Engaging Culturally & Linguistically
Diverse Families in Education Presented by
Vito Borrello,
Executive Director, NAFSCE
WELCOME
Susan Shaffer, President, MAEC,
Executive Director, Mid-Atlantic Equity
Center, Board Chair & Founding Partner of
NAFSCE
The NAFSCE Mission & Vision
Mission: Advancing high-impact policies and
practices of family, school and community
engagement to promote child development and
improve student achievement.
Vision: A world where family engagement is
universally practiced as an essential strategy for
improving children’s learning, and advancing equity.
NAFSCE Progress
Launched our website, www.nafsce.org
Launched Founding Membership campaign
Hiring Director of Capacity Building Programs
Received 2 year $500,000 funding commitment from Heising-
Simons Foundation
Enhancing future NAFSCE Network Meetings
Happy Birthday to NAFSCE!
Pamela Higgins Harris, Senior Educational
Equity Advisor, Mid-Atlantic Equity Center
Vision: MAEC envisions a day when all
students have equitable opportunities to
learn and achieve at high levels.
Mission: MAEC’s mission is to promote
excellence and equity in education to
achieve social justice.
Core Values:
Excellence
Equity
Integrity
Innovation
Synergy
The Center is one of ten equity
assistance centers funded by the
U.S. Department of Education
under Title IV of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964. The Center provides
technical assistance and training to
school districts in the areas of:
• Race
• Gender
• National Origin/English
Language Learning
The Mid-Atlantic Equity Assistance Center
Please text in a response:
Q 1: What is one thing you know about
engaging culturally and linguistically diverse
families?
Please text in a response:
Q 2: What is one thing you still want to learn?
© Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium, Inc. 2013.
10
Social Cultural Identities
Identity Wheel
Ability Developmental
Emotional Physical
Interpersonal Socialization
Age
Home Language
Gender
Ethnicity
Race
Religion
Spiritual Affiliaton
Sexual
Orientation
The Cultural Proficiency Continuum
Cultural Destructiveness
Cultural Incapacity
Cultural Pre-competence
Cultural Competence
Cultural Proficiency
See the difference, stomp it
out See the difference, make it
wrong See the difference, act like
you don’t See the difference, respond
inadequately
Cultural Blindness
See the difference, understand
the difference that difference
makes See the difference, respond
positively and affirming Adapted from:: Cultural Proficiency for School Leadership by Lindsey, Robins & Terrell, 2009
CONTRASTING CULTURAL VALUES
Source: Adapted from Kohls, L.R. (1984). The Values Americans Live By.
Washington, D.C.: Meridian House International.
Family Group Emphasis; Sharing
Cooperation; Interdependence
Democratic Orientation; Egalitarian
Extended Family; Flexible Roles
Indirectness; Saving Face Ritual
Patience ; Honesty; Harmony
Personal Interaction Dominates
Individual Emphasis; Privacy
Competition, Independence
Authoritarian Orientation
Nuclear Family; Rigid Roles
Directness; Open Honesty
Assertiveness
Adherence to Time Dominates
Assumptions Cultural Incompatibility Miscommunication Misunderstanding Inequitable Treatment Alienation Disengagement Gaps in Participation Lack of Success Oppositional Coping Behaviors
Downward Spiral – Deficit Based
Dynamics to Prevent
Upward Spiral Mindset
Seeking to understand
Cultural Compatibility
Positive Communication
Mutual Understanding
Equitable Treatment
Safety & Inclusiveness
Authentic Engagement
Active Participation
Access & Support for Success
Positive Supports
Student Perspectives
The school gives my family ways to know
about my work and my relationships at
school. I know because ________.
I feel my teachers respect me and know how
to care about me . I can tell because
they______________
The school really tries to make me feel like a
belong even though my background may be
different from the school. They do things
like_________.
Family Perspectives
The provides family members with
adequate information about the academic
program in a language that I can
understand. I get information
about_________.
I feel that teachers respect me as a
parent/caretaker at my child’s school. I can
tell because____
The school makes a special effort to reach
out to families from all racial, cultural and/or
language groups. They do things like____
School Culture and Climate
A Guide for Culturally Responsive Environment
The 2016 Annual Conference Ensuring that Every Student Matters
Save the Date!
