Parent Involvement and Outreach / PTA

Children in Immigrant Families - The U.S. and 50 States: National Origins, Language, and Early Education

by Child Trends and the Center for Social and Demographic Analysis at SUNY-Albany / Donald Hernandez, Nancy Denton, and Suzanne Macartney

Hernandez, D., Denton, N., and Macartney, S. (2007, April). Child Trends and Children in Immigrant Families - The U.S. and 50 States: National Origins, Language, and Early Education. Albany, NY: Center for Social and Demographic Analysis at SUNY-Albany

Topics Covered: Data (Demographics, Facts, and Figures); Higher Education and Careers; Learning Disabilities and Special Education; Literacy and Reading / Writing Instruction; Literacy and Reading / Writing Instruction; Early (Pre-K);

Tags: Asian ELL Students; Bilingual Instruction; Bilingualism / Biliteracy; Latino ELL Students; Other ELL Students (Middle Eastern, African, European, etc.); Parent Involvement and Outreach / PTA;

Target Population: Preschool

Research Questions the Report Poses: None; instead makes the case that newcomer families and the children within them are, and will continue to be, a significant demographic in American education

Summary: At the time of this report's publishing, children from newcomer families (families with at least one foreign-born parent) account for 20 percent of the nation's schoolchildren. This research brief, whose data is based on the year 2000 census, makes the case that children of newcomer families will continue to make up a significant portion of American schoolchildren, especially since rates of white, non-Hispanic schoolchildren are expected to decline in the coming decades. The report notes that the specific national origin of newcomer families varies widely from state to state. It also makes the assertion that the nearly 50% of children in newcomer families who speak both English and another language well represent a great opportunity to promote bilingualism in the United States. However, the nearly 25% of children in newcomer families who live in linguistically isolated households will continue to pose a challenge for the American education system. The report also cites children from newcomer families going to pre-school with lower prevalence than children from native born families.

Findings:

• 25 percent of children from newcomer families have a parent who was born in the United States.
• Two-thirds of children from newcomer families have parents who have lived in the United States for ten or more years.
• 80% of children from newcomer families are US citizens
• Almost 60% of children have at least one parent who speaks English exclusively or very well
• Three-quarters of children from newcomer families speak English exclusively or very well
• Almost half of newcomer children speak both English and another language fluently or close to fluently
• Approximately a quarter of newcomer children are from linguistically isolated households
• Children from newcomer families going to pre-school with lower prevalence than children from native born families

Policy Recommendations:

• More resources need to be devoted to getting good early education to children from newcomer families
• A re-examination must take place of education policy toward language instruction, especially views of bi-literacy and bilingualism
• Education programs can and should improve outreach to newcomer parents

• Link to Full Report

To order a hard copy of the report, contact:
Child Trends
Bonnie Wahiba
4301 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Suite 350
Washington, DC 20008
E-Mail: bwahiba@childtrends.org
Phone: (202) 572-6136
Fax: (202) 362-8420 (third floor, Suite 350)

Ensuring Academic Success for English Learners

by Laurie Olson, UC Linguistic Minority Research Institute

Olsen, L. (2006). Ensuring Academic Success for English Learners. University of California: Linguistic Minority Research Institute.

Topics Covered: Assessment and Accommodations;

Tags: Bilingual Instruction; Bilingualism / Biliteracy; Comprehension; Curriculum; Differentiated Instruction; Fluency; Instructional Programs; Intervention; Language of Instruction; Language Proficiency; Parent Involvement and Outreach / PTA; Struggling Readers; Transfer of Literacy Skills; Vocabulary; Writing;

Target Population: Preschool, Elementary, Middle, High School

Research Questions the Report Poses: The paper provides an overview of research and knowledge that educators can use to create schools in which English learners thrive and achieve at high levels.

Summary: This report, or position paper, highlights nine elements of a strong program, based on three decades of research. The report recommends best practices that include accessible preschool programs, support for newcomers of all ages, and a focus on English language development.

