Parent Engagement Through Abriendo Caminos/Opening Pathways

“Abriendo Caminos/Opening Pathways for Students of Color Into the Teaching Profession: Giving Back to the Community Through Teaching,” funded by an educational improvement grant, was designed to address the teacher shortage and demographic diversity gap between students and teachers in a largely urban public school district in the Southwestern United States. The research team at a large, minority-serving public research institution set to address the teacher shortage and diversity gap in three distinct ways—research, recruitment, and registration/retention—with a strong parental engagement component in every stage. Research shows that the engagement of multicultural families/families of color in schools and surrounding community initiatives may more expediently and reliably translate into improved student educational outcomes than does that involvement focused largely on their children's performance in school. This chapter delineates practical hands-on methods to develop stronger parent partnerships using a social justice lens.

Mexican-American Parents Using Critical Literacy to Address Climate Change

This chapter is an in-depth examination of a critical literacy project implemented by immigrant Mexican-American parent leaders that employed culturally relevant Latina/o and Native American children's literature to create dialogue and promote social action focused on environmental concerns. The Good Heart Chicana/o and Native Science after-school enrichment project was held weekly in elementary schools in the San Fernando Valley. Critical pedagogy served as the conceptual framework and informed the critical literacy strategies. Creative dialogue questions based on the children's literature promoted social action among children and families. Hands-on activities deepened the families' connection to environmental science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (E-STEAM) content and careers. Children's interest in science and nature increased. Parent leaders grew in their leadership and ability to address environmental issues in communities.

Refugee Children and Parental Involvement in School Education

While much has been achieved in this country to bring about equality for many groups, for refugees it has been a struggle. This chapter explores the state of refugee education in terms of definition and impact for children and families, including coordination constraints. It provides a program-model for working with refugee students and their families within a culturally responsive partnership at Washington Elementary School District, Arizona, USA. In addition, challenges are addressed leading to constant adapting, changing, and improving the program model over time based on the needs of the refugee students and their families.

Early Experiences With Family Involvement

This chapter reviews the impact early experiences with family involvement have on young children and their families, early childhood programs, and teachers. The author discusses the growing demand for early childhood services, characterized by a growing and changing society. There is discussion of developmentally appropriate practices and the ethical conduct of early childhood teachers as they navigate issues of social justice related to family involvement and engagement. The author presents findings from a recent pilot study to illustrate the successes and challenges experienced by eight diverse early childhood programs as they reflected on their family involvement practices. The author also emphasizes the importance of promoting equity and celebrating diversity through family involvement practices including examples, successes, and challenges that may arise.

Trauma

Experiencing trauma will impact a child's development, specifically physically, psychologically (mentally), and emotionally. There is much research on how trauma affects child development, and more information is being addressed on interventions to ameliorate the impact of the symptoms of trauma children experience. Schools play an important role in working with traumatized children and their families. It is through effective collaboration, communication, cognitive behavior interventions, mindfulness techniques to teach self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, responsible decision making, and relationship skills where schools and families may best support the child's growth and development.

Fortifying Parent Partnerships Through the Black Church Space

This chapter examines the Black Church as a community space for African American families to engage in collaborative activities with schools. The author explores why the Black Church functions as a desirable space for collaborations between schools and African American parents, as well as how schools can make greater use of church space to strengthen their parent partnerships. The author identifies several barriers to successful school-based partnerships including parent work schedules, socioeconomic status, mistrust of mainstream education, busyness of school staff, limited technology access and proficiency, and lack of culturally relevant experiences. The author offers recommendations for expanding outreach efforts with approaches that lean on the social and cultural relevance of the Black Church as well as some of its resources.

STEM for All

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) concepts are the very foundation of the contemporary and futuristic way of life for the United States and other socio-political entities as well. Yet, growth in STEM education participation has, despite programs of intervention, remained sluggish, rendering an American economy that has become increasingly dependent upon imported STEM talent. This chapter argues that the asymmetric outcomes that are observable across the educational pipeline reflect unique barriers to entry that are not only based upon IQism, but socioeconomic as well as socio-cultural diversity. Utilizing a review of selected literature, the thesis is introduced that a STEM-for-all movement is needed that remediates STEM exclusion. Throughout the discussion, strategies are recommended for policymakers, institutions of education, communities, and families in reversing the growth of a new STEM-based system of social stratification.

Culturally Responsive Home/School Partnerships

To improve academic outcomes for students of color, educators must find new ways to implement change. It is essential that innovative strategies include parental engagement in the arsenal to improve academic outcomes for youth of color. The authors share insights gleaned from an examination of parental engagement, the social capital in families of color, the conditions necessary for social capital exchange, and how to create a climate that encourages G-STEM (growing students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) parental capital exchange. Lessons learned from the work of the authors with the parents and parent components of the program and strategies implemented by G-STEM leading to success are shared.

Family Literacy and Social Justice

The new Common Core State Standards are shifting education in a powerful way. Specifically, they are now tasking university teacher educators, K-12 administrators, and teachers to equip students with lifelong literacy skills. Students must learn skills such as how to develop effective argumentation and analyze and interpret complex texts. While such tasks can be quite daunting for the average monolingual speaker, they are even more challenging for children and families who do not speak English as a first language. This chapter examines the development of an eight-week intergenerational family literacy program: Teaching the Acquisition of Language Through English and Storytelling (T.A.L.E.S.). Through the use of the arts and storytelling, families were able to cultivate their bilingual voices and celebrate their multicultural identities. This chapter explores how such programs may be used as a vehicle for social justice, designed to integrate a community literacy model in which all stakeholders are accountable.

Challenges and Strategies for Establishing Strong Partnerships

Students who are culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) struggle in schools, as do students with disabilities. The intersection of disability and diversity acts as a double jeopardy for these students. Though collaboration between schools and families in the design and implementation of special education services is a key mandate of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004, research shows that there continue to be obstacles to effective partnerships between schools and families of students with disabilities, which are even more prominent for families from diverse backgrounds. In this chapter, the authors review the literature and research on partnerships between schools and families of children with disabilities, paying particular attention to those families whose voices are often unheard. Specific research on the experiences of Middle Eastern, North African, and Southwest Asian families is highlighted, and strategies for working with CLD families whose children have disabilities are provided.