“When Parents are Engaged, the Schools Get Better!”

This article, written by CABE CEO Maria S. Quezada, offers insight on the successful outreach methods that the organization has implemented. I was surprised when the article states, “The program also has provided over 150,000 pieces of informational brochures and handouts yearly and reached over 3,000,000 parents and others through radio and television programs where staff shared their expertise to program audiences locally, nationally and internationally.”

Radio and television programs are a great way to reach parents with busy schedules in a non-intrusive way. For immigrant parents that are skeptical or simply unable to come into their child’s school as volunteers or to get involved in other ways, this kind of outreach easily brings important information to them. Clearly, this has been a successful outreach strategy with over 3,000,000 parents tuning in.

http://blog.latism.org/2011/12/12-15-latism-twitter-party-boosting-latino-parents-involvement-in-education/

I think it is extremely important to pinpoint how and why parents should get involved, as well as the possible range of involvement. As the article states, “Parents [can] simply visit the school, help out at the school regularly, speaking with teachers, principal, and other parents, and/or simply sitting down when the child comes home to discuss what the child learned or did that day in class.” By consistently encouraging these simple involvement strategies through radio and television programs, parents can decide which methods work best for them and their children.

The Michigan Department of Education similarly compiled research on the positive impact of parent involvement, as well as simple ways for parents to guide their children toward academic success.

NCPIE

I recently came across another organization with a similar mission as CABE. The National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education, founded in 1980,  works specifically to build meaningful relationship among parents and schools around the country. Their mission is:

“To advocate the involvement of parents and families in their children’s education, and to foster relationships between home, school, and community to enhance the education of all our nation’s young people” (NCPIE).

NCPIE clearly outlines the benefits of parent involvement and strong family-school relationships  on the website, which reads as follows:

• “Students do better in school and in life.
• Parents become empowered.
• Teacher morale improves.
• Schools get better.
• Communities grow stronger”  (NCPIE).

Similar to CABE, NCPIE offers outreach and resources to parents through conferences and workshops. This organization has similar aims to better inform parents of the No Child Left Behind Act, to teach parents successful strategies to better support their children throughout their educational journeys, and expose them to available resources to accomplish these goals. NCPIE does not focus specifically on bilingual children and parents as CABE does. This organization does, however, offer outreach to parents with children with disabilities.

National Parent Involvement Day is another initiative seeking to break down any barriers that may exist between parents and schools. As this news report explains, simply the presence of parents or loved ones in the classroom offers immeasurable benefits for children. CABE could start to promote these sort of parent involvement days in which parents are directly invited to come help out in the classroom. If at any point immigrant parents are able to come into the classroom, whether just for a lunch period or for an entire day, I think it will begin to establish a level of comfort and a more vested interest will be taken in the child’s work at home.

Sources:

NCPIE

What is a CABE Conference?

CABE conferences offer a space for students, educators, parents and the community to come together and attend informational workshops and discuss the issue of bilingualism throughout the state.

This video offers extended information on the CABE Conference of 2010 in San Jose. These conferences, as the video explains, are among the leading conferences for educators and parents of English Learners and are held annually.

Oscar Medina, President of the Board of CABE, explains the importance of offering rewards to exceptional individuals “…in order to recognize and celebrate the many achievements that the members of our community across this great state bring to education and to the lives of children” (California Scenes, 2010).

Celebrating the commitment of parents through these conferences and recognitions is a great way to encourage involvement. The issue remains of how to gain access to these parents to get involved, let alone attend these conferences since it costs hundreds of dollars to attend.

 

 

Resources:

California Scenes. “CABE Convention in San Jose.” YouTube. YouTube, 11 Mar. 2010. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1IcOvnkbSM&gt;.

Network, Network, Network

Strong networks provide extremely helpful and important resources to every individual. Establishing a network, whether through social media or personal interactions and meetings, can be very beneficial in an  endless number of situations. This is especially true for immigrants who leave the comfort and security of their families and native culture and are faced with unfamiliar situations- language barriers, not being accustomed to social norms, looking to establish themselves, find a job and a good school for their children etc. Studies show that immigrants arriving to the United States, and elsewhere, tend to end up settling in culturally diverse cities (Gimpel, 1999).

http://fuelingnewbusiness.com/2010/09/24/the-top12-list-of-advertising-agency-networks-for-new-business/

Immigrants of the same ethnic group often end up in clusters within a given region, probably as a coping mechanism so as to avoid major culture shock. Once settled in these areas, immigrants are able to reestablish themselves and begin networking within the community.

