The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), is a reauthorization of the educational standards set forth through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in 1965. The ESSA puts into place provisions aimed at helping low-income and underprivileged children succeed in school and chief among this legislative groundwork is a sharp focus on the role of parent and family engagement in … Read More
How Culturally Familiar Books Foster Reading with Hispanic Parents
Children connect with stories and themes that they know. If something is recognizable to them in a book, they will often relate to it in a way that draws similarities to the people and events in their own lives. Through this familiarity, reading becomes more enjoyable and serves a stronger purpose towards promoting successful literacy outcomes. Teachers who work with … Read More
How Educators Can Reach Out to Hispanic Parents
Parental involvement is a crucial part of a child’s educational road map. But this can be tougher to achieve for parents of English learner (EL) students. Communication is a large component of effective engagement and it’s up to educators to ensure that a positive discourse is reached between the school and the parents of EL students. There are a variety … Read More
Measuring Parent Engagement for Success
Parent engagement helps students to succeed academically and helps schools to serve students more effectively. Encouraging, assessing, and measuring parent engagement are all important elements of a successful parent engagement initiative. Parent engagement can be measured in various ways; through parent surveys and questionnaires, measurements of attendance counts at family-school events, and assessments of the number and quality of these … Read More
The Link Between a Child’s Learning and a Mother’s Voice
We talk a lot about parental engagement in the development of a child’s education and how the success of progress in school can be attributed, at least in part, to having the parent actively engaged. A mother reading to her child can be an enriching and rewarding experience that has the potential for a positive impact on that child’s learning … Read More
A School Library Can Support ELL Families
Libraries have historically been multi-faceted organizations which offer not only books and media, but access to community programs and cultural experiences. There is now a growing trend in public schools in which school librarians, classroom teachers, and ELL teachers are using the library as a meeting and activity venue for ELL families. It can be challenging for ELL parents and … Read More
3 Ways Bilingual Books Benefit Spanish Speaking Parents
Books that are bilingual are excellent resources for Spanish speaking parents and their children. By including and honoring two languages, these books welcome and invite native Spanish speaking adults to develop their English literacy alongside their children. Here are three ways that bilingual books can serve Spanish speaking parents: Parents Will Learn Vocabulary Along With Their Children: Spanish speaking parents … Read More