Policy Recommendations:

• Invest in building a qualified educator workforce;
• Build a meaningful accountability system for English learners;
• Assure that educators have the materials they need to deliver high quality English Language Development; and
• Demonstrate new models of successful schools for English learners

• Link to Full Report

To order a hard copy of the report, contact:
University of California
Linguistic Minority Research Institute
4722 South Hall
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-3220

Hidden in Plain View: An Overview of the Needs of Asian American Students in the Public School System

by The Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF)

The Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (2004, May). Coalition for Asian Hidden in plain view: An overview of the needs of Asian American students in the public school system. New York, NY.

Topics Covered: About ELLs; Multicultural Education / Diversity / Culturally-Responsive Inst;

Tags: Asian ELL Students; Parent Involvement and Outreach / PTA;

Target Population: Preschool, Elementary, Middle, High School, Post-Secondary

Research Questions the Report Poses: What difficulties face Asian American students and how might these difficulties perpetuate myths about Asian students?

Summary: The article discusses a number of issues related to Asian-American communities, specifically in New York City. The diversity of the Asian American community leads to stereotyping and mythmaking that adversely affect students and schools. The authors conducted interviews with students, parents, and school staff about the experiences of Asian Americans in schools and the community. The authors make some broad recommendations about: academics, informal education, parent involvement, and community participation.

Findings:
The sheer diversity in ethnicities, languages, cultures, and experiences represented among Asian Americans creates many myths and misunderstandings. The stereotype of the model Asian minority denies the reality that there are struggling and undeserved students. Emotional and academic needs of Asian American students are easily overlooked.

Policy Recommendations:

DEVELOP CULTURAL COMPETENCY

1. School and regional staff, from superintendents to teachers to security officers, need to be prepared to work with the Asian American community. Training on the diversity in the Asian American community, cultural influences, and barriers to accessing services is imperative.
IMPROVE DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

2. Schools, regional divisions and central offices must ensure proper collection of demographic data of all students and make disaggregated data on communities available. Only with a proper understanding of the needs of Asian American students can proper services and programs be planned.
ELIMINATE LANGUAGE BARRIERS

3. Schools must ensure language needs of students and parents are properly assessed. It is necessary that special attention is paid to dialects and written languages. To assist in efficient access to translation and interpretation services, a centralized resource bank of such services must be developed.
4. The Department of Education must create additional dual language programs in other Asian languages. Not only do dual language programs foster fluency in English, but in another language as well.
KEEP PARENTS INFORMED

5. Parents must be informed of the new curriculum, introduced to different strategies of teaching, and directed to where they can find resources to help support their children in their learning.

1. Schools need to take a proactive approach to promoting positive identity formation that includes a healthy ethnic identity
2. Schools need to offer opportunities for students to interact and learn from each other. This might include mentoring programs, planning of heritage months and other efforts to foster inclusiveness.
3. All schools, but especially those with large Asian American populations, need to be inclusive of Asian Americans in their curriculum such as placing Asian American authors on reading lists, taking excerpts from Asian American works to be used in lessons, and having books on Asian Americans and books written by Asian Americans on the shelves in school libraries.
PREVENT ANTI-ASIAN HARASSMENT AND VIOLENCE

4. Schools should start anti-bullying programs in the elementary school grades and offer peer mediation programs for higher grades.

1. All schools must assess how welcoming and accessible schools are to parents, especially immigrant and limited English proficient parents.
2. All schools should have orientation for new parents and teach them about ways to be involved.
IMPROVE THE USE OF PARENT COORDINATORS

3. The Department of education needs to establish standards for the allocation of an appropriate number of parent coordinators per school that is based on workload (the ratio between the number of families to every one parent coordinator) as well as language and cultural needs.

1. Asian American community based organizations that work with schools with a large Asian American population should be involved in school planning through School Leadership Teams.
2. Improve collaborative partnerships between schools and community based organizations will result from sharing goals on student performance and maintaining regular communication between schools and organizations.
3. Private foundations and government agencies need to increase grant opportunities for school and community based organization partnerships.
4. Schools need to access support and resources from those community based organizations that are knowledgeable of the ethnic communities in their schools.

• Link to Resource Page (Full Report Available)

To order a hard copy of the report, contact:

The Coalition of Asian American Children & Families
50 Broad St.
Suite 1701
New York, NY 10004
Phone: 212.809.4675
Fax: 212.785.4601

*Note: To download report, enter your name and email in the log-in screen. Email addresses will not be shared or added to any email lists.

