The poverty statistics for children in this country have reached alarming rates with a staggering 16 million children living at or below the poverty line in 2016. The reasons for these conditions are varied and don’t always require families to be out of work. Many of these parents are working, but their wages are too low or their unemployment status too unstable to maintain enough income to cover daily living expenses. For families who aren’t gainfully employed in some capacity, work opportunities are sparse and making an income is a challenge. Other factors, such as inadequate housing, community services, support systems in place, and violent, neglected neighborhoods, contribute to the growing poverty rate in American cities.

A child’s education and well-being are both negatively impacted by impoverished conditions. Academic outcomes are far less successful on average than with children who have access to resources. Their health is also affected, as children in low-income and poor families are more likely to be exposed to cigarette smoke and lead. These families are also food insecure, so children suffer malnutrition. All of these components come together to provide a very steep uphill climb toward academic achievement. Children who do not have access to simple resources for life are also severely disadvantaged when it comes to educational resources. Simple things, such as books, are not available for these children to read, and there are fewer books in the homes of impoverished families. Additional resources from school supplies to adequate transportation for a child to get to school play a role in the obstacles that impoverished families need to navigate.

With more people living in cities than ever before, the disadvantaged have a very difficult time surviving in an environment where so much of the population has migrated. Parents who don’t have sufficient educational preparation to find a good job rely on social services to help, but children living in these conditions have a tough time trying to rise above their situation. In some cases, a high value was never placed on education, so parental involvement is low. For others, parental involvement is a challenge because the parents do have jobs but work long hours to put food on the table. This can also present a similar difficulty for children to pursue an education.

The Latino Family Literacy Project is passionate about being part of the solution against poverty, and has developed an award-winning parent program specifically for Hispanic parents that includes the use of award-winning books.

The Latino Family Literacy Project understands the importance of parental involvement and provides staff training to use a bilingual family reading program. This program will guide teachers to work with students and parents from lower socioeconomic backgrounds to improve reading skills at home. If you’re interested in finding out more information about this program, please plan on attending a workshop or webinar, or schedule one in your area. They offer both online webinar training and in-person workshops. If you would like to preview a few of the books used in the program, please visit Lectura Books Youtube page.

For the latest information regarding parental involvement, visit our Facebook and Twitter. We look forward to hearing from you!

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Despite the media putting a spotlight on some of these opposing views, the influence of parents on a child’s learning is dramatically positive. Even if the parents themselves are unsure of how to help out with homework, their presence can be felt in making sure the child actually finishes it before class. Even this small step can demonstrate large dividends later on. If a child is struggling with their studies, parents can help them learn or find ways to get additional resources involved to ensure their child’s success. The changes in this involvement can be seen in the ways that parents choose to engage with their children. More of them are getting actively involved in helping with homework and incorporating education into family leisure activities, such as going to a museum or theatre to expose children to culture and history. Technology has also become more prevalent in the methods of education, such as mobile devices, software, and online resources that are readily available. Parents often times give their children access to these items and even use them alongside the child to help them learn.

Lectura books provides award-winning multicultural books. These books are a great tool for students and parents of diverse backgrounds. Multicultural stories allow both students and parents to be able to relate to the story and be more inclined to read and retain the information. This encourages more reading and speaking of English at home. Visit Lectura Books Youtube Page to see some of their most popular book titles.

The Latino Family Literacy Project are experts in working with Spanish speaking parents and can train your staff to work specifically with parents of diverse backgrounds at your school. The company offers both online webinar training and in person workshops.

Stay updated with the latest information about parental involvement and follow our Facebook and Twitter pages. We post new information every day.

The post The Changes in Parent Involvement Expectations Over 40 Years appeared first on The Latino Family Literacy Project.

Before kids reach kindergarten age, children’s minds rapidly develop like no other time in human life. One way to bring learning to the forefront of how we support children as a society is to start, fund, and support programs that boost children’s literacy, including those that empower parents and families through giving them books.

In the NYT article, “Helping Children Thrive,” the Harlem Children’s Zone Baby College and Harlem Gems programs are given as exemplary examples of early education programs. These programs have a four-to-one student teacher ratio and teach pre-literacy, French, and social skills. High quality preschool programs help underprivileged children to make up for some of the resources they are lacking, and another example of a literacy program supporting young children is called “Reach Out and Read.”

Through this non-profit program, doctors and nurses give out books to families during young children’s check-ups and remind them of the importance of reading to children. Children receive new books at each check-up, and the Reach Out and Read site shares that, “many Reach Out and Read program sites create literacy-rich environments that include gently-used books for waiting room use and/or volunteer readers to model for parents the techniques of reading aloud to young children.” Many parents may not be able to afford new books for their kids, and those who might not traditionally read to their children at home can benefit from another adult modelling the read aloud process for them.

