A More Robust Welcome is Needed for our Immigrant Students and their Families
We were a nation of immigrants long before the recent surge of migrants. As of two years ago, one in four children in U.S. schools was born in another country or had at least one parent who was. Approximately twenty million children in the United States have an immigrant parent, comprising 27 percent of the child population.
Just this past year, thousands of new students have entered public schools in small towns and major cities around the country. Yet schools across the country have not revamped their approaches to engaging with families quickly enough to meet the shifting demographics, with educators too often relying on outdated school-centric models.
Despite our deep differences about immigration policy, it's in everyone's interest to make sure that those who do become our fellow citizens do well. So the question is: how do we make sure they and their children don't become disconnected or alienated in our nation’s schools but instead become successfully woven into these communities?
A Family-Centered Approach
I’ve worked with hundreds of teachers, parents, and school leaders over the last seven years to develop a structure that centers the voices of immigrant families in a way that strengthens the entire school community.
As I outline in my book, On The Same Team, our Families and Educators Together (FET) teams at 28 local schools bring together immigrant families with teachers and school leaders for a collaborative gathering once per month, where immigrant families and school staff connect over dinner, engage in team-building activities, share information that helps families navigate our intricate systems, and engage in candid dialogue that forges trust, sparks mutual learning, and leads to collaborative action.
Here are four core reasons why this family-centered approach is so important:
1. Our schools have many unwritten rules that unintentionally leave underrepresented families on the margins. When we equip families with information about how our schools work, their children are more likely to thrive and the school community feels more cohesive.
2. We need to create spaces for a mostly white workforce that was born in the U.S. to learn how to more effectively collaborate with immigrant and other underrepresented families. When we solicit their input, we’re then able to shift those systems to be more “user-friendly.” For instance, during our FET gatherings, we have learned that many of our immigrant families do not often read the emails sent, but will respond when we send more text messages.
3. Our nation’s schools are a pivotal entry point for immigrant families to access community resources. At each FET meeting, we embed “family learning time,” which informs families around topics such as how to navigate the tech tools for parents, what afterschool clubs are available, and the role that the school counselor plays in supporting students and families’ well-being.
4. There is tremendous value in creating connections between families and a network of support for them that extends beyond the assistance of overstretched educators. At a recent FET gathering, a mother shared that weeks earlier she had crossed the border with her youngest children and felt lost. A mother who shared her background said, “I’ve been at this school for four years. Here’s my number. Call me whenever you have questions!”
We stand at a crossroads, a moment of truth for education. Are we willing to move beyond the types of school-family approaches that we are familiar with? Or do we have the foresight and determination to make this “moment of disruption…a moment of reinvention,” as David Brooks writes.
Partnering more effectively with families through structures like FET teams is one of the keys to addressing many of these challenges and charting a more human-centered approach to improving our education system. Our schools are the gateway to helping these new students and families become a part of our broader communities and creating an inclusive and just society where we can all thrive.