require some thinking outside of the box.

This section includes some key tips and recommended resources from our sister site, Colorín Colorado. When you want to connect with the families of English language learners (ELLs), there are lots of strategies you can try. It may take some time to figure out what works, but those ideas will serve you now and in the future. Here are 10 ideas from our friends at Colorín Colorado to help you get started, as well as key questions to guide you. An important first step is to learn more about your families. You can start by reaching out to staff who work closely with families, such as family liaisons, ESL or bilingual teachers, and paraprofessionals.

You can also look for local community organizations that work with the families in your school. These groups often have important insights, resources, and ideas — and they may be able to provide volunteers and skilled interpreters. You can also talk with families directly; however, it is important not to overwhelm families with too many questions at once, especially if they are hesitant to share any personal information. For examples, many Indigenous families from Latin America are very cautious about sharing their Indigenous languages and cultures in school settings at first. Go slowly; it may take time to build trust. On the other hand, you may find some families who are eager to share information and ready to help.

Whenever we ask veteran educators of English language learners (ELLs) the secret to their success, the answer is almost always the same: Build relationships with students and their families. Relationships establish trust and improve communication. They help us better understand students’ strengths and needs, which is especially important for ELLs. If you’re new to working with English language learners, you may wonder how to partner with families who come from other countries and speak different languages. Understood is partnering with Colorín Colorado, the nation’s leading website providing research-based resources for educators and families of English language learners Here are six ideas to help you get started.

As you read, look for one or two small steps that you might try with families this year. Imagine what it’s like for immigrant families to enter your school or classroom. Do families see something familiar to them, like signs in their language or objects from their culture? Are books available in their home language? Small gestures can go a long way toward saying, “You are welcome here. We want your child to thrive.”

Family engagement in a child’s education is critical to their development and future success. Regardless of background and income, children with engaged families are more likely to have better attendance, earn overall higher student achievement, develop better social skills, have better behavior, and are more likely to graduate... As a school administrator who worked at various schools, all of which were drastically different from one another, I saw time and again the unique forms and levels of family engagement with one commonality:... Contrary to common stereotypes and assumptions, my experience was further evidence that family engagement most closely reflects a campus climate and culture. I learned to never assume to know or understand the complexities and burdens present in the individuals’ lives that I encountered. It is my belief that almost all parents are doing the best they know how to do.

Granted, this looks very different based on their personal history, but it is still their personal best, individual capacity, given their current circumstances. More importantly, what makes a school a haven and community support for families? Family engagement with schools should not be a burden or responsibility; it should be an exciting partnership that benefits both parties. Family engagement is a partnership between families and the school created through mutual trust and respect in the shared effort to benefit the students. A few important points to note: families all look different and contain different key members, meaning that schools should welcome and embrace these differences knowing our students’ lives are all unique. Also, the benefit is to the student, as opposed to the school and educators.

Family engagement is important because of the positive impact created for a child as a result. The definition of engagement is far more comprehensive than is commonly recognized, so let’s take a look at the different areas: Creating equitable opportunities for multilingual learners can start with sustainable systems that promote meaningful family engagement. Strong, sustained family engagement is not without its challenges. Parents are busy, and asking them to do another thing on top of everything else has to be manageable and worth the investment. VIVA conducted extensive research to better understand best practices and opportunities for family engagement, as well as how family-serving initiatives across California are engaging parents as partners.

Read more about the barriers to building and sustaining parent and family partnerships that we learned through this analysis by downloading the HMGIE Family Landscape Analysis for yourself. Despite the barriers, there are always opportunities to create the conditions for strong parent and family partnerships. Here’s how we did it: Overcoming barriers to effective family engagement is about creating something that can last. The Help Me Grow Inland Empire Family Landscape Analysis shares findings about the ways and means we can put parents into the driver's seats, and keep them there. VIVA Social Impact Partners helps our clients create the conditions for change that reverberate for a long time to come.

Our consulting approach creates integrated solutions to turn possibility into action, develop and mobilize champions, and demonstrate and sustain your results—for change that is transformational. By creating ways for families to feel welcome and included, educators can strengthen the relationship between home and school. For decades, research has affirmed that engaging families is one of the five keys to transforming schools and districts from good to great schools. Strengthening partnerships is an essential component to effective teaching, propelling student growth, and school improvement. In turn, families need staff to create spaces for them to learn about the inner workings of the school, as well as have opportunities to share their experiences, insights, and questions. Parents and caregivers want to be involved and to find easy pathways to feeling connected to their child’s school.

As I explore in my book, On the Same Team: Bringing Educators and Underrepresented Families Together, forming a diverse team of families and educators dedicated to creating more inclusive and culturally responsive approaches is... Here are five overarching ways that you and your school can strengthen your partnerships with families. We educators often say we “communicate regularly” with families. But are we communicating on their terms or ours? In our language or theirs? Is communication a one-way street, or are we fostering ongoing two-way communication?

To be culturally responsive in building bridges to families, we have learned that some ways of communicating are better than others. We educators are often eager for families to learn about the education system. We offer them “orientations,” “handbooks,” and “newsletters.” But do we work equally hard to learn about them? Here are a few key ways that we can show through both our words and actions that we truly value diversity and respect our students’ lives beyond the walls of the classroom.

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