More thoughts about connecting families to schooling

Floradale School, Mississauga, Toronto, Ontario. Notes from the "Parents in Education" program. Tony Bock/Toronto Star.

Lately, I have been writing a fair amount about education, in particular about the student and parent "inputs" side of the equation. I have been enamored of the idea of "positive deviance" and figuring out how to replicate what makes successful the relative handful of successful DC public schools.

I have written about "family learning contracts" and "first day" events, because I believe that a big issue is the family-side commitment and readiness issues (not much different from the issue of "readiness" with regard to cultural heritage tourism and commercial district revitalization). (See the education links in the right sidebar or do a search of the blog if you're interested in more.)

While poking through the Toronto Star website (lamentably, the hard copy Toronto Star is not available in DC; it's really a great newspaper) I found this article, "Culture + learning = success" subtitled "Big dreams. Strange land. So many languages. How do teachers connect with students and parents when most of them are newcomers to Canada?" about a school in Toronto with tremendous international diversity. From the article:

The school's students, staff and parents speak a total of 145 languages and dialects. Last year, about 90 per cent of the students came from homes with a first language other than English. Some 65 per cent were born outside Canada, provincial data shows. Language is the chief adjustment for many newcomers but there are other less obvious differences they must absorb.

"In the classroom they have difficulties grasping the subtle boundaries that we take for granted such as personal space, classroom rules and routines, knowing when to speak out and when not to. They are used to school systems where there is an incredible amount of respect for teachers and are thus confused when they see other students misbehaving or talking back," says Manners.

What I found interesting are some of the things they do to build acculturation. Since a primary problem with students in DC public schools has to do with "social exclusion" (a term commonly used in the UK) and socialization, it would make sense to consider the adoption of some of these techniques in urban school systems in the U.S. From the article:

The school is one of 10 in Peel with a readiness centre to help new mothers and pre-schoolers navigate social services and teach early literacy and math readiness skills. Because Floradale is a laboratory for researchers at York University, it also gets some extras. Professor Sandra Schecter's federal research grant pays for workshops for parents to tell them about the Ontario school system and bring their languages and experiences into the school. ...

She has been in Canada for about five years and regularly takes her sons, 2 and 4, to Floradale's learning readiness centre where parents and children do the kinds of crafts and games that help prepare youngsters for school.

Khan (no relation to the teacher above) says the guidance she's received from Bev Galley, who runs the centre, has revolutionized her parenting style. "My kids are more organized. They increase their vocabulary," she says. Her eldest son Iezhan is ready for kindergarten. "He knows letters and numbers," boasts Khan. ...

Bev Galley, a teacher in Floradale Public School's preschool readiness program, leads the kids in a song. Tony Bock/Toronto Star.

"What Floradale is doing prevents the disillusion and the isolation," says Schecter, referring to the after-school workshops she started in which mothers share their own experiences of school and get to ask teachers about the way their children are learning.

It's the kind of practice that is growing in schools that serve immigrant populations but she worries about students and families where minorities are not the majority. "I'm not optimistic about inclusive practices becoming education policy," she says.

Index Keywords: education