BUILDING HOME-SCHOOL PARTNERSHIPS:
A Way of Enhancing Reading Literacy of Diverse Learners

Renee White-Clark
Adelphi University
U. S. A.

Grace Lappin
Bank Street Graduate School of Education
U. S. A.

Introduction
Benefits of Home/School Partnerships
Educator Perspective
Parent Perspective
The Educator Role
Conclusion
Endnotes
References

---

Introduction

I would have wanted to learn how to deal with parents of different cultural backgrounds. They foster much of what the children learn in school and have a lot of power- it’s challenging to speak to them about certain issues that they or I cannot relate to that I sometimes bring into the classroom (ex. religious holidays, birthdays, issues that we face everyday. (Graduate Literacy Candidate, 2004)¹

In this day and age, suburban and urban communities all over the United States consist of European Americans (75.1%), African Americans (12.3%), Asian Americans (3.6%), Hispanic Americans (12.5%)², Native Americans (.09%), Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders (.01%) as well as those of other races (5.5%) (U. S. Census Bureau, 2000). Ours is a society composed of many diverse cultural groups from a variety of backgrounds and traditions. Despite cultural differences, most people make valuable contributions to our society through personal, professional, educational, artistic, and/or philanthropic endeavors. They also live in harmony with their neighbors, sharing the same concerns and goals regarding housing, education, and family.  “Multiculturalism” is a 20th-century idea based on the historic principle of cultural pluralism. Although the term “multiculturalism” is a relatively new one, the philosophy is deeply imbedded in our history of immigration. As educators we are concerned with providing instruction for the diverse groups of children in our classrooms and needing to develop curricula that incorporate and celebrate diversity. Ignorance of the cultural habits, morals, and traditions of our students and neighbors allows members of our society to continue to promote prejudice and racism. Successfully employing practices of tolerance and implementing multicultural curricula will help prepare our students for their future role in society. [paragraph 1]

It is a sad fact that 50 years after Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education students from diverse backgrounds still remain over-represented in special education programs and have limited access to services for learners with gifts and talents (Artiles & Trent, 1994; Cartledge, Sentinelle, Loe, Lambert, & Reed, 2001; Ford, 2003; Obiakor & Ford, 2002). In addition, these students experience lower rates of graduation with only 50% of African American males graduating from high school (Orfield & Lee, 2003).[paragraph 2]

The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) identified specific achievement factors that impact the reading success of diverse students in the United States. The study found the following facts:

• The pattern of between-group differences for racial and ethnic groups is identical across the three literacy areas. In reading, mathematics, and science, the average literacy for Whites and other students is higher than for Hispanic and Black students.
• Parents’ education is strongly linked to differences in student performances in reading, mathematics, and science literacy.
• Socioeconomic status is related to literacy levels for each subject area. Increases in socioeconomic status are associated with increases in scores of reading literacy.
• Parents’ national origin is linked to performance in reading literacy and mathematics literacy only for those students with two foreign-born parents.
• The reading literacy achievement of students who speak the test language at home is higher than that of students not speaking this language at home (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2001). [paragraph 3]

It is apparent that disparities exist in the quality of educational experience between majority and minority students in our nation’s schools. Effective educators of language arts/reading must “know the importance of social, cultural, linguistic, and cognitive differences among learners and use this information to guide their instructional decisions” (Strickland, Galda, & Cullinan, 2004, p. 4). Schools and educators must seek alternative solutions to meeting the needs of our culturally pluralistic student population and provide equitable and beneficial educational experiences for all students. [paragraph 4]

Benefits of Home-School Partnerships

I think I would have liked to learn more about how to work with and collaborate with culturally diverse parents and more about understanding the socio-cultural dynamics of working in diverse settings. (Graduate Literacy Candidate, 2004)

