1st Edition

The Home-School Connection Lessons Learned in a Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Community

By Flora V. Rodriguez-Brown Copyright 2009
    192 Pages
    by Routledge

    192 Pages
    by Routledge

    "In this unique contribution to the literature on parental involvement in culturally and linguistically diverse communities, Flora Rodríguez-Brown offers a critique of family literacy programs that lack a clear design for literacy activities relevant to community goals, offering an alternative model that is grounded within an abiding respect for the parents’ role as the child’s first, and ultimately, most important teacher."

    Robert D. Milk, University of Texas, San Antonio

    The Project FLAME program used as context for this book is a comprehensive family literacy model, supported by a strong sociocultural framework based on current research on cultural ways of learning and theories of multiliteracies and discourse. The model highlights the relevance of parents’ knowledge, cultural ways, and discourses in sharing literacy knowledge with their children.

    A pressing need exists for models and programs that effectively serve the educational needs of the steadily increasing numbers of culturally and linguistically diverse students in U.S. public schools today. Addressing issues related to development, implementation, and effectiveness of a program model that fulfills this need, this book is an essential resource for educators, community workers, and researchers interested in the relevance of the home-school connection in relation to children’s school success.

    Part I Parental Involvement and Family Literacy 1 Parental Involvement: Research, Policy, and Resources 2 Family Literacy Part II Project FLAME 3 The Home–School Connection 4 A Sociocultural Framework in Support of Family Literacy Programs 5 Effectiveness of the FLAME Program 6 Program Development, Implementation, and Practice in Family Literacy Part III The School-to-Home Connection 7 Ways to Connect with Community and Home Knowledge 8 Teachers Making Connections 9 Teaching Teachers, Epilogue: Reflections on the Road Travelled

    Biography

    Flora V. Rodríguez-Brown is a Professor in Curriculum and Instruction, and in the Literacy, Language and Culture Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

    "Rodriguez-Brown’s strength in her work is her retrospection and approachable delivery….Home-School Connection would be most useful for graduate students looking to do research on parent involvement and/or home literacies, especially those who are unsure about how theory connects to research methodology. This book could also serve researchers and school administrators who are planning family literacy programs. Teacher-educators may benefit from the numerous examples of teachers using sociocultural frameworks to hear the voice of parents and families."--Education Review, June 2010