It is also extremely important for campaigns and organizations to have a solid, vast network in order to be effective and make a significant impact. The CABE network can be represented through a VUE map as seen below (clicking on the image will enlarge it). This is a preliminary network representation based on my own research and will probably evolve as I learn more about the CABE organization.

Sources:

Gimpel, James. “Migration, Immigration and the Politics of Places | Center for Immigration Studies.” Center for Immigration Studies. Oct. 1999. Web. 06 Apr. 2012. <http://www.cis.org/InternalMigration-GeographicMobility&gt;.

The Impact of Home Learning

I came across a few articles this week that stressed the importance of home learning in terms of speaking vs. writing. While children are often able to quickly pick up a first and/or second language simply through hearing it spoken at home, writing takes a more patient and invested approach. In other words, children are able to pick up on spoken language simply by hearing their parents speak in the house even if there is NO formal instruction by the parents. Reading and writing, on the other hand, requires practice and skills that must be taught to children. There are many parents who are unable to take a vested interest in the education of their children for a variety of reasons which may be no fault of their own. I have seen this at the high school level when working with ELLs on their written essays. The level of writing proficiency is often unbelievably low.  However, when I asked a student what message he or she is trying to convey, they were able to speak to me and talk through it with some guidance. Sometimes getting their thoughts on paper in a cohesive manner is the only problem. Many of the students at my internship weren’t taught this skill at home and were just learning how to write a paper for the first time.

Writing is an extremely important aspect of language proficiency, especially for ELLs. It allows for a timely development of thoughts and expression of language appropriate for learners of a new language. Once ELLs have learned to write, they are allowed to carefully think about and choose their words to develop ideas and effectively reiterate experiences in written form. Expressing thoughts and emotions in written form can also, in my experience, be therapeutic which is helpful to many ELLs when they are uprooted from their home country and placed in an unfamiliar setting.

One article I came across stated, “Students write about their lives when provided an opportunity” (McCarthey, 104). I think this is very true, even thinking back to my years in elementary school. I always enjoyed writing stories about my life and my family and things that I had done that week etc. This is why journals can be a great way to engage ELLs in practicing their writing skills. Journals can be collected, with the student’s permission, and read and commented on for feedback and/or simply to show interest in the student’s life and experiences.

http://teachingpractice.edublogs.org/2011/12/04/movie-critique-3-freedom-writers-reflection-task/

Just like in the movie Freedom Writers, the teacher requires that the students (many of whom are minority students) write in a journal about anything they want. She tells them to leave their journals in her classroom if they want them to be read. In the end, every student wanted to be heard.

 

 

Sources:

McCarthey, Sarah J. “Risks and Opportunities of Writing from Personal Experience.” Web. 3 Apr. 2012.

Additive Bilingualism

In response to my colleague, I have been looking into research as to why some students have the advantage of being exposed to both English and Spanish through their parents and teachers, yet are refusing to practice their native language at home. Additive bilingualism refers to creating “an environment in which the addition of a second language and culture does not replace the first language and culture; rather, the first language/culture are promoted and developed” (Bilingual/Bicultural Family Network). This idea really stuck out for me and I think it is exactly the kind of mindset that we need to better adopt in the American classroom, especially in diverse settings.

http://www.multicsd.org/doku.php?id=frequently_used_terminology

The reason I became interested in bilingualism in education was due to an experience I had at my internship in which a student was scolded for speaking in his native tongue. The more I read about bilingualism in the American school system, the more adamant I become about this notion of additive bilingualism and the fact that there is no need to outwardly and offensively dismiss a non-English language in the classroom. Actively depriving a student of his or her native language in the classroom is detrimental to academic development as well an entire way of life. Thinking back to my Linguistics class, Whorf, a linguist, suggested that a person’s language determines their worldview (Whorf, 1940). By undermining and blatantly prohibiting the use of a minority language in the classroom, this would mean schools are encouraging the loss of a language and therefore, according to Whorf, the loss of an entire worldview.

