Advancing Culturally Responsive and Socially Just Approaches to Multilingual Family-School Partnerships

This compilation of research and stories from the field about multilingual family-school partnerships explores where systemic inequities exist at the school, district, or community level, and consider strategies that disrupt normative ways in which multilingual families are included in educational decisions. The authors present family-school partnerships in educational and non-educational settings across the United States, and identify frameworks, models, and practices for engaging multilingual families in schooling. This edited volume is organized into four sections. Section one, “School District Collaborations with Multilingual Families,” describes how districts honor the knowledge of multilingual parents as foundational tenets in their collaborative work with them. Section two, “School Leadership Approaches to Engaging Multilingual Families,” focuses on how school leaders enacted critical approaches to building relationships with multilingual families. Section three, “Educator Partnerships with Multilingual Families,” explores educators’ approaches to developing relationships with multilingual families. Section four, “Multilingual Families as Leaders in School Partnerships,” highlights the visible and invisible ways that multilingual parents contribute to the overall success of their children. Each chapter offers examples of successes and challenges of partnerships with multilingual families and how they can help to transform school communities.