Literacy Matters - Winter 2020

Contributing to Literacy Through Home-school Communication

by Kathy R. Fox, Marissa Hungate, & Jennifer Veltri

“I love the kids but it’s their parents I’m scared of. Parent confer- ences start next week and my partnership teacher said I have to lead at least half of them. I’ve never been in charge of talking to a parent before.” 4th-year student speaking to peers in seminar class This statement from a preservice teacher in her final weeks of an internship is typical of many preservice and beginning teachers’ feelings about teacher caregiver communication. [For this article, the term caregiver refers to parents, grandparents, foster parents and all other adult caregivers in the home.] While research consistently emphasizes the importance of connecting school and family literacy practices, new teachers may feel unprepared to share information about their students and their classroom practices with caregivers. This article explores forms of teacher-caregiver communication opportunities that lay the groundwork for a bi-directional literacy connection between the classroom and the home. Some communication platforms may be required by the school as standard practice, as in the parent-teacher conference, the preservice teacher anticipated in the comment above. An ongoing communication method may also be required, such as a schoolwide and/or individual teacher webpage. Still, other forms of communication may be unique to one teacher, grade-level, or school. Teacher educators must be informed about the variety of successful teacher-caregiver communication methods in current practice to prepare our preservice teachers to work with caregivers as partners in school and home literacy practices before they face that initial teacher- caregiver conference. Additionally, teacher educators must provide a rationale for students of why ongoing school-home communication is essential in promoting literacy both in the home and school. As teacher educators and beginning teachers, we ask, “What authentic and meaningful communication methods do current teachers use to inform and engage caregivers in classroom literacy practices and promote a school-home partnership?” Introduction Three concerns must be addressed for school to home communication to be a mutually beneficial (Gary &Witherspoon, 2011) or bi-directional process (Fox, 2016). First, teachers, in general, say they are unprepared to communicate and engage with caregivers (MetLife Survey, 2006). Second, many approaches to communication with families emphasize a deficit viewpoint of African American and Latinx achievement (Gary &Witherspoon,) and caregiver involvement in these communities (Page, Sullivan, & Thomas, 2011). Third, as an underlying element of the first two, engaging caregivers in school practices has consistently

been proven to promote literacy achievement of the child, regardless of demographic and socioeconomic factors, although communication and engagement opportunities are not equally accessible due to a variety of factors, such as language barriers, transportation and childcare needs, and socioeconomic factors (Hornby & Lafele, 2011). Thus practicing a method for reliable, respectful, and useful teacher-caregiver communication is key to a successful bi-directional relationship from school to home and back again. To address these three issues in school-home communication, preservice and beginning teachers must be given information enabling them to engage with the diverse demographic of children and families which they will encounter across their classroom, school, and professional lives. The International Literacy Association (ILA) emphasizes partnerships to build relationships between families, communities, and schools as a key to enhance students’ literacy learning (International Literacy Association, 2018 ). The ILA includes recommendations to promote literacy, teacher educators, classroom teachers, and school administrators, and teachers must be made aware of the importance of family-school connections and work to forge partnerships with the caregivers of all children. Preservice and beginning teachers should be provided with information to build an understanding of the benefits of caregiver involvement while understanding the potential for cultural and lifestyle barriers for caregivers. Exploring ways to build on caregiver diversity in the classroom, at the school site, and in the home requires an effort from teacher education programs, school administrators, and teachers to build cultural competency. Cultural competence can be defined as a set of values, behaviors, attitudes, and practices within a system, organization, program, or among individuals and which enables them to work effectively cross-culturally (Gay, 2000). Further, it refers to the ability to honor and respect the beliefs, language, interpersonal styles, and behaviors of individuals and families receiving services, as well as the staff who are providing such services. Striving to achieve cultural competence is a dynamic, ongoing, developmental process that requires a long-term commitment (Denboba, 1993). Including capacity building for cultural competency in the curriculum is a needed perspective in teacher education programs, no matter the student population preservice teachers anticipate teaching and what the background of the preservice teacher may be (Brown, 2007). When teachers are given tools to build cultural competence early on in their training, they build an additive approach to working with families across diverse demographics. More culturally competent teachers contextualize children’s everyday school experiences with out- of-school experiences and knowledge. By bringing families into

Reading Matters Research Matters

| 34 | Literacy Matters | Volume 20 • Winter 2020 | scira.org

CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS