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.

Parental involvement is one of the core components that have been shown to provide a healthy and positive effect on the academic achievement levels of children in grades K-12. The results have been almost unanimous among a variety of studies demonstrating improved grades and exam scores, high attendance and graduation rates, and advanced behavioral skills among students whose parents play a proactive role in their child’s study habits. It’s a simple fact that the more a parent is involved in the academic progress of a student, the better that student will perform in school.

Unfortunately, not every child is equipped with this helpful support system to ensure their success. This is why it’s critical that schools enact some form of involvement program to get parents engaged in their child’s education and promote active participation in any capacity. Encouragement can come in many forms and leading experts in the field of education have defined the most common and effective methods of involvement can take place both outside of the classroom and within the confines of campus.

Parenting at home has proven to show some of the most significant impacts on a child’s achievement as reading to the child and assisting with homework have both shown to be impactful and productive. Parents who maintain routine communication with teachers and administrators have also proven influential in the performance of their children along with parents who volunteer in and around the school. However, school meetings and parent-teacher conferences are still the most popular and best attended method for parental involvement. A 2007 study found that 78% of parents surveyed participated in a parent-teacher conference and 74% showed up to a class or school function. The same survey determined that parental involvement was greater with children in grades K-8 than it was with students in high school.

The Latino Family Literacy Project provides training for award-winning parent involvement programs. The focus is for both students and parents to engage in family reading to increase bilingual literacy skills. The program uses multicultural bilingual books written in both English and Spanish from award-winning publisher Lectura Books. Here is a testimonial video a school that has implemented this program and talk about the success they’ve had.

If you’re interested in the latest information regarding parent involvement visit our Facebook page. We look forward to hearing from you!

The post How Does Parent Involvement Affect Student Achievement? 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.

Kids at schools across America are learning English at faster rates than their non-English speaking parents and some kids may have surpassed their parents own educational attainment, which sometimes makes it challenging for parents to help their children with school homework, or even participate at their child’s school. Many parents may not feel like they have a role at the school.

Dr. Stephen Krashen has researched and published work about Second Language Acquisition and particularly in bilingual communities. http://www.sdkrashen.com

Language and Literacy in the ELL population is diverse and complex, but by far, the largest number of English learners is lead by Spanish speakers with more than 82% of all English Learners.

The Latino Family Literacy Project brings out the best in parents and shows them how they can help their children with reading, using their own skill set, and then provides them with meaningful opportunities for parental engagement and second language acquisition.

Teachers are invited to attend a workshop or webinar to help them understand the fastest growing population in America, and the largest segment of the ELL population.

If a teacher does not speak Spanish, try to attend a workshop or webinar with another teacher or staff who does speak Spanish to work together as a team because there is a role for everyone for a successful parent program!

The post Learning a Second Language appeared first on The Latino Family Literacy Project.

This has been the bedrock strength of this country and we can’t afford to lose it. Children model their parents and it’s up to parents and teachers to show children the beauty and power of reading. If you can read, you can do almost anything because you can imagine almost anything. The time has come to provide an infrastructure for real parent involvement to provide the necessary skills for parents so they can offer reading and learning opportunities to their children in their homes. The reading routine developed in the home will transfer to the school. Reading is the first educational skill, the first principle and foundation of everything else from math to science to history and to writing.

We can’t afford to wait another generation before we have a true infrastructure for parent involvement and the development of a home reading routine. The time is now. Too many parents are living in survival mode and there’s no time to waste. They need our help to develop the next generation of engineers, scientists, teachers, businesspeople and innovators. It doesn’t have to be difficult or a mystery. It’s simple. That is, once they learn specific strategies about how to do it. It starts with the parents’ attitudes. Reading should always be approached as an enjoyable activity, not a chore.

The Latino Family Literacy Project uses curriculum that is simple to follow, that is based on state standards for reading and meets the parents where they are at now. We also base our curriculum on books that are fun to read, easy to follow and filled with colorful and engaging illustrations. The early years are the most critical years for young children. One of America’s favorite and most beloved presidents, Abraham Lincoln, would read anything he could get his hands on as a child. He particularly loved fables and famously plowed the fields of his family farm with a book in his back pocket.

Oprah Winfrey once said that books were her “pass to freedom.” She grew up on a farm in Mississippi and books showed her that there was a whole world beyond her everyday life. Books opened her eyes to all of life’s possibilities.

Parents can start with what they know and build on their own skills. The key is our support for supporting language and literacy development in the family setting. When children see their parents with books in hand and get to sit in their parents’ lap and turn the pages of a book together, we witness the beginning of reading and a good education. Creating a language rich home environment is The Latino Family Literacy Project’s main goal.

The post The American Tradition of Reading with Our Children appeared first on The Latino Family Literacy Project.