Research has identified correlations between parent involvement and student achievement. According to Decker and White-Clark (1999), there is overwhelming evidence indicating that students benefit from parent involvement in schools. Eccles and Harold (1993) state that parents play a critical role in both their children's academic achievement and their children's socio-emotional development (Clark, 1983; Comer, 1984, 1986, 1989; Epstein, 1984, 1989, 1991; Parsons, 1982; Wigfield, et al., 1997). Recently, research has begun to focus on the role schools play in encouraging and facilitating parents' roles in children's academic achievement. Critical to this role is the relationship that develops between parents and teachers and between homes and schools. Increasing evidence indicates that the quality of these links influences children's and adolescents' school success (Comer, 1984; Comer & Haynes, 1991; Epstein, 1991; Stevenson & Baker, 1987; Zigler & Valentine, 1979). [paragraph 5]

Home-school partnerships are crucial to successful language learning and reading literacy. Educators must make the students’ school experiences meaningful to their lives at home by encouraging collaborative interactions with parents. Educators must value and integrate the language, life experience, and literacy that children bring from home into the classroom – immersing all language learning within the contexts of children’s everyday lives (Hiebert & Raphael, 1998; Laklik, Dellinger, & Druggish, 2003; Strickland, Galda, & Cullinan, 2004). Taylor and Strickland (1989) conclude that “children benefit when we establish literacy in the social and cultural contexts of their everyday lives…We cannot replace family life with classroom experiences, but we can recognize the legitimacy of children’s social existence and use it as a basis for curriculum and instruction” (p. 275). [paragraph 6]

Establishing enriched home-school partnerships is not only beneficial to the academic domain of children, but also the socio-emotional well-being of youngsters. Research by Dryfoos (1998) states the healthiest communities are those in which students are motivated and committed to school work and have high aspirations and expectations. When students believe the school environment is a positive one, the community's atmosphere appears to be healthy. Other factors indicative of strong communities include youth involvement in community activities like after-school programs. In the healthiest communities, the majority of the youth report that their peers are not involved in negative or destructive behaviors; after-school programs play an important role in reducing or extinguishing negative behaviors. [paragraph 7]

All educators must be committed to raising student and parent expectations, fostering aspirations, and reducing negative student behaviors. They must further commit to creating healthy community environments and involving youth, families, and the community in decision-making processes that have a direct influence on them. Educators should practice the “nine principles” necessary for effective parent involvement in diverse settings. Educators must:

1. believe in the importance of parent involvement;
2. embody an ethic of caring;
3. disregard “hard-to-reach” stereotypes;
4. develop high expectations for all parents;
5. conceptualize the role of parents;
6. actualize the role of educator;
7. be willing to address personal concerns;
8. understand the framework of parent involvement programs; and
9. be willing to improve parent involvement. (White-Clark & Decker, 1996, p. 31) [paragraph 8]

Educator Perspective

Teacher education programs should have teachers develop culturally diverse lessons, how to communicate with their parents, and how to provide extra support in the classroom. (Graduate Literacy Candidate, 2004)

According to Ford (2003), today’s multicultural population requires an intense home-school partnership operating from a culturally responsive framework. This partnership is an essential strategy that has not been fully explored by many teacher preparation programs. She further states it is the responsibility of colleges and universities to reframe and rework program content and field experiences to fully prepare special education teachers and administrators. [paragraph 9]

Unfortunately, teacher education has been found to prepare teachers insufficiently to teach in the nation’s culturally pluralistic classrooms and to work with parents. A national study states that “increased classroom diversity has brought equity issues to the forefront of the educational agenda, but past studies have shown that many teachers were not trained to meet the needs of diverse student populations” (National Center for Educational Statistics, 1998, p. 2).  Meier (1995) contends that teacher candidates must have consistent presence in diverse schools to increase their sensitivity to the educational issues of minority students. Pre-service teachers should be afforded practicum opportunities in diverse school settings to link theory and practice through the implementation of culturally responsive teaching strategies. [paragraph 10]