Not a Great Beginning to the School Year: Despite New Regulation Immigrant Parents Still Face Major Language Barriers

by Advocates for Children of New York and The New York Immigration Coalition

Advocates for Children of New York and The New York Immigration Coalition. (2006, September). Not a Great Beginning to the School Year: Despite New Regulation Immigrant Parents Still Face Major Language Barriers. New York, New York: Advocates for Children of New York.

Topics Covered: Access, Equity, and Adequacy; Parent Outreach;

Tags: Parent Involvement and Outreach / PTA; Rights, Parents;

Target Population: Preschool, Elementary school, Middle school, High School

Research Questions the Report Poses: How effective was the New York City Chancellor's Regulation A-663 in providing translated materials to immigrant parents?

Summary: Half of the students in the New York City school system, the "largest and most diverse" system in the country, come from homes where English is not the primary language. Department of Education Chancellor Joel Klein put into place Regulation A-663 which required school materials to be available in both English and the next eight most prevalent languages in the school system. Upon investigation of 13 of 15 registration centers before the 2006-2007 school year started, the study finds that the centers were in various states of preparedness. Many centers, says the report, were not adequately prepared and lacked foreign language materials in any language other than Spanish. Some of the most important school documents were only available in English. The report concludes that while the regulation was an important "step in the right direction" more has to be done to make sure that schools follow through with adherence to the policy.

Findings:

• 13 of 15 registration centers were investigated and most were found to be unprepared to offer parents materials related to their children's education in any language other than English.
• Many parents were unaware that they were entitled to receive educational materials in a language that they were most comfortable with

Policy Recommendations:

• Better advertisement of the regulation to parents so that they know that they are entitled to receive materials in a language that they are most comfortable with
• Follow through with various schools and registration centers to make sure that the regulations are being followed through with and not paid lip service.

• Link to Full Report

To order a hard copy of the report, contact:
Advocates for Children of New York
151 West 30th Street — 5th Floor
New York, NY 10001
E-Mail: info@advocatesforchildren.org
Phone: (212)-947-9779
Fax: (212)-947-9790

Pre-K and Latinos: The Foundation for America's Future

Garcia, E.E., Gonzales, D.M. (2006). Pre-K and Latinos: The Foundation for America's Future. Pre-K Now Research Series: Washington, DC.

Topics Covered: Access, Equity, and Adequacy; Data (Demographics, Facts, and Figures); Literacy and Reading / Writing Instruction; Literacy and Reading / Writing Instruction; Early (Pre-K); Parent Outreach;

Tags: Bilingual Instruction; Bilingualism / Biliteracy; Latino ELL Students; Parent Involvement and Outreach / PTA; Reading;

Summary:

Latino families care about education, but many do not participate in preschool programs. Although Latinos are at great risk for school failure, research shows that they benefit more from Pre-K programs than children of other ethnic groups. This report from Pre-K Now discusses how to make preschool effective and accessible so that all Latino children get a strong foundation for learning.

• Download full report (128KB PDF)*
• Download Executive Summary in Spanish (7KB PDF)*

Recognition and Response: An Early Intervening System for Young Children At-Risk for Learning Disabilities

by Mary Ruth Coleman, Virginia Buysse, and Jennifer Neitzel / FPG Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Coleman, M.R., Buysse, V. & Neitzel, J. (2006). Recognition and Response: An early intervening system for young children at-risk for learning disabilities. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, FPG Child Development Institute: Chapel Hill, NC.

Topics Covered: Best Teaching Practices / Professional Development;

Tags: Comprehension; Instructional Programs; Intervention; Parent Involvement and Outreach / PTA; Phonics; Phonological Awareness; Struggling Readers; Transfer of Literacy Skills;

Target Population: Preschool, Elementary

Research Questions the Report Poses: How can a "Recognition and Response" system be integrated into classrooms to identify struggling students who may have learning disabilities and get them the help they need?

