Crowd Funding for Bilingual Parent Involvement

In a Global Civil Society class at New York University this past week, my colleagues and I were fortunate enough to hear from two of the founders/CEOs of a crowd funding organization that is pioneering a new field to fund creative, small project initiatives. According to the founders of this organization, crowd funding is an event “that harnesses a network of supporters for funds, awareness and feedback” (Meece, 2012).

2002 Mount Holyoke College, Margaret Scott

Upon listening to this presentation by the RocketHub founders, one of three major crowd funding organizations, I couldn’t help but think of ways in which the CABE Inspire Campaign could utilize this platform for innovative parent outreach techniques.

Based on interviews during my undergraduate career, two major obstacles hindering the involvement of many Hispanic parents in their bilingual child’s education are:

1. Language barriers between parents and staff

2. A fear of legal status and citizenship related concerns

RocketHub could be the perfect platform for teachers and administrators in California schools to to raise money and create resources to better harness parent involvement. For example, a project could be funded to create picture books of what students are doing on a daily basis to be distributed to parents.

Since parent/teacher conferences are mostly held to discuss a student’s progress and allow parents to get a feel for what is happening in the classroom, these books could do the same thing but in a less intimidating way- with pictures, rather than words. Students could then go home and narrate the books to their parents in their native language so as to foster parent involvement and interest in classroom activities and progress. By getting parents interested and involved, it is likely to establish a gradual comfortability for them in the school despite possible citizenship concerns.

 

 

References:

Meece, Brian, and Alon Hillel-Tuch. “RocketHub.” New York University, New York. 19 Mar. 2012. Speech.

California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE)- Project INSPIRE

I am very interested in bilingual education and the unique situation that students of foreign language descent face upon entering into the United States, and specifically into the education system. During my undergraduate career, I had an internship at an international high school with over 80% of the students from the Dominican Republic. I worked closely with these students for two years, following their careers from junior to senior year and examining their progress, or lack thereof.

There are many organizations working to advocate for bilingual student achievement, but one in particular caught my eye.

CABE, 2007

CABE is a non-profit organization created in 1976 to advocate for bilingual education and the academic success of bilingual students in California. With California being rich in cultural and linguistic diversity, CABE strives “to promote equity and student achievement for students with diverse cultural, racial, and linguistic backgrounds” (CABE).

Two of CABE’s project initiatives include:

Carry the Torch Campaign

Project INSPIRE

I will be following the INSPIRE campaign sponsored by CABE which is particularly interesting because it focuses on the parents of these bilingual students. Most campaigns focus on the students and the ways in which they cope with balancing two cultures and languages. Parents, however, play a significant role in the academic and transitional “success” of their children. Parent involvement in education is crucial for bilingual students in terms of feeling support and encouragement. Often, parents who are undocumented or waiting on legal status are afraid to get involved in their child’s education. By offering support, I’m interested to see how well CABE is able to encourage parents to get involved and stay involved in their bilingual child’s education.

Sources:

CABE