“Talk to me”: Parent–teacher background similarity, communication quality, and barriers to school-based engagement among ethnoculturally diverse Head Start families.

Abstract

Objective: Primary caregivers (e.g., parents, grandparents, other family members) from low-income and ethnically minoritized families tend to face a host of barriers when participating in their children's school activities. Research suggests that demographic match and quality communication between caregivers and teachers could support minoritized families' school-based engagement. This study examined the associations among caregiver-teacher demographic match, caregivers' perceived communication quality with the teacher and caregivers' perceived barriers to school-based engagement. Method: Caregivers (n = 565) from 49 Head Start classrooms completed the parent-report versions of the surveys: Barriers to Family Engagement, reporting resource, cultural/relational, and program/context barriers to school-based engagement; and Family-Teacher Communication, reporting communication quality with their children's lead and assistant teachers (n = 102). Caregivers and teachers also completed demographic surveys to provide information about their family background, such as race/ethnicity, primary language, and education level. Results: Multilevel modeling results showed that among the three demographic match variables (i.e., race/ ethnicity, primary language, formal education), only language match was associated with caregivers' perception of fewer cultural/relational barriers. Latine and Black non-Latine caregivers reported more cultural/relational and program/context carriers than White, non-Latine caregivers. Finally, caregivers who perceived better communication with their children's teachers reported fewer cultural/relational and program/context barriers. Conclusions: Primary language match and high-quality communication between families and teachers appear essential in creating a welcoming preschool environment that could alleviate some of the barriers to engagement typically faced by ethnically minoritized and low-income families. Public Significance StatementPrimary caregivers from low-income and ethnically minoritized families tend to face a host of barriers to participating in their children's school activities. This study showed that when caregivers and teachers speak the same language and parents perceive good quality communication with their child's teachers, they are likely to experience fewer barriers related to culture and program contexts as they participate in their children's preschool program. Findings underscore the need for early childhood education programs to consider culturally responsive ways of connecting with ethnically and linguistically diverse families.

Language and literacy trajectories for dual language learners (DLLs) with different home languages: Linguistic distance and implications for practice.

“…This finding is inconsistent with the extensive evidence that bilingual education supports stronger child-level outcomes for DLLs. It is also inconsistent with recent evidence showing that language match, per se, led to fewer perceived barriers to home-school engagement among caregivers from culturally and linguistically diverse families (Li et al, 2021). However, Cook et al (2023) showed that language match is a complex variable, as children are unlikely to be randomly assigned to a language match condition.…”

Family Support and Academic Performance of Learners

“…This suggests that families frequently engage in communication with their children's teachers, providing substantial support for their academic concerns. Li et al (2021) highlighted that parents and family members, serving as primary caregivers, often encounter obstacles when engaging in conversations with teachers, especially within low-income and ethnic minority households. Parents from low-income households may find it difficult to follow up on their children's academic progress as they are busy working to provide for their families.…”

Teacher perceptions of parent collaboration in multi-ethnic ECEC settings

“…Communication between teachers and parents may be particularly important for DLLs who are simultaneously developing their first language (L1) and their second language (L2) (Gutiérrez et al, 2010), and whose families often face barriers to engaging in ECEC settings (Li et al, 2023). Forming collaborative relationships between teachers and parents of DLLs can link parents' linguistic and cultural expertise with teachers' needs for instructional supports, and teachers can share instructional strategies that in turn support children's school readiness (Sawyer et al, 2017).…”

“…Challenges in the collaboration between teachers and parents can include childrearing disagreements and undermining (Lang et al, 2016), as well as linguistic and cultural differences and asymmetrical power relations (Aghallaj et al, 2020;Norheim and Moser, 2020;Li et al, 2023), as expressed by both parents and ECEC professionals. International studies have indicated that even though ECEC professionals expressed positive attitudes towards parent collaboration and cultural diversity, they reported less support for promoting multilingualism, which might not correspond with the language beliefs of many multilingual families (Slot et al, 2018;Aghallaj et al, 2020;Norheim and Moser, 2020).…”

“…Teacher-parent collaboration can take many different forms. More recent studies have included the aspect of informal communication in teacher-parent collaboration in addition to parental involvement (Fantuzzo et al, 2000), focusing on the overall quality of communication (Li et al, 2023) or the frequency of communication (Perlman and Fletcher, 2012;Swartz and Easterbrooks, 2014;Coelho et al, 2019). In the current study, we wished to know more about how teachers communicate with parents about the topic of dual language development.…”