California Department of Education
Taking Center Stage – Act II

Involving language-minority parents and guardians

When considering how to involve language-minority parents or guardians, school staff members need to consider support strategies that will enable all families to attend school events. One school with a high population of immigrant families found that family involvement increased when the following factors were present:

  • Meals (with parents and families)
  • Personal relationships (between school personnel and family members)
  • Interpreters
  • Sense of belonging
  • Child care (during parent or guardian conferences and meetings)
  • Transportation

Staff members at the school noted that the strategies, such as instilling positive attitudes and developing personal relationships, must be schoolwide to succeed.1

Middle schools serving large populations of immigrant families often encourage parents and guardians to participate in school activities by providing educational services the adults need for themselves. For example, parents or guardians of English learners frequently lack direct access to community networks, and schools can serve as intermediaries between community resources and families who need them. Many immigrant communities tend to cluster near stores, churches, and other places where members convene. Principals and schools can use these venues to connect to the communities of the children they serve.2

In the Spotlight

John Glenn Middle School of International Studies, Desert Sands Unified School District, a 2004 Schools to Watch™-Taking Center Stage Model School
The school leadership helps incoming immigrant parents understand more about the middle school experience by providing a parent orientation led by other bilingual parents.

Ocean View Junior High School, Ocean View Elementary School District, a 2006 On the Right Track School
The school staff members offer four parenting classes for migrant and English-speaking parents or guardians. Staff members guide parents on how to support their children’s academic success by covering topics such as:

  • What questions do you ask about your child’s homework?
  • What books should your child read?
  • What homework should he/she be doing each night?
  • Whom should you call with questions?

These classes are part of a strategy that helped the school’s API improve significantly.

Other ways to support English learners and parents or guardians are as follows:

  1. Keep library/media centers open after school so families can have access to the Internet, library collections, homework help, or online grades if they do not have computers at home.

  2. Educate parents or guardians about options for involvement. In many countries, there is no PTA or equivalent organization, and there is no parent involvement at schools.

  3. Meet the immigrant families in their neighborhoods. For example, during a summer learning experience, educational leaders visited the homes of Somali, Mien, Cambodian, Vietnamese, and Latino families to understand how members of language-minority communities respond to policy decisions such as a school closure. Among other things, they discovered that immigrant families do not always benefit from written communications (even when notices are translated) but do welcome school personnel in their homes.3

In the Spotlight

Rincon Intermediate School, Rowland Unified School District
The school staff hosts bilingual parent evenings on topics such as “College—Making It Happen.” The school Web site features an online parent survey to determine their needs and concerns.

Torch Middle School, Bassett Unified School District, a 2008 Schools to Watch™-Taking Center Stage Model School
Torch Middle School serves a school population that is 94 percent Hispanic. The school has met the statewide targets for student academic growth since 2004. One strategy staff members use to keep parents involved is a parenting class led onsite by a bilingual counselor. In addition, the school supports an active English Language Advisory Committee (ELAC) on campus.


Information and Resources

The PALMS Website is designed to assist practitioners in their efforts to promote Latino postsecondary enrollment. The site includes a wealth of materials identified specifically for families (Outside Source), students (Outside Source), and schools/service providers (Outside Source).

The project’s signature product, Tools for Latino Family Outreach: Supporting Student Success in the Middle Grades and Beyond, is field-tested, research-based, and available for free download.


Related Links

Previous
Parent and family education

Next
Partnerships with the Community

Footnotes
1Answering the Perplexities of Parent Involvement (Outside Source), an Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development Annual Conference Blog, 2006.
2Works in Progress: A Report on Middle and High School Improvement Programs (PDF; Outside Source). Washington, D.C.: The Comprehensive School Reform Quality Center, American Institutes of Research, January 2005, 53.
3Betty J. Cobbs and Margery B. Ginsberg, “Learning to Listen through Home Visits with Somali, Mien, Cambodian, Vietnamese and Latino Families," New Horizons for Learning (January 2006).

Back to Top