Las Charlas: A Culturally Sustaining Approach to Latinx Immigrant Family Engagement

• In Event: AERA Graduate Student Research-in-Progress Session 4
  In Roundtable Session: Family Engagement and Home-School Dissonance Among Chinese and Latinx Students (Table 7)

Abstract

Family engagement has been shown to have positive impacts on children's academic achievement; however, Latinx immigrant families have historically faced deficit views of their parenting and approaches to education and face multiple barriers to equitable and meaningful collaboration with schools. This study concerns an ethnographic case study of a unique family engagement program voluntarily created by four women educators of color. They intended to take a culturally sustaining approach to family engagement. The study revealed many benefits for the families, the organizers and community members, but also highlighted tensions created by the organizers' "tough love" approach. The study gives insights into what is required for a culturally sustaining approach, as well as obstacles educators face in combatting institutional barriers.

Author

• Noah Veloz, Boston University