Essential Question & Answer Blog 4

How can having an understanding and appreciation for the cultures, backgrounds and values of our students help us as teachers to teach them more effectively?

 

In the article Success in engaging Hispanic parents depends on creating a school culture that welcomes all by Susan Zimmerman-Orozco, Zimmerman-Orozco discusses the challenges and successes of James E. Daly Elementary School in Germantown, Maryland in dealing with the needs of an emerging Hispanic student population. As the Hispanic population began to increase, the school's staff began to realize that if they were going to succeed in properly educating it's Hispanic students that adaptation would need to take place. In fact, as Zimmerman-Orozco points out, the sharp increase in Daly's English language learner (ELL) population has begun to affect the school's academic achievement goals, especially in reading instruction in the primary grades. In the last 10 years, our Hispanic student population has grown from 14 percent to 36 percent. This school year, almost 65 percent of our prekindergarten, kindergarten, and 1st grade students are English language learners, most of them Hispanic. Faced with this reality changes would need to take place in order to better serve the Hispanic population.


Multiple strategies were put into place in order to better understand the backgrounds, circumstances, motivations and needs of the Hispanic students, and to an equal extent, those of their parents. The goal was to to have a comprehensive understanding of the unique challenges within Hispanic community and to then create solutions that would break down the barriers that existed in the achievement of the Hispanic students. In the article Zimmerman-Orozco listed these strategies as can be seen below.

Six Strategies for Enhancing Hispanic Parent Involvement

Remove language barriers between the parents and the schools. Provide culturally sensitive translators. Increase the number of Spanish-speaking school staff. Create a telephone or electronic messaging service to parents in Spanish. Increase written communications in Spanish. Develop a core of Hispanic parent volunteers.

Address economic obstacles that hinder parental involvement. Recognize that economic survival is a primary concern that limits the ability of many parents to attend school meetings. Coordinate with local agencies to support sponsorship and referral systems for Hispanic families and their children. Advocate for local families with various social services agencies.

Schedule activities to make transportation easier for parents Conduct meetings, activities, and workshops in a location parents can reach by public transportation or walking. Ensure that hours of teacher conferences, activities, meetings, and workshops match the hours Hispanic parents are available.

Empower and motivate parents to get involved. Encourage parents to participate and become part of the school governance. Encourage parents to maintain Hispanic culture and language. Invite them to come to class to talk about their home country and experiences.

Promote teacher-parent relations. Take time to listen to parents and respond with an open communication style. Make home visits to parents who cannot come to the schools. Realize that some parents may lack formal education and have difficulty helping their children with school work.

Acknowledge and empower parental aspirations. Actively listen to what inspires and motivates parents and students, and nurture these aspirations. Implement parent training programs. Invite successful Hispanic professionals to school. Offer English language classes for parents. Ensure that the school environment is safe and nurturing for children. Create shared governance among parents, students, and school personnel.


Zimmerman-Orozco, S., (2001) . Success in engaging Hispanic parents depends on creating a school culture that welcomes all. Educational Leadership, 68(2), 64-68.  http://www.ascd.org/publications/
educational-leadership.aspx