The challenge of all educators is to promote and facilitate appropriate educational experiences enabling all students to become active participants and contributing members of our diverse, multicultural society. It is our vision as professionals in the field of academe to create a community of educators, professionals, and parents working as a team to meet the needs of learners with a diverse range of challenges. Our vision is to ensure that every one of our students reaches her/his potential and all teachers are trained to become capable of supporting all students in achieving this goal. Collaboration among educators, professionals, family, and community will maximize the opportunities of all our students and help them achieve individual goals. [paragraph 11]

Teachers must be committed to supporting the development and implementation of innovative and comprehensive programs enabling students to improve individual performance and maximize individual accomplishments in environments within our school and in the larger community. In addition to providing excellent educational opportunities for all students, local schools should become an integral and active part of the community fabric. Toward that end, teacher education programs must expand the original mission and vision of turning out higher numbers of adequately trained and prepared teachers. Teacher education has traditionally prepared teachers to teach content and curriculum generically, but teachers must now be prepared to implement community-based culturally relevant pedagogy holistically.  Teacher education should begin to take on the role of community leader and to explore a multifaceted approach to teacher training which includes parent partnership, community service, and appropriate training in diversity. [paragraph 12]

The goal of teacher education programs should address multicultural education and prepare competent teachers who can develop all students as proficient decision-makers and social activists. To ensure educational equity, teachers must exceed their additive and superficial means of incorporating multicultural content and implement cultural responsive pedagogy. Ladson-Billings (1994) argues that culturally relevant teaching is essential to the meaningful learning and empowerment of diverse students. Her case studies identified the following characteristics of effective teachers of African-American students:

• They possess high self-esteem and respect others;
• They “see themselves as a part of the local community and see their work as contributing, or giving back to the community” (p. 38);
• They “believe that all students can succeed, and organize their lessons based upon this belief” (p. 49); and 
• They perceive their role as “digging knowledge out of the students” (p. 52) rather than disseminating new knowledge.  They create “community of learners” (p. 69). [paragraph 13]

Culturally responsive teachers encourage students to think critically and problem-solve societal injustices. Similar to multicultural education, culturally responsive pedagogy empowers students by teaching them to analyze educational content critically and examine their individual roles in a democratic global society. Freire (1998) affirms that culturally responsive pedagogy can “establish an intimate connection between knowledge considered basic to any school curriculum and knowledge that is the fruit of the lived experience of these students as individuals” (p. 36). [paragraph 14]

One goal of all teacher training programs should be to train teachers to form a strong partnership between parents, students, school staff, and community. This requires sensitivity to other cultures, customs, and persons of diverse backgrounds and abilities. [paragraph 15]

Parent Perspective

It is just me and my kids. I don’t really have anybody else to help me with them, so I try to do the best I can. If I can join this or join that, I try to do it and be there. I do the best I can. (White-Clark & Decker, 1996, p. 26)

Evidence suggests parents and teachers are not as involved with each other as they would like to be. Several studies (Baker & Stevenson, 1986; Comer, 1984, 1986, 1989; Leitch & Tangri, 1988; Rich, 1985) find that parents want to be more involved with their children's education and would like more information and help from the schools in order to meet this. [paragraph 16]

Parents from multicultural and diverse backgrounds are often reluctant to become involved in school activities; they are often unaware of their legal rights and are victims of negative experiences with school personnel. Parents often find their problems compounded by difficult interactions with teachers and school staff and often receive ongoing negative feedback that makes them feel unwelcome and unsupported. Parents often struggle to get help for their child, and parents of minority or low-income backgrounds are particularly likely to have difficulty (Harry, 1995; Marion, 1979; Obiakor & Ford, 2002; Ford & Grantham, 2003). In addition, parents of children with special needs often struggle with issues of guilt and self-esteem and face additional responsibilities in terms of time, energy, and finances. Many experience a cycle of grief not unlike dealing with death. In coping with the stress of raising a child with disabilities, many families may experience a sense of social isolation. They may also encounter attitudes of ignorance and disrespect from professionals that increase their stress level. [paragraph 17]

