Bridging the Digital Divide in Parental Engagement: Trends in Digital Communications between Schools and Immigrant Families

• In Event: Poster Group 10
  In Poster Session: Bridging the Digital Divide in Parental Engagement: Trends in Digital Communications between Schools and Immigrant Families

Proposal

Relevance
Geopolitical trends and climate change have led to an increasing number of immigrant and refugee families navigating new and unfamiliar educational settings for their children. Parental engagement is crucial for students' academic success and behavior in schools. However, for immigrant families, communication and involvement in the school setting can be challenging due to linguistic and cultural differences and unfamiliarity with educational systems. Moreover, the digital divide exacerbates these disparities. This proposal seeks to examine trends in digital communication between schools and immigrant families, focusing on how linguistic, cultural, and racial/ethnic backgrounds influence parental engagement during the early elementary years.
Theory and Context: Previous research has highlighted the impact of geographical disparities, profit-based discrimination, technology deployment costs, and SES on the digital divide. Teachers' biases toward parents from immigrant backgrounds and the prevalence of monolingual habitus in multilingual schools further contribute to communication barriers. Language is a significant barrier to immigrant parental engagement in schools. The school language proficiency of parents shapes their engagement in schools. The mismatch between the linguistic profile of students and schools is a barrier to the educational success of immigrant students (Almerich et al., 2016). Research suggests that immigrant parents overwhelmingly desire to engage with their children’s schooling, despite many barriers they face (Cherng, 2016), which found that race and nativity play an essential role in shaping teacher communication with parents. Furthermore, calls for policy should be cognizant that racial/ethnic and immigrant disparities exist in teacher-parent contact.
Inquiry: The study utilizes data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study's kindergarten class of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:2011). The parent interview datasets from kindergarten to fifth grade were analyzed to assess digital communication trends. The sample includes a nationally representative group of U.S. students from public and private schools. Analyzing the data involved conducting analysis of variance (ANOVA) to compare means and interactions between subgroups.
Findings: The results of the study indicated a persistent digital divide, particularly evident among white English-speaking families who received and responded to digital communication significantly more than other groups. However, differences in digital communication rates were observed based on race, with Black families reporting higher rates of engagement. While differences by SES were statistically significant, the practical effect size was relatively small. Interaction effects between language and SES were not significant, but the interaction between race and poverty status showed a meaningful difference, particularly for white families with low income.
Contribution: The study's findings demonstrate that the digital divide in parental engagement is not solely defined by geographic, racial, or immigration lines. Instead, it involves complex patterns that necessitate a nuanced understanding. Understanding the trends in digital communication between schools and immigrant families is vital for designing effective strategies to promote parental engagement and bridge the digital divide. This conference presentation seeks to contribute valuable insights to educators, policymakers, and researchers working towards inclusive educational practices.

Authors

• Guy Trainin, University of Nebraska Lincoln

• Lydiah Kananu Kiramba, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

• Qizhen Deng, Boise State University