Learning the Language

Schools should be taking steps to get parents of English-language learners involved in their children's education despite the significant challenges, says a new policy brief from the researchers at Arizona State University. Doing so will help ELL students overcome the isolation many feel and give non-English speaking parents tools to help their children succeed in school.

The paper, "Promoting ELL Parental Involvement: Challenges in Contested Times," describes programs that have bridged the language and cultural issues that often prevent schools and parents of ELL children from working together.

"It is very important to identify practices that may improve ELL parental involvement and thus student achievement," authors M. Beatriz Arias and Milagros Morillo-Campbell write.

The paper is available from ASU's Education Policy Research Institute and Education and the Public Interest Center at the Colorado University at Boulder.