Embrace Diverse Schools

Engaging parents in their children’s education is a critical piece of education reform. Yet too many parents remain disconnected from schools. Typically the parents who are involved are those who understand how school works, feel valued, and feel empowered to be there. Traditional ways of involving parents, such as Back-to-School Nights or tightly scheduled day-time parent/teacher conferences are often intimidating or challenging to many parents.

There are ways to connect with the absent parents, and they are essential if we are serious about education reform. Parents of every background have dreams for their child and want that child to succeed in school. Sometimes they never have a chance to voice those dreams, with the constant stream of information from school telling them what to do.

Strategic tips to engage disconnected parents:

• Assume every parent cares about their child’s education.Schools should not make assumptions about parents just because they aren’t visible. Many families believe it is their job to support education at home, but the teacher’s job at school. They show respect by not interfering with the teacher’s work. Sometimes parents are intimidated to talk to a teacher they didn’t have a good education themselves or they found school a place of negative experiences. For immigrants, expectations of American schools can be confusing. Many immigrants are shocked to learn that American schools expect them to be involved!
• Respect the strengths of family members and engage them as partners. The goal of engaging families is to build a partnership to support the students and the school itself. Families of diverse backgrounds bring many strengths that are often overlooked. Think of the organization and resiliency of an immigrant family who made the challenging journey to the United States… or the perseverance of a parent who could not attend college but works long hours to assure his child will have that chance… or the commitment of a grandmother who is determined that her grandchildren will understand the value of hard work by doing chores at home. When you learn about and respect these strengths, you understand that communication with diverse families should be two-way, as family members have many lessons to teach as well as learn.
• Go beyond traditional programs for family involvement Back-to-school nights and parent meetings work for some families, but others find them overwhelming or intimidating. Schools should look for non-threatening ways to encourage parent involvement: a classroom celebration of children’s writing where family members accompany their child to class; a breakfast with their child before work; a chance to meet with other families from their culture. Invitations sent out in multiple ways is critical, including personal notes home with the child and follow-up phone calls – the more personal, the better. A community leader who is known and respected by school families can be a great ally in connecting with diverse families.
• Get out of the school Some families find it intimidating to just walk through the school doors. To connect with families in a more comfortable setting, schools can hold meetings in community rooms, libraries, or religious institutions in the neighborhood.Sometimes a lunchroom in a local factory is a great place to connect with parents who can’t leave work.
• Support families so they can support their students Parents play a vital role as mentors, teachers, supporters, encouragers for their children. Schools can support families in these roles by providing training on parenting issues (e.g., workshops on child behavior or disciplining adolescents), as well as education issues (family literacy or math nights where parents and children learn together). Leadership development training targeted to those parents who are not yet empowered to be involved can create a new generation of diverse parent leaders.

• Collaborate with involved families As schools look for innovative ways to reach families, success can’t be judged by the number of families who initially respond. Build on the outreach by collaborating with new families who do bcome involved. Give them the opportunity to do substantive work alongside long-active parents. When family leaders in the school represent the diversity of the community, family engagement across the board will snowball.

Many parents remain disconnected from schools because they don’t feel welcome or valued at school. When schools look for innovative ways to help families understand their role at school and build true two-way partnerships, authentic education reform takes place.

The current dialogue on education reform is looking at critical issues such as hiring and retaining good teachers and innovative classroom instruction. But there is one critical piece of education reform that isn’t getting much attention. It’s particularly significant in diverse multicultural schools. And it doesn’t cost a lot to implement.

Research shows that academic achievement increases when students and their families feel connected to school. At the foundation of this reform is creating an atmosphere where every student feels valued.

The key is to recognize the culture of each student. Everyone has a culture – where we were born, where we grew up, who raised us, our ethnic background, our religion, our home language, our family structure, and more. Students feel connected to the school when they can be authentic and they don’t have to hide their culture to fit in.