Presenter RFP is now open
Submit your proposal by November 6, 2015 at: http://www.maec.org/conference/presenters.html
Learn more about the conference at www.maec.org/conference
Follow us on twitter: @maec4education #MAEConf2016, #MAEC4equity
Engaging Families to Advance Language Development for Young
English Learners through Conversations around Science in Multiple
Contexts and Languages
Jess Gropen,
Senior Research Scientist
Jessica Wildman,
Family and Community
Engagement Specialist
• Investing in Innovation Fund (i3)
Project – Development Grant
• Hartford Foundation for Public Giving,
William Caspar Graustein Memorial
Fund, Hartford Public Schools
• 4 year project (2014 - 2018)
• Hartford, Connecticut
• Young English Language Learners
(PreK, Kindergarten, 1st Grade)
Improved literacy and academic outcomes
for English Learners (ELs) in Hartford, CT
Integrated program of
supports for ELs,
across contexts,
grades,
and content domains
Increased system-
wide capacity
Model and
recommendations for
state-wide scale up
PD and
Supports for
Coaches
Family
Supports
Overarching
Goal
Short & Long
Term Goals
Key
Components Leadership
Alliance
Professional
Development
(PD) for
teachers
Research
Conversations
(Dickinson & Tabors, 2002)
Conceptual
Transfer
(Barsalou, 2012 Cummins, 2007; Kroll
& De Groot, 2005; Pavlenko, 2009)
Shared Context
(Smith & Vela, 2001)
LASErS Family and Community Engagement (FaCE) Model
LASErS Family and Community Engagement (FaCE) Model
LASErS Family and Community Engagement (FaCE) Model
LASErS Family and Community Engagement (FaCE) Model
Implementation Challenges & Next Steps
Implementation Challenges
Coordination
Buy-in
Participation
School Culture
Next Steps
2015-16 in a Nutshell
Data Collection
Future Years
CONTACT INFORMATION
Pamela Higgins Harris, Senior Educational Equity Advisor, MAEC
O: 301-657-7741 ext. 113
Jess Gropen, Senior Research Scientist, EDC
O: 617-618-2455
Jessie Wildman, Family, School, and Community Engagement
Specialist
O: 860-278-6360
Next NAFSCE Meeting
NAFSCE Networking Meeting
Featuring:
Ready to Learn
Save the Date: Wednesday,
October 28th, 2015 from 3-
4:30PM EST
Become a NAFSCE
partner, by going to:
http://nafsce.org/get-
involved/#become-a-
partner
Thanks to our host for NAFSCE Networking Meetings: National Education Association
& Our Generous Funders:
Heising-Simons Foundation and The David and Lucille Packard Foundation
References
Barsalou, L. W. (2012). The Human Conceptual System. In M. Spivey, K. McRae, & M. Joanisse (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook
of Psycholinguistics (pp. 239–258). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Cummins, J. (2005). Teaching for Cross-Language Transfer in Dual Language Education : Possibilities and Pitfalls. In TESOL
Symposium on Dual Language Education: Teaching and Learning Two Languages in the EFL Setting (pp. 1–17). Istanbul, Turkey:
Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.tesol.org/connect/tesol-resource-
center/page/26/
Cummins, J. (2007). Introduction. In Bilingual education. Vol. 5. International Encyclopedia of Language and Education (2nd ed.,
Vol. 5, pp. xi–xiv). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Cummins, J. (2008). Teaching for transfer: Challenging the two solitudes assumption in bilingual education. In J. Cummins & N. H.
Hornberger (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Language and Education, 2nd Edition, Volume 5: Bilingual Education. (2nd ed., Vol. 5, pp. 65–
75). New York: Springer Science + Business Media LLC. doi:10.1007/978-0-387-30424-3_116
Dickinson, D., & Tabors, P. (2002). Fostering language and literacy in classrooms and homes. Young Children, 57(2). Retrieved
from http://www-tc.pbs.org/teacherline/courses/rdla170/docs/fostering_language.pdf
Johnson-Laird, P. N. (1983). Mental Models. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Kroll, J. F., & De Groot, A. M. B. (2005). Handbook of Bilingualism: Psycholinguistic Approaches. (J. F. Kroll & A. M. B. De Groot,
Eds.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Pavlenko, A. (2009). Conceptual Representation in the Bilingual Lexicon and Second Language Vocabulary Learning. In The
Bilingual Mental Lexicon (pp. 125–161). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Smith, S. M., & Vela, E. (2001). Environmental context-dependent memory : A review and meta-analysis. Psychonomic Bulletin &
Review, 8(2), 203–220.