If schools begin to better encourage diversity in the classroom, whether linguistically, culturally, or both, I believe that there will be a huge shift in mindset among both parents and students. Students will no longer feel the need to choose one language or another and will begin to understand the importance and huge advantage they have being bilingual. Parents who resent the English-only school systems (this insight is based on past interviews) will begin to feel more comfortable getting involved in their child’s education and will feel less threatened and offended. While CABE’s Inspire Campaign offers a preliminary approach to encouraging evolvement, there needs to be more initiatives following these same steps.

 

 

Sources:

“Bilingual/Bicultural Family Network.” Bilingual/Bicultural Family Network. Web. 29 Mar. 2012. <http://www.biculturalfamily.org/ofthedaysItem.php?type=word&gt;.

Whorf, B. L. (1940): ‘Science and Linguistics’, Technology Review 42(6): 229-31, 247-8. Also in B. L. Whorf (1956): Language, Thought and Reality (ed. J. B. Carroll). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Parent and Teacher Collaboration

Identifying ways to improve the success of ELLs is crucial, especially because of the huge achievement gaps among ELLs and native English speaking students. ELLs are faced with an enormous task in America to learn all of the content that other students are learning while, at the same time, also being responsible for mastering the English language. Most ELLs have the odds stacked against them from the very beginning due to socioeconomic factors coupled with language barriers. If standardized testing scores aren’t high enough, this often leads to budget cuts and lack of funding which, in turn, leads to less resources- and the cycle continues.

With California schools having such a high population of language minority students, this issue is exasperated. In fact, “From 2004-2005 in California, 42% of public school students fit the broad definition of linguistic minority and 25% were classified as English learners. Further, 78% of language minority students and 85% of English learners in California speak Spanish” (Gandara, 2006). Pinpointing areas to support ELLs is key to their present and future academic success. This support must come from teachers AND parents.

http://www.good.is/post/parents-empowered-to-take-over-schools/

Projects like the Inspire Campaign need to have a clear agenda and objective to encourage California schools to create a safe and welcoming environment for students AND parents so as to foster more parent/teacher meetings and interactions. Parents must feel safe coming to the school and there should be incentives to do so. During my internship at an international high school, teachers throughout the school had their students plan, organize and promote a “cultural night.”  Parents and the surrounding community were invited to come to the school to see artistic creations that the students were showcasing which were representative of their heritage and cultural background. The event was a huge success because of the diversity of the event and the welcoming atmosphere of the school. After talking to many of the parents, they felt as though they were more “in tune” with what was happening in the school and in their child’s education, and many set up subsequent teacher conferences to talk more about their child’s academic journey.

I believe that bringing people together around a common theme or through a community event can have a profound impact in creating a sense of security and belonging, which may not otherwise exist. This case was a huge success and began to break down barriers between “minority language” parents and this (technically) English-only high school.

By funding, or even just encouraging California schools to hold more community based events, I think there would be a huge increase in parent involvement and collaboration with teachers and staff.

 

 

 

 

Sources:

Gandara, P. and Russell Rumberger. (2006). Resource needs for California’s English Learners. Santa Barbara, CA: UC Linguistic Minority Research Institute.

The Importance of Organizations Like CABE

I think it is extremely important to examine the role of the parents in shaping the literacy development of an ELL child. Having a parent be involved and invested in a child’s learning can certainly help both the student and the parent in multiple ways. Literacy is more than reading and writing, and involves an understanding of culture and how people relate to one another. This realization and understanding can, and should, be done in cooperation with the parents or another guardian. However, it is often difficult for parents, immigrant or American born, to deeply invest in a child’s educational journey. This can be due to several reasons, including working multiple jobs, and isn’t limited to immigrant parents.

http://www.bilingualeducation.org/conferences.php

There is sometimes a disconnect between students and their parents when the child becomes integrated into “American culture,” while the parents may still encourage the native culture and native language to be used at home. This could lead to tension between parent and child. Programs like CABE’s Inspire Campaign aim to abolish or prevent this tension by teaching parents about the U.S school system and the expectations of parents in a student’s development.

