Making Connections with Parents of English Learners: Promoting Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Classrooms

Parents of English learners (ELs) must navigate new waters as their children enter schools in the US. These families are wonderful resources for their students’ education, but they may not know the norms of the new educational environment. Educators in the US tend to want parents to be involved in schools but feel that these families are distant. To bridge the gap of understanding between these groups, a survey was created and administered to 90 parents of ELs. The survey aimed to discover how parents of ELs supported their children’s learning at home and in the community. The findings were used to inform teachers about how parents of ELs view their children’s education with the goal of producing optimal collaboration between parents and teachers to promote EL students’ success. The results showed that parents were involved in ways that can be enlightening to both teachers and teacher educators.