Summary:

Some young children show signs that they may not be learning in an expected manner, even before they begin kindergarten. These children may exhibit problems in areas such as language development, phonological awareness, perceptual-motor abilities, and attention, which are considered precursors of learning disabilities in older children. However, under current state and federal guidelines, these children are unlikely to meet eligibility criteria for having a learning disability. This is because formal identification of a child's learning disability generally does not occur until there is a measurable discrepancy between the child's aptitude and academic achievement, often not until the second or third grade.

This report describes a method of addressing those warning signs immediately.

Findings:

• There is an "emerging body of empirical evidence" that RTI is effective at identifying "at-risk" students.
• Despite the general effectiveness of RTI, the manner of implementation, the definition of RTI, and the way students were evaluated varied widely.
• Many studies of RTI only include grades 1-3. This leaves doubt as to how the program could be implemented with children as young as three or four.
• Because the studies examined in this report only examined RTI when used with reading and phonics, it remains to be seen how effective RTI could be with other subjects.

Policy Recommendations:

• Further develop the Recognition and Response system by (a) specifying in more detail each of the four components (i.e., an intervention hierarchy; screening, assessment, and progress monitoring; research-based curriculum, instruction, and focused interventions; a collaborative problem-solving process for decision-making) and (b) creating the tools and resources related to implementing each component.
• Evaluate the efficacy and effectiveness of the Recognition and Response system through future research.
• Use professional development as the primary vehicle for disseminating information about the Recognition and Response system to front line early childhood professionals—teachers, specialists, and administrators.
• Develop and evaluate dissemination strategies (consisting of print, electronic, and oral presentation methods) to communicate information about the Recognition and Response system with a wide audience that includes parents of young children, researchers, policy makers, and the general public.
• Develop (or adapt) existing public policies related to program standards and professional competencies to support the widespread adoption and implementation of the Recognition and Response system throughout various sectors of the early childhood field (e.g., child care centers and homes, public and private pre-k programs, Head Start).

• Go to Executive Summary
• Download full report (130KB PDF)*

To order a hard copy of the report, contact:
n/a

School and Parent Interaction by Household Language and Poverty Status: 2002-03

by National Center for Education Statistics; Enyeart, Christine; Diehl, Juliet Hampden-Thompson, Gillian; Scotchmer, Marion

Enyeart, Christine; Diehl, Juliet Hampden-Thompson, Gillian; Scotchmer, Marion. (2006). "School and Parent Interaction by Household Language and Poverty Status: 2002-03." U.S. Department of Education: National Center for Education Statistics.

Topics Covered: Data (Demographics, Facts, and Figures); Parent Outreach;

Tags: Parent Involvement and Outreach / PTA;

Target Population: Preschool, Elementary, Middle, High School

Research Questions the Report Poses: What are the school-to-home communication practices and opportunities for parent involvement at school as reported by parents of U.S. school-age children from primarily English-speaking and primarily Spanish-speaking households? How do these practices and opportunities relate to household poverty?

Summary: There are differences in the communication practices and opportunities for parent involvement between English-speaking and Spanish-speaking households. A greater percentage of parents in English-speaking households than in Spanish-speaking households had parents who reported receiving personal notes or emails about the student; receiving newsletters, memos or notices addressed to all parents; opportunities to attend general meetings; opportunities to attend school events; and chances to volunteer. In English-speaking households, the amount of communication parents reported receiving decreased as income decreased.

Findings:

• 92% of all parents reported receiving newsletters, memos, or notices from the school or teacher addressed to all parents.
• 92% of parents from English-speaking households and 82% of parents from Spanish-speaking households reported receiving communication addressed to all parents.
• 50% of parents from English-speaking households reported receiving personal notes or e-mails about the student. 40% of parents from Spanish-speaking households reported receiving personal communication about the student.
• Parents in poor English-speaking households were more likely than students in poor Spanish-speaking households to report receiving personal notes or emails (49% to 40%)
• There are differences in communication practices for English-speaking households across poverty levels.
• Reports of opportunities for parent involvement differed by household language except in the case of parent-teacher conferences.
• Parents from poor households were less likely to report that the school had opportunities for parent involvement than students from non-poor households.

Policy Recommendations:
The report did not provide policy recommendations.

• Link to Full Report

To order a hard copy of the report, contact:
Call 1-877-4ED-PUBS or visit www.edpubs.org