Reach Out and Read serves 4.5 million children in all 50 states of the U.S. Their research shows that the preschoolers they work with score three to six months ahead of peers on vocabulary tests. This program is important because it directly recognizes children’s literacy as important to their growth and development, and it is powerful because it can reach so many children through doctor’s visits. By linking reading with physical health, the program honors reading as the crucial element to children’s well-being that research has shown it to be.

Lectura Books provides award-winning bilingual books that are a great tool for English Learner students and their parents. The multicultural stories of each book help to engage the parents of ELL students. This encourages more reading and speaking of English at home. Visit their website to see some of their most popular book titles.

The Latino Family Literacy Project are experts in working with Spanish speaking parents and can train your staff to work specifically with Spanish-speaking parents at your school. Attendees can participate via online webinar training and will learn a culturally competent and research-based program to deliver to parents either online or in person at school.

The post Helping Young Children by Reaching Out to Parents with Books appeared first on The Latino Family Literacy Project.

The avenues of communication between teachers and parents are paramount in the successful academic outcomes of a child. Without a healthy back and forth of ideas between both stakeholders, the child could potentially fall through the proverbial cracks where their learning is concerned. Teachers are tasked with educating students during the school day and when children return home it’s the parent that must continue the encouragement of that education by helping them complete their lessons. When it comes to English Language Learners, teachers are often tasked with assisting parents in being a part of the educational process in the home.

This interaction between teacher and parent can proceed in a number of ways and cultural background often plays a role in the successful achievement of that interaction. Teachers who display positive and encouraging personalities are intent on sharing their excitement of the child’s accomplishments in the classroom, in a bid to inform and inspire the parent to get deeply involved in the educational process. However, studies have shown a proclivity for minority parents not to engage in school activities and these parent-teacher relationships are less positive than with those involving Caucasian families.

There are a variety of factors at play here, lower motivations and values placed on education and some of that sentiment may extend to the parents’ own experiences with schooling when they were children. These deep-seated attitudes can form strong barriers to parental engagement in the child’s education. Good personality can certainly be a helpful component in trying to bring the parent into the fold, while providing an inviting atmosphere and multiple methods for opening up the classroom to parents are also crucial to higher success rates in children. But teachers must also be cognizant of the potential for personality clashes that could emerge with one or both parents of a student.

Certain ethnic backgrounds have strong rules and mores that concern education and no matter how much a teacher tries to break through what is perceived as a barrier on his or her end, they may only be doing more harm than good when the parents don’t see that same barrier. In some Hispanic cultures, parents view the teacher as the top authority when it comes to the education of the child. Their lack of involvement isn’t born from disinterest but out of a belief that their opinion on the subject holds less weight than that of the educator. Teachers who press the issue of trying to teach the parents to be more involved in the child’s schooling could risk their actions being misinterpreted in a negative fashion and this could lead to a clash of personality between the two parties. Unfortunately, it’s the child who suffers most in that instance and teachers must be well-versed in the potential pitfalls that exist with parents of ELL’s and adjust their own personalities accordingly when trying to teach parents how to be more involved in their child’s learning.

If you or anyone you know is interested in implementing a parent involvement program please visit The Latino Family Literacy Project. This company understands the importance for parent involvement and has developed an award-winning program for teachers to provide to parents at their schools. If you would like to find out more information they also offer online Webinar training and in person workshops.

The post Building Positive ELL Parent – Teacher Relationships appeared first on The Latino Family Literacy Project.

There is little debate that a parent’s engagement in a child’s learning is highly beneficial. A number of studies have shown the extent of the positive impacts that healthy parental involvement can provide with marked improvements in attendance, behavioral patterns, and social skills, as well as better grades and test scores, resulting in higher graduation rates. But distinguishing the type of relationship that provides the most benefit can be a bit more difficult to fully ascertain, as the term “parental involvement” can have many different meanings and applications for a student’s progress. For most parents, attending parent/teacher meetings is the most common method of demonstrating some form of involvement in their child’s learning, but there must be a nurturing alliance between parents and educators as both parties work in concert for the positive outcomes of the child. This can be found in a number of collaborative strategies that include volunteering, routine avenues of communication, and a shared effort for decision-making so that all stakeholders have equal input in school policy and educational content. This helps to foster stronger bonds with the child at both school and home between all concerned parties to help improve learning. Teachers work with students during the day to impart curriculum and parents continue the successful achievement of students by taking an interest in their studies, assisting them with homework and ensuring that all such work is finished and ready for the next day’s classes.

Lectura Books offers award-winning bilingual books that are a great tool for English Language Learners. The books are written in both English and Spanish and focus on important vocabulary. This will help ELL students succeed with language acquisition no matter what grade level.

If you liked this blog post, check out our Facebook and Twitter page to stay updated. We frequently post relevant information related to ELLs.

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