Scholarly Summary Report

ELL Parent Involvement in Schools

By: Brandy Mathewson, Nadia Caporale, Donna Dobrijevich

Project Link: https://prezi.com/view/m4qw8m7R7BcVNGBSnq5s/

As Primary Elementary teachers we have a passion for teaching kids and know how

essential parent involvement is to their education. Each of us, in our profession, teach students

who are learning English as a second language (ELLs), primarily Spanish speaking families, and

have noticed these families are underrepresented when it comes to parent involvement. Arias

(2015) explains, “English Learners (ELs) are the fastest growing segment in the U.S. K-12

education system (Fix & Passel, 2003). The EL population grew by 37% between 2000 and 2010

compared with 3% growth of the general K-12 population” (P. 284). According to National

Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition (NCELA), (2007), “over the past 15 years, the

number of English language learners has nearly doubled to about 5.5 million, and by 2025, it is

predicted nearly one in every four public school students will be an ELL” (Shim, 2013). With

this continued growth, we wanted to focus our research in two parts by asking the questions,

what are the benefits and barriers that affect EL parent involvement in schools, and what are

some possible solutions that will help break through these barriers and improve the home school

connection?

As a Theoretical foundation, we wanted to be able to convey to parents (and other

stakeholders) what research has been done to show the benefits of their involvement in a

student’s education. According to Brilliant (2001), “Benefits for students include (a) improved
student academic achievement, (b) increased language achievement, (c) improved overall school

behavior and attendance, (d) sustained achievement gains, (e) improved attitudes and interests in

science among adolescents, and (f) increased cognitive growth.” This information was gained

through a program used by Bermudez (1994) to teach parents how to become involved. In

addition, parent involvement helps develop support networks and increase their voice in critical

decisions that impact their child’s educational services and future educational opportunities, as

well as the social and psychological development of their children. Improved involvement can

lead to more benefits for parents and families including; the parents increasing their own

confidence and skills, sometimes furthering their education, and gaining better employment.

(Cotton & Wikelund)

After understanding the benefits, we wanted to see what research says about the

challenges that EL family’s face that could be potential barriers to their involvement. Some

themes that emerged as possible factors are, their inability to understand English, involvement

equals interfering with the school, unfamiliarity with the U.S. school system, their own lack of

education, too many family responsibilities such as multiple jobs, they have had a negative

experience with the school, and they don’t have transportation or childcare that will permit them

to be involved (Arias, 2015). Other challenges include, misunderstanding of school activities

such as open house, lack of communication between the school and home, and assumptions that

are made by both the school and parents (Valdez, 1996). In addition, Peña (2000) states, “Parents

thought their attendance was unnecessary at meetings that were conducted in English because

they could not understand what was discussed” (P. 47). Valdez, in his book Con Respeto,

interviews EL families to get their perspective on American schools. He found that in “parental

interactions with the school: many families did not feel competent enough to deal with school
personnel. They were embarrassed and found any excuse not to go to school and ‘ponerse en

evidencia’ (show how ignorant or incapable they were.)” He also concluded that, “When

American teachers expected that Mexican working-class mothers would ‘help’ their children

with their schoolwork, they were making assumptions about abilities that the mothers did not

have. Moreover, they were making assumptions about the universality of what, in American

school, counts as knowledge.”

With EL families facing so many barriers, we started to focus our research on solutions

that we could use in our schools, beyond what is mandated through the Every Student Succeeds

Act, which may help lessen these challenges and increase parent involvement. We have found

that the school has a responsibility to make connections with EL parents by providing awareness,

resources, and opportunities. Cotton & Wikelund (1989) explain that, “researchers have found

that the more active forms of parent involvement produce greater achievement.” Their findings

conclude that when it comes to parent involvement, successful programs offer a variety of ways

for parents to participate, acknowledge differences in parent’s ability, availability, and

willingness to participate.

Looking at resources at a national, state, and local level, we found that there are many

organizations that list strategies for parent involvement. Among them is Colorín Colorado. This

source gives examples of family involvement in the home and at school. Home strategies include

providing a place to do schoolwork, ensure that school work is done, discuss the school day with

their children, and reading and telling stories in their native language. Some in school

involvement strategies included inviting parents to visit the classroom regularly, inviting parents

to speak to the class about their native country, and having parents volunteer in different ways in

the school (Colorín Colorado, 2019).

 These suggestions are an important start to building the bridge we are hoping to build, but

we have also found that, perhaps a greater need in the foundation is stated by Padgett (2006),

“parental involvement in school activities alone will not increase student achievement; rather, it

is the quality of interactions and communication between teachers and parents that has

significant impact on student achievement” (Shim 2013). In talking to the Purdue Extension

Office, a local organization that is found in many communities across Indiana, we learned about

a program called The Learning Network that provides services in the form of personal,

professional, and education for EL families in our communities. From an interview conducted

with the Health and Human Science Educator who heads up the local program in Clinton

County, she says that getting EL parents involved requires, “building a relationship based on

trust and accountability.” Antunez (2000) says, “Lack of trust is often the result of

misunderstanding the preserved intentions of each party.” Building relationships will help dispel

these misunderstandings. According to Breiseth, Robertson, & Lanfond, (2011) “In building and

nurturing relationships with ELL families, the value of teacher home visits cannot be

understated: They provide essential insight into a student’s home life and unique learning needs,

and ‘support academic gains and positive integration of ELLs.’ They are linked to improved

academic progress and attendance rates. Perhaps most importantly, teacher home visits lay a

foundation of trust as the frontrunner to school-based parent engagement.” When discussing

home visits Breiseth (2016) says, “One teacher learned that her ‘Russian’ student was actually

“Ukrainian’” (P. 46-50). It’s significant information like this that we can glean from home visits

that will help us better understand our students and their families. By taking the time to meet

families in their home, we are establishing that we care and we truly want to work in partnership

with parents in the best interest of their child.