The Educator Role

Considerable evidence supports the conclusion that the differences in achievement between students of mainstream and non-mainstream backgrounds are not the result of differences in their ability to learn, but rather of differences in the quality of instruction they have received in school. (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1995 cited in Cooper, 2006, p. 14)

In order to optimize student learning, educators must engage parents as partners by welcoming all families into the school, especially those families from diverse backgrounds and families with children with special needs. Families must be treated with respect and dignity, and their choices and cultural differences should be honored. Providing quality school programming that explores and promotes strong diverse family and community links is an important first step. There are four multifaceted goals to address:

Goal 1: To discover community links, past and present, through active learning opportunities;

Goal 2: To collaborate with school staff, parents, and community organizations to explore personal, family, and community experiences and their value in the classroom, the community, and life;

Goal 3: To improve social, emotional, and academic achievement of children and youth through family/community partnerships;

Goal 4: To promote critical thinking skills through active learning opportunities by partnering with the community. [paragraph 18]

Our responsibility as educators includes explaining how our teaching works by listening reflectively to our families and providing resources and supports based on their diverse needs. Resources and supports can include individuals, associations, institutes, and businesses from the community surrounding the school who may be able to provide parent training and support including early intervention, advocacy, financial assistance, and mental health services. Developing home/school partnerships helps create connections for families and children in the community. These partnerships take on a deeper meaning for populations frequently marginalized such as minorities, recent immigrants, and families of children with disabilities. [paragraph 19]

In order to communicate effectively with families, teachers must be able to communicate in a positive fashion about children and to ask for input, ideas, and involvement from families. Sending home explanations and/or newsletters of what is happening in the classroom and eliciting comments and feedback would empower parents to become active participants. To further open lines of communication, non-threatening parent-teacher conferences and meetings should affirm and build on family strengths and gifts. Schools must demonstrate their value for diversity and invite parents to share their language and customs and even participate in classroom activities such as reading and writing. [paragraph 20]

Educators can foster collaborative partnerships with parents by building on family routines, creating a link from home to classroom learning with authentic activities such as encouraging reading of all kinds including reading recipes, measuring, and cooking while helping to prepare family meals. Most importantly, educators must make a concerted effort to incorporate culturally diverse literature and experiences to build the bridge between home and school. The implementation of multicultural literature “promotes sensitivity to other cultures, instills a sense of pride in one’s heritage, and encourages appreciation of diverse literary traditions…Teachers who recommend outstanding books to families model respect for the culture and provide a high standard of book selection that families can adopt” (Lilly & Green, 2004, p. 131). [paragraph 21]

Conclusion

Diversity in families contributes to rich literary experiences and exchanges between home and school when teachers and families work together, collaboratively. Children’s literacy development blossoms most readily if the adults in their primary settings have consonant goals. Successful literacy partnerships are based on incorporating the multiple literacies that surround children at home, considering adult caregivers as partners in literacy, and providing a variety of family opportunities for inclusion in literacy. (Lilly & Green, 2004, p. 118)

Educators must be concerned about engaging in false stereotypes and assumptions that families with diverse needs are not interested in their children’s education; most often that simply is not the case (Weinberg, 1994). According to Goldenberg (1987), parents of minority children are highly motivated to help their children succeed and value quality education. Barriers to parent involvement often come about due to language differences, employment burdens, cultural differences, confusion about what to do, lack of schools’ support for diversity, and negative attitudes by school personnel toward families with diverse backgrounds and needs. Delgado-Gatien (2001) states that strategies for encouraging involvement of parents from diverse backgrounds have historically been based on the deficit concept and have aimed at remedying family deficiencies. Successful strategies require teachers to have high expectations for all families and take a leadership role in organizing, evaluating, and reflectively building their family involvement practices (Epstein, 1991) by embracing an ethic of caring. This can only be accomplished if educators are aware of and disregard their flawed perceptions which may include ideas such as "Children from non-middle class white families are trouble makers," "Poverty is somehow the family’s fault," "Children with disabilities take away from the educational opportunities of typically developing children," and "'hard to reach' families have themselves to blame." Educators must be willing to address personal family concerns and be willing to work to improve parent involvement. This may mean that the school must go to where the parents are and provide incentives and support to encourage their active involvement. [paragraph 23]