I came across a foundation in my research called the Foundation for Educational Choice. Basically, their ideology revolves around this idea that where you live shouldn’t determine the quality of your child’s public education. They strive to give parents and children the right to choose which school the student will attend, regardless of where they were born or where they currently reside. This pro-choice approach has supposedly led to more racially and ethnically integrated schools by breaking down “neighborhood barriers” and promoting wholesome and quality education to all students.

Another initiative, the Intergenerational Literacy Project, offers a great concept similar to CABE’s Inspire Campaign. It is sometimes the case that parents are unable or hesitant to take part in their child’s education and learning development because of cultural reasons. There are often language barriers preventing the parents from helping their child in English, as I have mentioned in previous posts. ILP and CABE are both aimed at diminishing this barrier and supporting parents by teaching English and providing a collaborative effort with their children. CABE and Boston University are in perfect locations to network and start a nationwide movement toward promoting more adequate support for immigrant parents, bilingual students, and successful collaboration between both.

A Comprehensive Approach

I’ve been thinking a lot about the importance of successfully educating our bilingual youth- especially in places like New York and California (where CABE is focused).

I was initially attracted to CABE’s Inspire Campaign because of its unique focus on the impact and influence of parents on a bilingual student’s success. It is, however, not only up to the parents to foster this potential and growth throughout primary education. While CABE certainly has  a strong network of affiliate groups, business partnerships and leverage in shaping policy decisions, it seems as though there is a lack of focus on the personal experience and preference of the bilingual student (See “About CABE“).

In a previous post, I mentioned that my undergraduate thesis consisted of interviews with Dominican students in an English-only classroom setting. Before conducting my research, my hypothesis was that an English-only curriculum would leave these native Spanish speaking students feeling ashamed and their culture undermined. However, I found quite the opposite. Since the majority of the students in this school were, in fact, Dominican, they felt a sense of security and belonging despite the English-only policies. I found that the environment and demographics of a school strongly influenced the sense of pride, or lack thereof, among the native Spanish speakers.

California schools are heavily populated with Spanish speaking students, among other minority groups. However, this is not to say that my findings and conclusions apply to all native Spanish speaking populations in a given school. Since some parents, according to my colleague,  are noticing a resistance by their children to use or learn their native Spanish language, it seems as though this could also be a product of the school environment which they are attending.

http://www.bilingualeducation.org

There needs to be a comprehensive approach to fostering this incredibly advantageous asset of bilingualism by offering equal and simultaneous support to both parents and students, especially in areas with high populations of Spanish speakers.

Organizations like CABE and the Inspire Campaign should partner with, or create, groups that specifically focus on support for bilingual students throughout their educational journeys. By approaching bilingualism from both ends and recognizing the necessary collaboration and support needed for parents and students, success in bilingualism can only flourish.

Parents Helping Parents

I came across an informative video sponsored by Reading and Beyond that highlights ways in which parents can effectively get involved in their child’s education. This video is especially helpful because it offers first hand experiences of native Spanish speaking parents who were interested in having a stronger role in their child’s educational experience. Suggestions range from having conversations with their child about the school day, to attending workshops sponsored by the school, to getting involved in the board of education.

While all of this advice is certainly helpful for Spanish speaking parents and follows the mission of the CABE Inspire Campaign, my colleague brought up an interesting “reverse effect” phenomenon in which children are refusing to practice their native language despite strong parent involvement and encouragement.

http://www.demockratees.com/

This could be due to a lack of willingness, support or commitment by schools across the country, or could be a result of in-school pressures to “fit in” with the English only speakers etc. There are numerous possibilities as to why cases like this may come up, but surely there are also ways to address these obstacles.

While resistance or hesitation by children to practice their native language is not an issue specifically addressed by CABE’s Inspire Campaign, the organization does hold workshops which could potentially assist parents in their efforts to promote both languages in school and at home.

There are a number of workshops designed to address issues ranging  from school accountability, to open healthy lines of parent/student communication. These workshop modules are very well organized and comprehensive, outlining clear objectives, key concepts and outcomes.