 Building this partnership is an ongoing process. Once it has begun there are other things

the school can do to continue to encourage EL parent involvement. The following is a list of

possibilities; including their culture within the school, being flexible when scheduling events and

meetings, surveying parents about transportation and childcare needs, using an app for texting

that will translate between the teacher and parent, ensure all communication is translated into the

parents native language, continue to build relationships between parents, school, and community

and offer information to teach EL parents how American schools operate. Cotton and Wikelund

found that, “Research in this area indicates that parents generally want and need direction to

participate with maximum effectiveness. Orientation/training takes many forms, from providing

written directions with a send-home instructional packet; to providing ‘make-and-take’

workshops where parents construct, see demonstrations of, and practice using instructional

games; to programs in which parents receive extensive training and ongoing supervision by

school personnel.” Additionally, El Yaafouri in 6 Tips for Engaging the Families of English

Learners reminds us that “many of the strategies we use to make content comprehensible for

ELLs are also helpful in working with linguistically diverse parent populations. Think: visuals,

graphic organizers, and translated or icon-based cheat sheets for potentially unfamiliar

terminology” (2019).

By transforming the culture of the school and using some of these suggestions students’

lives will be changed. Antunez (2000) sums up the possibilities, “When families, communities,

and schools form partnerships to enable children’s learning, everyone benefits- schools work

better, families become closer, community resources thrive, and students improve academically.”
Group Roles:

In the initial weeks of our project we found that we shared a common interest of

improving parent involvement of second language learners in our schools. During our

discussions we decided to focus our project on learning what research says benefits are for EL

students whose parents are involved in their education, what factors contribute to a low parental

involvement, and what strategies can be implemented to increase that involvement. Each group

member took on the role of researcher during this time. Our task was to find journal articles on

studies that had been done that contained answers to our questions. Nadia was able to make a

google document in which we used as an outline for our final project. This has been a working

document over the last seven weeks that all members have continued to add to. Throughout those

weeks we also met via FaceTime, Google Chat, texting, and Zoom. This allowed us to relay what

we had learned and refine our search further. In week six, we focused our attention on

organizations that could help our research. We divided this up so that Donna looked into the

National Association of Bilingual Education at the national level, at the state level Nadia gained

more insight into INTESOL, and Brandy was able to find a local organization, The Learning

Network, through the Purdue Extension Office that is in many local communities in Indiana. It

gave us information on what is currently available for EL families within their community that

could partner with schools to help improve parent involvement. Once our information was

gathered we worked together to develop a PowerPoint that we would use to transfer information

to our final Prezi presentation. At this point Nadia and Donna are working together to add

finishing touches to the PowerPoint and transfer it to Prezi, Brandy is writing the Scholarly

Summary, and everyone will edit both before final submission. We will also respond to

comments that are made on the discussion board in week 8 that pertain to our project.
 References:

Antunez, B. (2000). Framing Effective Practice: Topics and Issues in Education English

Language Learners. NCBE, When Everyone is Involved: Parents and Communities in

School Reform

Arias, M. B. (2015). Parental and community involvement in Bilingual and multilingual

education. In W. E. Wright, S. Boun, & O. García (Eds.), Handbook of Bilingual and

Multilingual Education (pp. 282-298). Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.

Breiseth, L. (2016).Getting to Know ELLs' Families. Helping ELLs Excel. V.73 (5).p.46-50

Breiseth, L. & Robertson, K. (2011). A Guide for Engaging ELL Families: Twenty Strategies for

School Leaders. Colorin Colorado.

Brilliant, B. (2001) Parental Involvement in Education: Attitudes and Activities of

Spanish-Speakers as Affected by Training, Bilingual Research Journal,25:3,

251-274, DOI: 10.1080/15235882.2001.10162794

Chen, CT.; Kyle, D.W., & McIntyre, E. (2008). Helping Teachers Work Effectively with

English

Language Learners and Their Families. The School Community Journal. v18(1), p7-20.

Colorín Colorado. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.colorincolorado.org/

Cotton, K., & Wikelund, K.R. (1989). Parent Involvement in Education, School Improvement

Research Series Close-p #6. Retrieved from

educationnorthwest.org/sites/default/files/parent-involvement-in-education.pdf

El Yaafouri, L. (2019). 6 Tips for Engaging the Families of English Language Learners

Schools can better support students who are still learning English by working to involve

their families in their education.

Karther, D.E; Lowden, F.Y (1997). Contemporary Education: Fostering effective parent

involvement, Terre Haute Vol. 69, Iss. 1, page 41. DOI: 41688

Niehaus, K. & Adelson, J.L. (2014). School Support, Parental Involvement, and Academic and

Social-Emotional Outcomes for English Language Learners. American Educational

Research Journal, Vol. XX(X), pp. 1–34. DOI: 10.3102/0002831214531323.

Peña, D. C. (2000) Parent Involvement: Influencing Factors and Implications, The Journal of

Educational Research, 94(1), 42-54, DOI: 10.1080/00220670009598741

Shim, J.M. (2013). Involving the Parents of English Language Learners in a Rural Area: Focus

on the Dynamics of Teacher-Parent Interactions. Rural Educator, v34(3) p18-26.

US Census Bureau. (2018, January 19). School Enrollment of the Hispanic Population: Two
 Decades of Growth. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/newsroom/blogs/random-

samplings/2017/08/school_enrollmentof.html

Valdez, G. (1996) Con Respeto: Bridging the Distance Between Culturally Diverse Families and

Schools. An Ethnographic Portrait (pg 160-168)