Strategic tips for educators:

• Learn to pronounce all student’s names. What’s in a name? A person’s history and identity. Schools shouldn’t hand out nicknames just because the name is hard to pronounce. And no more,”Call me Mrs. K.” Teachers should model the behavior by expecting students to learn their names, as well.
• Rejoice in different accents.It’s not just about accents from other countries. Reports show a disturbing lack of respect for any accent that is”different,” like reports of a child from Boston being ridiculed for his pronunciation in a class in Ohio or the southern drawl of a child from Alabama laughed at – by the teacher – in a Maryland school.
• Let students see themselves in the classroom. A photo of each child should be posted around the room with the student’s personal writing. The students can draw pictures of themselves, encouraged to express their own individuality. Multicultural literature around the room should reflect the many faces in the broader community. Through class assignments, students can write autobiographies that include interviewing relatives and family friends. The assignments can be more sophisticated as students get older, using poetry or drama as vehicles for bringing their lives into the classroom.
• Create an opportunity for students to share what is important to them. Daily classroom meetings, where students share their ideas, thoughts, and experiences in a safe place, can build a true community. With guidance from the teacher, students learn the important skills of active listening and problem-solving together.

Not only should teachers recognize the culture of their students, they need to understand their own culture and how this impacts the way they interact with students and families. Did the teacher come from a family where children were supposed to be soft-spoken and only answer when spoken to? Then the creative boy who was encouraged to voice his new ideas at the family dinner table might appear to be disrepectful to the teacher. Does the teacher believe that every student should look her in the eye when she’s talking. Then she may misunderstand a student who was taught to look down as a way to show respect to an adult.

Education reform includes creating schools where every student believes he or she is an valued part of that school. To value the student, teachers need to understand culture — their own and their students — and make sure each culture is valued.

     When I was young, I rarely went to a library. My family didn’t go to the town library very much and my school didn’t have a library.  My family did value books and there were always books around for my brother and me to read. But I don’t remember visiting a library more than once or twice.

            That changed as a young adult. The first time I stepped into a large public library – I know it is trite – but I absolutely felt like a kid in a candy store.  And truthfully, I still feel that way. I LOVE libraries. I still look around and think, “Really? I can pick from anything here, and it’s all free!”

            Perhaps that’s why I am so thrilled – not happy, not excited, but thrilled – to be creating a library for students at A.V. Bukani Primary School in Addo, South Africa. My husband and I, with lots of help, just sent a shipment of 25,000 donated books to support the education of the wonderful students at the school.  We are about to make our third volunteer trip to work with the dedicated teachers there, sharing research-based strategies to increase literacy. We’ve also been working with the families, an integral part of education.

            On our first trip to this township school in August 2008, we were shaken by the lack of materials – from students writing with pencil stubs to inadequate workbooks that were basically the only books the students had. My husband used some quality picture books we had brought with us to demonstrate read-alouds. After seeing the students’ eyes light up when he read “Swimmy” by Leo Lionni, one of the teachers grabbed his arm and asked, “Are there more books like this?!”  We knew we had to return one day with many, many more books.

            The following year as we finished our second visit, Principal Thambo said it is time to build a library. We agreed. Although shipping is expensive, we had been in touch with an old high school friend who said he could help us with discounted shipping.  We knew with our many contacts back in the DC area that we could collect hundreds of books for this school. We also knew that, to be used effectively, these books could not just be boxed and shipped. They had to be sorted and labeled. Thus began our journey this year of collecting, organizing and labeling, not hundreds of books, but 25,000 quality children’s books. It was a labor of love for us and the many, many volunteers who worked with us, as well as the donors who helped with shipping expenses.  In mid-July, the books began their journey in a shipping container that will be fitted with doors and windows and will become the library itself.

            And so my love of libraries has come full circle. In early August, I will watch the shipping container filled with books we packed be trucked into the township and placed on the foundation built by the community.  I will watch as community volunteers help unload and open the boxes and boxes of books.  And I will watch as the students get to not only look at these wonderful books, but choose books and take them home. And the next day, they can choose another one. Does life get any better than that!

