Latinx and Immigrant Heritage Language Maintenance

Research shows that children who speak a language other than English in Latinx and immigrant households make up a significant portion of schoolchildren in the United States and the process of developing and maintaining the heritage language (HL) is complex when that language is distinct from their classroom's language. This chapter explores the motivations parents have in maintaining the home language and the effect this has on Latinx and immigrant English language learners (ELLs) children. The motivations for preserving home language for Latinx and immigrant families are to maintain ties to Latinx cultural values and sustain cultural identity while also providing academic support for Latinx and immigrant ELLs students in the U.S. schools. Research on previous works of literature documents that through family language policy (FLP) practices and HL maintenance, Latinx and immigrant ELLs children can maintain and carry on their cultural values while simultaneously advancing academically in the U.S. schools.

The Role of Educator Preparation Programs in Fostering Partnerships With Schools in Supporting English Language Learners, Immigrant Families, and Special Education

Teacher educator preparation programs play a central role in preparing teachers and practitioners who work with children with exceptionalities, immigrants, and English language learners (ELL), among others. Research indicates that immigrants, ELL, and children with exceptionalities benefit from effective family-professional partnerships in several ways. Family-professional relationships are also key in producing positive educational outcomes for vulnerable and children who are at-risk. The following layers of partnerships and relationships are discussed: university-based educator preparation programs (EPPs) and K-12 schools; immigrant families and K-12 schools; and teachers/caregivers in K-12 schools and immigrant children/ELL, including children with exceptionalities. The benefits of positive partnerships and relationships are discussed. These include positive educational outcomes for children and their families, positive outcomes for children's school readiness, enhanced quality of life for families and their children, family engagement in children's programs, strengthening of home-school program connection, and trust-building for all stakeholders.

Building Fearless, Confident CLD Learners

Family engagement in schools is important for the success of all students, but especially critical with parents of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students. Building-level administrators and teachers are in a unique position to serve as the agents to create positive, strong relationships with families. This chapter presents a qualitative case study of an exceptionally diverse elementary school located in an area with an increasing CLD population. Through multifaceted interviews, focus groups, and observations, four overarching themes emerged: (1) creating a positive, supportive, welcoming environment to support families and cultures; (2) building relationships and purposeful communication as core values; (3) teacher training, roles, responsibilities, and support; and (4) the importance and impact of community partner relationships. These themes along with their implications for school practices that promote effective school-family-community relations and connections to extant literature are discussed.

Kindergarten Writing

The author examined how the utilization of technology could impact students' narrative writing. A common issue that arises in the teaching of writing is students' ability to conceptualize a topic to write about. Often, students' writing is focused on school events and activities rather than reflecting their cultural wealth that take place outside of school. Drawing inspiration from Moll, Amanti, Neff, and Gonzalez's seminal study on how home visits can incorporate students' funds of knowledge into the curriculum, the author suggests student and family-provided photographs into the writing workshop could create a more reciprocal relationship with students' families.

Family-Teacher Relationships

The need for educators to be conversant on how the different cultures and languages influence parental involvement is increasingly being acknowledged the world over. Among the Latino families in the US, for example, the parent's role construct has been found to influence involvement activities. Research has also suggested that linguistically diverse families are less involved at school. The jargon that schools use to communicate to parents is particularly said to affect the family-teacher relationships. Therefore, this chapter examines both cultural and linguistic capital with the focus being on strengthening family-teacher relationships. It also delves into the parental involvement education programmes that are meant to enhance such relationships. In particular, it is argued that, for the programmes to be effective, they should be culturally sensitive and acknowledge the linguistic differences. Furthermore, they should be offered in the form of professional development for both the families as well as school staff.

Disruption Through Concientización

Disruption through Concientización introduces a framework for Latinx family engagement, VERDAD: (1) Valor, (2) Engagement, (3) Respeto, (4) Disruption, (5) Action, and (6) Deber. The VERDAD lens provides a transformative way for examining and understanding the experiences of trauma and healing for Latinx families in schools. Disruption through Concientización draws on the previous work of pedagogy of the puppet, which exposed the deficit ways Latino and refugee families have been positioned in marginalized ways regarding their engagement in schools. Drawing on ethnographic methods, the authors unpack the disconnect these families experience in schools by reflecting on 1) Concientización and the colonization of families in schools, 2) humanizing and validating trauma, and 3) by being spirit warriors Saliendo de la invisibilidad. Their experiences reveal the VERDAD that occurs in the lives of Latinx families in schools.

Bilingual/Bicultural Paraprofessionals as Brokers of English Learners' Family-Teacher Relationships

For over four decades, bilingual/bicultural paraprofessionals have been vital partakers in the education of English learners (ELs). Scholars have underscored school districts' reliance on them for instructional/learning support and their potential as builders of home-school bridges. Moreover, family-teacher relationships are essential to ELs' positive academic and well-being outcomes. Nevertheless, the paraprofessional's role in bridging relationships between teachers and families of ELs is less understood. This chapter presents a research synthesis of the extant peer-reviewed research literature published in the last 30 years on the role of bilingual/bicultural paraprofessionals in promoting more equitable relationships between the families and teachers of ELs. Three main themes emerged, including (a) building trust, (b) connecting families and teachers via linguistic and cultural brokering, and (c) activating biographical community cultural wealth. The findings also highlight the need for positioning relational brokering as equally crucial as linguistic and cultural brokering. Implications for practice and research are addressed.

“Respectful” Home-School Relationships

This study uses a phenomenological approach to analyze interviews of minoritized parents about their perceptions of “respectful” and “disrespectful” experiences with school personnel. Holistic content analysis of the parental interviews revealed several themes that indicated a pervasive “deficit discourse” within public school communities serving minoritized youth. This list includes the heritage language or cultural practices of English language learners (ELLs), immigrants, and people of color. As parents recounted their experiences with school personnel, it appeared that—even when queried about their personal associations with the school—many parents calibrated their relationship based on their perception of the treatment their children were receiving from school personnel. Findings suggest that culturally affirming learning environments are not necessarily universal and that many educators lack the disposition or training to provide culturally efficacious pedagogy.

Academic Support for ELL and Immigrant Adolescents

Academic success is important for all children and adolescents. However, ELL and immigrant students often face greater challenges than other students. For this reason, academic support is critical to student success. This chapter addresses the academic success of ELL and immigrant students in high school. It begins with the assumption that academic success is multifaceted and not simply a matter of academic readiness. In particular, this chapter examines the importance of academic support and the positive interaction between family, teachers and students necessary for students' academic success.

Bridging Family-Teacher Relationships in a Predominately Latinx Title I School With a Spanish-English Dual Immersion Strand Program

Spanish-English dual immersion (DI) programs can help bridge the academic achievement gap between Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELLs) and native English speakers. However, for DI programs to help ELLs, both teachers and parents/guardians need to be aware of their existence and long-term benefits. This case study examined under-enrollment in a Spanish-English DI strand program at a predominately Latinx neighborhood school with a sizable Spanish-speaking ELL population. The case study school faced challenges of transience, limited human and financial resources, and misinformation. Both parents and teachers reported a lack of information to make educational choices and recommendations. School employees built bridges between the school and parents by standardizing the introduction of DI at kindergarten parent-teacher conferences, improving the DI open house, and engaging the efforts of the school's bilingual secretary. Recommendations are provided for increasing parents' and teachers' access to accurate information regarding DI in accessible formats.