Promoting Parental Engagement Amongst ELLs

Abstract

This capstone aims to explore how teachers can create a warm and welcoming environment that encourages parental engagement. Research shows that parental involvement is a key aspect to student success. Parents of ELLs often face many challenges such as language barriers, lack of communication, and an overall lack of resources. Educators can provide the assistance needed to ensure parents feel welcomed, and supported in ways that cultivate collaboration. Teachers can shift their mindset by including parents into the classroom to join in on student learning. Teachers can also aid in providing the resources parents may need to become actively engaged. This capstone contains a professional development (PD) which informs educators and parents of the importance of student engagement and provides strategies for both parties for fostering meaningful communication and support. Furthermore, the PD features resources that parents can utilize to aid in any barriers that have that would prevent them from engagement. The end result of the PD is to encourage educators and parents to work together to support student learning. The search in this capstone shows that ELLs make great strides in learning when teachers and parents are teammates not opponents. This capstone also discusses the positive effects on parent-teacher relationships when communication is a two way road. Additionally, more research is needed on how parental engagement effects ELLs emotionally and socially.