Asset-Framed Teacher Home Visits: Supporting Equity-Oriented Partnerships With Diverse Families

• In Event: Engaging Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Families

Abstract

Home visits create unique opportunities for teachers to learn from children’s lives, families, and communities. Likewise, home visits allow children and families to share their cultural and familial assets within their own contexts. We examined the techniques that teachers used in response to diverse families’ disclosures of pride and vulnerability during home visits, topics that are fertile ground for relationship-building but potentially challenging to navigate. The teachers—all of whom had participated in an asset-framing training prior to visiting—responded to disclosures predominately by validating families, either person-to-person or professional-to-person. About 25% of the time, teachers avoided the disclosure. This work has implications for home visits’ research and for how teachers are prepared to engage in respectful, productive home visiting.

Authors

• Judy Paulick, University of Virginia

• Natalia Palacios, University of Virginia

• Amanda Kibler, Oregon State University

• Melissa Lucas, University of Virginia

• Tatiana Yasmeen Hill, University of Virginia