Examining the Complexity of Family-Professional Partnerships Between Refugee Families and Their Children's Teachers

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 72
  In Roundtable Session: Parent Involvement in Refugee and Immigrant Families

Abstract

In this study, we explored the nuances of family-professional partnership with families from refugee backgrounds and their children’s teachers through interviews with refugee families, their children, their children’s teachers, multilingual liaisons, and administrators. We found that teachers and refugee families both had good intentions for helping children from refugee families succeed in school but made assumptions that negatively affected their collaborative relationship, families needed to navigate literacy needs in order to understand what was happening at school, direct communication seemed to be arbitrary instead of systematic, technology caused an added layer of opacity in communication between families and teachers, and families and teachers had starkly different perceptions about students’ achievement. Implications for practice and research will be discussed.

Authors

• Shana J Haines, The University of Vermont

• Cynthia C. Reyes, The University of Vermont