Title:
The Impact of a Collaborative Family Involvement Program on Latino Families and Children's Education Performance
Link:
Abstract:
Latino families often reflect a large commitment to their children's education, however, research has shown that these students often experience lower achievement when compared to their English speaking peers. These gaps are shown to appear due to numerous factors such as: language barriers, disconnect from culture, inefficient teaching strategies, etc. When looking at solutions to these problems it has been shown that family involvement programs can students, families and schools. The two-year study explored in this article discusses how family involvement along with the offerings of family workshops can help with learning and achievement; the study showed that significant improvements were found among it participants. O'Donnell (2014) stated that, At the end of two years, level of participation significantly predicted student effort, social skills and work habit grades, and standardized English Language Arts test scores and was somewhat predictive of achievement grades. Implications for practice are discussed.
Reflection:
I found this article to be very interesting as I am currently working at a family literacy center where beside being a pre-school teacher a huge component of the program is with family literacy and the many components involved such as: home visits, parent/student together time, workshops, etc. For me research this not only provided information on another factor that can increase achievement but also provided me with some insight for other ideas on how to incorporate family's into my students achievement.
References:
Donnell, J. O., & Kirkner, S. L. (2014). The Impact of a Collaborative Family Involvement Program on Latino Families and Children's Educational Performance. School Community Journal, 24(1), 211-234.
I have experienced the same phenomenon in my current placement in Laos. Lao parents are very concerned about their children getting a good education, but in general the Lao students perform below my Korean and Chinese students. One factor is that, in general, the Korean and Chinese parents speak much more English than the Lao parents. As a result, the Korean and Chinese students at my school are getting far more extra support and help. Further, the Korean and Chinese parents can more readily talk with me, whereas the Lao parents have to rely on a translator or their children. I think supporting ELLs definitely has to include a large familial involvement component, where schools make it clear to ELLs' parents that there are services available to them to allow them to be involved in their children's education.
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ReplyDeleteI teach in a high school with very few ELL students but the ideas can be applied to to all students who are struggling. I am not in a situation where I would conduct a home visit but I have found that emails, phone calls, and conferences have a direct impact on student achievement. All of your article summaries are good reminders that involving family is an important component of helping students succeed.
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