            I truly feel like Willy Wonka opening up the candy store to the 1,000 children of this school. They’ll discover Ezra Jack Keats, Eric Carle, Beverly Cleary, Dr. Seuss, and many other wonderful authors and illustrators. And once they taste this delicious stuff, I know they’ll be back for more. In my heart I know these books will change lives for decades to come, and I am so honored to play a part in this. More on our South African blog www.KuglersinSouthAfrica.blogspot.com

I went to Philadelphia for a conference recently. Staying with a friend in the suburbs, I took the commuter train to the meeting. I went into a small train station filled with regulars and asked the agent for a ticket “downtown” for the “rush hour” fare. As soon as I said it, I realized that’s lingo used in my home area of DC. I should have said I was going to “center city” during “peak” time. I was immediately spotted as someone not from here—an outsider. It is amazing how quickly you can feel uncomfortable when you are different.

Made me think about how many times people feel uncomfortable, feel like outsiders, because they don’t have the right words or act the right way. Sometimes they don’t know what is expected of them. Sometimes they act they way they were taught assuming that is appropriate. But the big question is who decides what is right?

We each have a culture, a combination of our family’s history and traditions, the place we grew up, our religion, our family structure, our gender, and everything else that impacts who we are. In a classroom, if a student does something that might be appropriate for her culture, but isn’t what the teacher thinks is right based on her own culture, the student may be branded as an outsider – someone who doesn’t fit in. Maybe the student stands a little too close to the teacher whose own comfort zone requires people to keep their distance. “I’m not a ‘touch-er’,” a colleague recently said to me. I wondered if I had broken her cultural rules without thinking since I come from a family of huggers and hand-grabbers.

Maybe a parent has been at a school meeting and loudly asserted her point. Other parents whisper behind her back, “She doesn’t need to yell.” The mom is branded as an outsider, someone who doesn’t follow the rules. Yet in her culture, if you are engaged, you raise your voice and stand your ground. To her, yelling is something completely different.

One of the challenges of good communication is understanding that your own way of communicating – your words, your voice, your body language – is not necessarily the right way. There are other ways of communicating which may also be appropriate, even if they aren’t your way. Is a parent not paying attention because she doesn’t become part of a conversation, or was she taught to listen to everyone else first? Is a child being rude by not looking the teacher in the eye, or do his cultural rules dictate that you show respect to adults by looking down?

Back in Philly, when I asked for a ticket downtown for a rush hour fare, the ticket agent still understood me. He politely handed me my ticket with a warm smile. Yes, there is more than one right way to get your point across. And the response of the other person can mean the difference between feeling welcome or uncomfortable.

Everyone loves a snow day. Not so much the 6th or 7th in a row as we’ve had in some mid-Atlantic states. And some students, more than others, feel the negative impact on education.

Unfortunately, the snow days just increase the educational inequalities between the haves and have-nots. Many teachers in my local school district in Northern Virginia are posting assignments online via Blackboard. That’s terrific — unless the student’s only access to the Internet is through the school or public library.

Many middle-class parents find some educational activity to do with their children or they talk about school projects together while they are home together for hours on end. What about the parents who didn’t have a good education themselves and don’t know how to create a learning experience at home? Where are the resources for school projects if there are few books and no computer at home?

For many students, school lunch and breakfast are essential meals of the day. That is the way our society has chosen to feed children in the interest of both their health and their education. The impact of losing out on those meals is magnified for kids when the entire family is stuck at home. Very often, their parents are paid hourly for their work, and when snow prevents the parents from getting to work, the refrigerators are sparser than usual.

As we think about ways to keep learning going during unanticipated breaks -– from snow, or illness like H1N1, or even some type of terrorist attack -– we need to think beyond just making lessons available electronically. Maybe we have school assignments available via phone links as well as Internet. Maybe we establish mentors/teachers in communities who can be called upon for assistance. Maybe we set up a resource room in low-income apartment buildings. We need to remember “it takes a village,” particularly on a snow day.