Listening to Parent Voices: Home-School Collaboration for Diverse Communities

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

2011

Abstract

This chapter is based on a study that was conducted as part of a district-wide effort to improve home-school partnerships with Latino and African American parents in a large, diverse urban school district. Magaly Lavadenz and Elvira Armas used a mixed methods approach to collect survey data through a purposeful sampling of 16 parent leadership groups. A total of 513 surveys, n = 366 (Spanish) and 147(English), were collected. Results indicate a general dissatisfaction with the district’s programs for English Learners and Standard English Learners and with the overall district’s support for parent programming. The authors present a framework for change to strengthen home school partnerships through a three-pronged approach including (1) parental involvement programs that are culturally relevant and linguistically appropriate; (2)support for teacher and administrators’ preparation that draws from community funds of knowledge; and (3) improvement of advocacy-oriented bi-directional communication.

Comments

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Original Publication Citation

Catherine Hands. Including Families and Communities in Urban Education. Information Age Publishing, 2011.

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