Endnotes

1. No student work is edited throughout the text.

2. Hispanics may be of any race and therefore are counted under more than one category.  As a result, percentages of all ethnic and racial categories add up to more than 100%.

References

Artiles, A. J., & Trent, S. C. (1994). Overrepresentation of minority students in special education: A continuing debate. Journal of Special Education 27(4), 410-437.

Baker, D. P., & Stevenson, D. L. (1986). Mothers' strategies for children's school achievement: Managing the transition to high school. Sociology of Education 59(3), 156-166.

Cartledge, G., Sentelle, J., Loe, S., Lambert, M. C., & Reed, E. S. (2001). To be young, gifted, and black?: A case study of positive interventions within an inner-city classroom of African American students. Journal of Negro Education 70(4), 243-254.

Clark, C. R. (1983). The effectiveness of mastery learning strategies in undergraduate education courses. Journal of Educational Research 76(4), 210-214.

Comer, J. P. (1984). Home-school relationships as they affect the academic success of children. Education and Urban Society 16(3), 323-337.

Comer, J. P. (1986). Parent participation in the schools. Phi Delta Kappan 67(6). 442-446.

Comer, J. P. (1989). Racism and the education of young children. Teachers College Record 90(3), 352-361.

Comer, J. P., & Haynes, N. M. (1991). Parent involvement in schools: An ecological approach. Elementary School Journal 91(3), 271-277.

Cooper. J. D. (2006). Literacy: Helping children construct meaning (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Decker, L. E., & White-Clark, R. (1999). What educators can do to foster parent involvement. Community Education Journal 26, 1-2, 15.

Delgado-Gaitan, C. (2001). The power of community: Mobilizing for family and schooling: Immigration and the transnational experience. Blue Ridge Summit, PA: Rowman & Littlefield.

Dryfoos, J. G. (1998). Safe passage: Making it through adolescence in a risky society.Oakbrook, IL: North Central Regional Educational Lab.

Eccles, J. S., & Harold, R. D. (1993). Parent-school involvement during the early adolescent years. Teachers College Record 94(3), 568-87.

Epstein, J. L. (1984). School policy and parent involvement: Research results. Educational Horizons 62(2), 70-72.

Epstein, J. L. (1989). Effects of the teachers involve parents in schoolwork (TIPS) social studies and art program on student attitudes and knowledge. Report No. 41. Baltimore, MD: Center for Research on Elementary and Middle Schools.

Epstein, J. L. (1991). Paths to partnership: What we can learn from federal, state, district, and school initiatives. Phi Delta Kappan 72(5), 344-49.

Ford, D. Y. (2003). “Dumbing Down" of Giftedness or "Reaching Down" for Giftedness.  Understanding our Gifted, 15(2), 13-15.

Ford, D. Y. & Grantham, T. C. (2003). Providing access for culturally diverse gifted students. Theory into Practice, 42(3), 217-225.

Freire, P. (1998). Pedagogy of freedom: Ethics, democracy and civic courage. South Hadley, MA: Bergin and Garvey.

Goldenberg, C. N. (1987). Low-income Hispanic parents' contributions to their first-grade children's word-recognition skills. Anthropology and Education Quarterly 18(3), 149-179.

Harry, B. (1995) Communication versus compliance: African-American parents' involvement in special education. Exceptional Children 61(4), 364-377.

Hiebert, E. H., & Raphael, T. E. (1998). Early literacy instruction. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace.

