Increasing Family Educational Involvement for ELLs

Abstract

This capstone project aims to assist teachers, administrators, and parents and extended family to the English as a New Language (ENL) population at the Sag Harbor School District. Throughout the past few years, the ENL population in Sag Harbor has increased and is continuing on the upwards trend. In Sag Harbor School District. The ENL students are rated among the lowest for Family Educational Involvement (FEI) throughout our district and country. The lack of FEI has been shown to lead to lower academic success, hinders students’ socially and emotionally. To increase FEI among our ENLs and their families, there are many solutions to put into place at Sag Harbor School District. Ways of solving the problem within the district is to create more culturally relevant teachers and to create opportunities for school and community relationships. Examples of ways to make more culturally relevant teachers include use of Spanish to deliver key information to students and parents, use of Spanish in the classroom, and using family funds of knowledge. The Back to School Night at the beginning of the school year aims to create connections between community members, teachers, parents of our ENLs and the ENLs themselves.