CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES AND FAMILY ENGAGEMENT Matt Cregor Kent Smith Milaney Leverson Michelle Belnavis

SETTING THE STAGE - WELCOME Matt Cregor Staff Attorney Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights & Economic Justice

Educators who are culturally competent:  know about their students’ cultural beliefs and practices;  think of all of their students as capable learners, have high expectations for them, and help the students set short and long term goals for themselves;  know each student and draw on the students’ own experiences to help them learn;  have a wide variety of teaching strategies and skills to engage the students;  can help the students deal with the inequitable treatment of students of color and other underserved populations by helping them become critically conscious and knowledgeable about the students' culture; and  can create a bridge between the students’ home and school lives while meeting district and state curricular requirements. Key components of Culturally Responsive Practices

VABB  VALIDATE:  To make legitimate that which the institution and mainstream have made illegitimate  AFFIRM:  To make positive that which the institution and mainstream have made negative  BUILD:  Make connections between home culture and language with the school culture and language  BRIDGE:  Give opportunity for situational appropriateness (code switching) or utilize the appropriate culture or linguistic behaviors

MOVING BEYOND INVOLVEMENT TO ENGAGEMENT  Family Involvement: schools lead with their mouth  Family Engagement: schools lead with their ears  Schools that engage families:  Honor family voice, values, histories, languages, cultures  Allow for and elicit feedback and input during decision making  Partner with families and the community to determine priorities  Allow families ownership (not just the PTO/PTA president)

FAMILY ENGAGEMENT IN SCHOOLS  Increases academic performance of students and schools  Increases family empowerment  Increases collaboration (school/families and within schools)  Improves staff morale  Increases completion rates  Increases trust between families and school staff  CRITICAL at higher tier supports  Increases volunteer pool within the school  Increases diverse voices and perspectives

ANTICIPATE AND PLAN FOR BARRIERS WHEN INVOLVING FAMILIES  Language  Translators  Multi-lingual staff  Work schedules  Vary times when meetings occur  Have families schedule when meetings occur and give staff flexibility  Transportation  Meet outside of schools  Use of technology (i.e. telecommute for family)  DO NOT PERMIT IMMOBILIZATION BASED ON OBSTICLES

FAMILY ENGAGEMENT WITHIN A MULTI-LEVEL SYSTEM OF SUPPORT FRAMEWORK (SCHOOL-WIDE)  Family newsletters: Keep families updated on classroom and school- wide activities  Family subcommittee: Families own and facilitate community building celebrations for PBIS, report and help share data, lesson development  Family counsels: school or grade level teams meet to share data and targets for coming weeks and months and determine overlap and develop lessons for instruction  Student voice: for older students provide opportunity to have student voice show; expectation murals, behavior lessons, acknowledgement systems

FAMILY ENGAGEMENT WITHIN A MULTI-LEVEL SYSTEM OF SUPPORT FRAMEWORK (CLASSROOM)  Star of the day: shares about family and family customs, interests, history  Family of the week: family members come to share a book or activity, custom or traditions with whole class  “Beautiful stuff”: invite families to contribute to learning environments by bringing in material for display and use including music, art, books, etc.  Family experiences linked to study: when topic is presented, use family or community as speakers, learning sites, etc. to enhance the “text book” with family and community connections  In their own words: students document their thoughts through out the day on what is going on in and outside of school

CR FAMILY ENGAGEMENT IN ACTION I AM SOMEBODY! Written By Andreal Davis I Am Somebody! I Am Teachable and Loveable. Therefore I Can Learn. I Can Do Anything When I Try. I’ll Be the Best That I Can Be. Each Day, Each Day, Each Day I will not waste time. Because it is too valuable. And I am too precious and bright. I Am Somebody!

VALIDATE: TO MAKE LEGITIMATE THAT WHICH THE INSTITUTION AND MAINSTREAM HAVE MADE ILLEGITIMATE

Read Your Heart Out!

READ YOUR HEART OUT KENYATTA MOORE-HAWTHORNE PARENT How does READ YOUR HEART OUT …  create a space for family voice, values, histories, languages, cultures?  give some ownership to families (and NOT just the normal PTO/PTA president)

AFFIRM: TO MAKE POSITIVE THAT WHICH THE INSTITUTION AND MAINSTREAM HAVE MADE NEGATIVE

CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT ● Affirming Images - images of students themselves and successful people from their cultures - including youth culture ● Diverse Classroom Libraries - resourcesresources

Hawthorne’s Heritage

BUILD: MAKE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN HOME CULTURE AND LANGUAGE WITH THE SCHOOL CULTURE AND LANGUAGE

PERSONAL DICTIONARY AND THESAURUS

Cultural Library Children can see themselves in a book.

BRIDGE: GIVE OPPORTUNITY FOR SITUATIONAL APPROPRIATENESS (CODE SWITCHING) OR UTILIZE THE APPROPRIATE CULTURE OR LINGUISTIC BEHAVIORS

VALIDATING AND AFFIRMING, BUILDING AND BRIDGING My Mamma Said The Late Rita Pierson educates us on:  Starting to build and bridge by where the students are at  Everyone comes to schools having been taught to fluency  One teaching of expectations at the start of the year cannot compete with continuous and consistent expectations for behavior, in home, school and community environments

WRAPPING IT UP