Ladson-Billings, G. (1994). The dreamkeepers: Successful teachers of African American children. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Laklik, L. D., Dellinger, L., & Druggish, R. (2003). Fostering collaboration between home and school through curriculum development: Perspectives of three Appalachian children. In D. S. Strickland, L. Galda, & B. E. Cullinan. (2004). Language arts: Learning and teaching (pp. 35-36). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.

Leitch, M. L., & Tangri, S. S. (1988). Barriers to home-school collaboration. Educational Horizons 66(2), 70-74.

Lilly, E., & Green, C. (2004). Developing partnerships with families through children’s literature. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.

Marion, R. L. (1979). Parent involvement. Teacher Education and Special Education 2(3), 43-50.

Meier, D. (1995). The power of their ideas: Lessons for America from a small school in Harlem. Boston, MA: Beacon.

National Center for Educational Statistics. (1998). Teacher quality: Report on the preparation and qualifications of public school teachers. Retrieved on February 22, 2004 from http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/frss/publications/1999080/

National Center for Educational Statistics. (2001). PISA 2000 highlights. Retrieved on March 5, 2005  from http://nces.ed.gov/Surveys/PISA/PISAHighlights.asp

Obiakor, F. E., & Ford, B. A. (Eds.). (2002). Creating successful learning environments for African American learners with exceptionalities. Thousand Oaks, CA; Corwin Press.

Orfield, G., Frankenberg, E. D., & Lee, C. (2003). The resurgence of school segregation. Educational Leadership, 60(4),16-20.

Parsons, J. E. (1982). Socialization of achievement attitudes and beliefs: Classroom influences. Child Development 53(2), 322-339.

Rich, D. (1985). Helping parents help their children learn. Educational Leadership 42(7), 80.

Stevenson, D. & Baker, D. P. (1987). The family-school relation and the child's school performance. Child Development 58(5), 1348-1357.

Strickland, D. S., Galda, L., & Cullinan, B. E. (2004). Language arts: Learning and teaching. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.

Taylor, D., & Strickland, D. S. (1989). Learning from families: Implications for educators and policy. In J. B. Allen & J. M. Mason (Eds.). Risk makers, risk takers (pp. 251-280). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

U. S. Census Bureau. (n. d.). Year 2000 Census. Retrieved on March 15, 2005 from http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/c2kbr01-1.pdf

Zigler, E. & Valentine, J. (Eds.). (1979). Project Head Start: A legacy of the war on poverty. New York: The Free Press.

Weinberg, M. (1994). Diversity without equality = oppression. Multicultural Education 1(4), 13-16.

White-Clark, R., & Decker, L. E. (1996). The “hard-to-reach” parent: Old challenges, new insights. Fairfax, VA: National Community Education Publication Series.

Wigfield, A., Eccles, J., Yoon, K., Suk, H., Harold, R. D., Arbreton, A. J. A., et al. (1997). Change in children's competence beliefs and subjective task values across the elementary school years: A 3-year study. Journal of Educational Psychology, 89(3), 451-469.

Renee White-Clark, Ed.D., Associate Professor of Literacy at Adelphi University, has nearly 20 years of experience as a teacher educator, classroom teacher, reading specialist, and administrator. Her areas of expertise and research include literacy, diversity and teacher education. (Contact this author at whiteclark@adelphi.edu; contact the editors of EMME at emme@eastern.edu.)

Grace Lappin, Ph.D., Assistant Professor at Bank Street Graduate School of Education, is a special educator, mentor, and staff developer. As graduate faculty she has presented internationally and maintains an active research agenda. (Contact this author at glrags@aol.com; contact the editors of EMME at emme@eastern.edu.)

Recommended Citation in the APA Style:

White-Clark, R. & Lappin, G. (2005). Building home-school partnerships: A way of enhancing reading literacy of diverse learners. Electronic Magazine of Multicultural Education, 7(1), 23 paragraphs. Retrieved [your access month date, year], from http://www.eastern.edu/publications/emme/2005spring/white-clark_lappin.html