In Solidarity: Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Family Engagement and Home Learning Program During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic caused serious social disruptions and posed significant challenges to all families, especially immigrant families. Immigrant families who spoke languages other than English and who had young bilingual children faced numerous barriers as they struggled to navigate remote learning with their children without adequate language and technological support. The need to design action plans to mitigate the negative educational impact of the pandemic on immigrant families with young bilingual children was urgent. To address the immediate needs of immigrant families during the first year of the pandemic, this transformative mixed-methods study presents a family engagement and home learning program called the Home Connection. This program was collaboratively designed and implemented to support 20 immigrant families with 42 young bilingual children from the Metro and Greater Boston Areas. Focusing on the development, implementation, and evaluation of the Home Connection program, findings from this study demonstrate how the family participants actively engaged with and positively evaluated the program. These findings also suggest that family and community engagement play a crucial role in creating a more sustainable support system for immigrant families as well as equitable learning experiences for young bilingual children during and after the pandemic.