It starts with hello

Many studies have shown that parents' involvement in their child's school has long term effects on student achievement.

But for many immigrant parents--especially those who have recently arrived in the US--there are many barriers to such involvement. Carreon, Drake and Barton identify structural and psychological barriers in their ethnographic study of  immigrant parents in New York. These included.

• Inflexible work schedules and long hours.
• Language barriers with teachers. Child is often the only translator available.
• A devaluing of the type of cultural capital they are bringing to their children (teaching their children to respect authority rather than voice opinion in class).
• Isolation from network of parents who could support them and share information about education system.

Many foundations and policy organizations have developed recommendations for better involving immigrant parents in school; often focusing on making meeting times with teachers flexible, providing translators or translated school materials and offering childcare during meeting times.

But one of most easily implemented recommendations turns out to also be one of the most effective. The Harvard Family Research project reports that making parents feel welcome and valued is critical.  Many immigrant parents felt that the school saw them as liabilities rather than assets and feared humiliation in the school setting. Simple steps such as learning parents names, learning more about their situation and engaging in individualized conversation were shown as effective ways to get and keep parents involved.

On a larger scale, other policy groups pointed toward creating events or classes that would increase parents feeling of partnership with schools and develop peer networks among immigrant parents; as one New York school district did:

"Early in the school year, families meet with teachers for “Parents as Partners Day,” building a two-way partnership between the teachers and families before any problems start. Parents are invited to workshops that focus on the strengths of their culture and the importance of respecting other cultures. They learn techniques to share their culture with their children, such as storytelling or talking about the significance of certain foods and mealtime in their home country. Professionals from the community, such as Judith Rapley, a social worker who is the minister of an Afro-Caribbean church, build relationships with the families and connect them to resources. “We use the parents own cultural values to encourage them to get involved in school,” says project director Esther Calzada