Pillar 2: Las Familias son Partners, Leaders and Advocates

• In Event: Building and Sustaining una Escuela Bilingüe: Pillars as Anchors of Practice

Abstract

Objectives: The familia pillar focuses on forming and maintaining strong home-school partnerships to support the academic and socioemotional development of every child. This is done by building a community that links home and school and values each, individually and collectively. This paper shows how Entre Mundos creates structures to center familias within the school community, and to ensure those who are minoritized, immigrants, and/or Spanish speakers are heard and seen.

Theoretical Framework: Within a bilingual school, the bridge between home and school is fortified as the home languages and cultures of families are integral in teaching and learning. The familia pillar considers issues of power and works to elevate the voices of those who tend to be overshadowed by those with louder and more privileged voices (Chávez-Reyes, 2010). The home-school partnerships build from and are responsive to and inclusive of the realities of students’ home lives and the funds of knowledge that they bring to school (Moll et al., 1992). Such a community requires strong two-way structures that are taught, maintained, and revisited to ensure families have full access to student learning, school activities, and resources for schooling and beyond.

Modes of Inquiry & Data Sources: A self-study approach that allowed stakeholders to reflect upon and evaluate the impact of the Entre Mundos’s practices (LaBoskey, 2004). Specifically, families - in partnership with educators - analyzed how familias are partners, leaders and advocates with a focus on those whose voices are marginalized in U.S. schools.

Results: Two hallmark traditions have built and maintained a home-school bridge. The home visit for all kindergarteners and news students at Entre Mundos allows the staff to get to know the families and gain insight into their lives while sharing information about the school. Family Fridays is a regular opportunity for families to visit their child's classroom while they can meet other parents, their children's classmates and experience how the teacher interacts with the class. They are a powerful way to bring in the linguistic and cultural backgrounds of families and delve deeper into their history, identities, and connections.

The Parent Association (PA) at Entre Mundos takes on a unique configuration to integrate the bilingual approach of the school and the hesitancy of certain family members to take on leadership roles due to language, immigration status and/or limited formal education. Each PA position has two members, one who is dominant in Spanish and the second in English or bilingual. One member takes on the official role and the second is in training to better understand the role to build up confidence to serve the following year.

Significance of the Study: The gentrification of dual language programs across the country has brought to light issues of power, access, and resource hoarding that are certainly not absent from Entre Mundos (Delavan et al., 2021). This makes building an inclusive school community even more important and challenging. However, when done in a concerted effort it can cultivate a meaningful education for each child and subsequently their family.

Authors

• Consuelo Villegas, New York City Department of Education

• Yesenia Moreno, New York City Department of Education

• Tatyana Kleyn, City College of New York - CUNY