Family and Parental Engagement

Create asset-based, authentic partnerships with your immigrant students’ parents and families. The ILC Public Education Institute has curated these resources to help. Search below or use the “Browse” tab to explore a list of all available options.

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How to Cultivate Immigrant Parents Leadership Skills and How Immigration Impacts Our Schools

An expert in immigrant education explains principles and strategies of immigrant family engagement

Engage Families to Support Immigrant Students

Blog post on involving and engaging with immigrant parents and families in a culturally responsive manner

Professional Development Module: Immigration in Elementary Schools

Develop stronger relationships with immigrant students and families, use literature to teach about immigration, and more

Special Education and Your Child: FAQs for Multilingual Families

Tip sheet (English and Spanish) for multilingual families with answers to common questions about special education

Partnering with Immigrant Families to Promote Student Success

Report outlining recommendations and best practices to build effective family-school partnerships with immigrant families

Connect with Immigrant Parents

Read about one group's innovative event to help immigrant parents adapt to U.S. school culture

Immigrant and Refugee Children

Compilation of resources intended to guide schools in preparing for newly enrolled unaccompanied minor and immigrant students

Building Partnerships with Immigrant Parents

Article from Educational Leadership on non-traditional parent involvement approaches used by Annandale High School

Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors

Programs to build leadership in Latinx parents with children ages 0-5

Four Stages of Immigrant Parent Involvement

Reprinted with permission: “From Survivors to Leaders: Stages of Immigrant Parent Involvement in Schools” (Young-chan Han, 2012)

Why I’m not involved: Parental involvement from a parent’s perspective

Article sharing an immigrant mother’s personal experience with American education

Information for Limited English Proficient (LEP) Parents and Guardians and for Schools and School Districts that Communicate with Them

Fact sheet about the rights of parents and guardians who are not English proficient from the U.S. DOJ and DOE

Developing Inclusive Multilingual Family Literacy Practices

Paper describing one school’s attempt to create a unique, asset-based multilingual literacy project with families, including challenges and recommendations

ELL Family Outreach

Videos, articles, guides, toolkits, research and reports about building partnerships with families of English language learners (ELLS)

SayHi

Free app to facilitate conversations. Supports over 101 languages and dialects. Useful for communicating with ML students and families.

Professional Development Module: Refugees and Immigrants in Schools

Learn about refugees, engage families, identify and assist students needing support from traumatic experiences, storytelling and more

Parent Organizing

Collection of resources, some with Spanish translations, to empower and engage parents

Immigrant Connections Online Professional Development

Webinars and self-paced courses about family engagement, cultivating leadership among immigrant parents, supporting unaccompanied minors and more
Title Description Tags Author
Engage Families to Support Immigrant Students Blog post on involving and engaging with immigrant parents and families in a culturally responsive manner article/report The Immigrant Learning Center
How to Cultivate Immigrant Parents Leadership Skills and How Immigration Impacts Our Schools An expert in immigrant education explains principles and strategies of immigrant family engagement video The Immigrant Learning Center
Professional Development Module: Immigration in Elementary Schools Develop stronger relationships with immigrant students and families, use literature to teach about immigration, and more on-demand learning CUNY Initiative on Immigration and Education
Professional Development Module: Refugees and Immigrants in Schools Learn about refugees, engage families, identify and assist students needing support from traumatic experiences, storytelling and more on-demand learning CUNY Initiative on Immigration and Education
ELL Family Outreach Videos, articles, guides, toolkits, research and reports about building partnerships with families of English language learners (ELLS) website Colorin Colorado
Special Education and Your Child: FAQs for Multilingual Families Tip sheet (English and Spanish) for multilingual families with answers to common questions about special education article/report Colorin Colorado
Partnering with Immigrant Families to Promote Student Success Report outlining recommendations and best practices to build effective family-school partnerships with immigrant families article/report Carnegie Corporation of New York
Developing Inclusive Multilingual Family Literacy Practices Paper describing one school’s attempt to create a unique, asset-based multilingual literacy project with families, including challenges and recommendations article/report Sarah Digby, Columbia University
Information for Limited English Proficient (LEP) Parents and Guardians and for Schools and School Districts that Communicate with Them Fact sheet about the rights of parents and guardians who are not English proficient from the U.S. DOJ and DOE article/report U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Education
Why I’m not involved: Parental involvement from a parent’s perspective Article sharing an immigrant mother’s personal experience with American education article/report Jung-Ah Choi
Four Stages of Immigrant Parent Involvement Reprinted with permission: “From Survivors to Leaders: Stages of Immigrant Parent Involvement in Schools” (Young-chan Han, 2012) article/report Young-chan Han
Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors Programs to build leadership in Latinx parents with children ages 0-5 website Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors
Connect with Immigrant Parents Read about one group’s innovative event to help immigrant parents adapt to U.S. culture article/report PTO Today
Building Partnerships with Immigrant Parents Article from Educational Leadership on non-traditional parent involvement approaches used by Annandale High School article/report Andrea Sobel and Eileen Gale Kugler, Educational Leadership
Immigrant and Refugee Children Compilation of resources is intended to guide schools in preparing for newly enrolled unaccompanied minor and immigrant students website The Center for Health and Healthcare in Schools
Immigrant Connections Online Professional Development Webinars and self-paced courses about family engagement, cultivating leadership among immigrant parents, supporting unaccompanied minors and more website Immigrant Connections
Parent Organizing Collection of resources, some with Spanish translations, to empower and engage parents website Teaching for Change
ELLevation – EL Community Resources Podcasts, blogs and other resources for teachers of multilingual students website ELLevation
SayHi App Free app to facilitate conversations. Supports over 101 languages and dialects. Useful for communicating with ML students and families app SayHi, an Amazon Company
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