English+Language+Learning

=**//Con Respeto: Bridging the Distance Between Culturally Diverse Families and Schools//**= toc //Guadalupe Valdés//

__Chapter 1: School Failure: Explanations and Interventions__

 * Explanations of School failure
 * Why do educational establishments not serve the Mexican-origin population well?
 * The Genetic argument:
 * The view that certain groups of people are genetically more able than others
 * Others, however, argue that test procedures and practices may negatively affect performance of minority children
 * It’s becoming increasingly necessary to examine IQ from different perspectives
 * The Cultural argument
 * Many argue that children are trapped in a “culture of poverty”: self-perpetuating failure
 * Culturally deprived, or culturally different students are mismatched with schools ands school culture, and this contributes to failure
 * Language is a primary example of this mismatch
 * This argument upholds the belief that the children’s experiences are not what educational institutions value and expect
 * Parental involvement in education and their attitudes toward education and schooling: at-risk children do poorly in school because of their parents’ beliefs and behaviors
 * The Class Analysis argument
 * Analysis of the role of education in maintaining class differences or in maintaining the power differential between groups
 * Argument: non-mainstream children do poorly in school because of the class structure of capitalist society
 * Schools function to reproduce the structure of production and serve as sorting mechanisms rather than as true avenues for movement between classes
 * Understanding School Failure
 * School failure and the education of immigrants
 * Between 1840 and 1940, immigrants, rather than immediately availing themselves of the opportunities offered by educational institutions, made choices for their children that were framed by their views about education in general, their economic position, and the success or failure experienced by their children in school
 * As late as the 1930s, differences in economic and educational achievements by new immigrants were considered to be the result of inborn “race traits”; however, race was very much confused with what we would now call culture
 * Others argue that cultural explanations of differences in attainment are based on a “New Darwinism”: there are certain cultural traits associated with attainment and achievement (frugality, temperance, industry, perseverance, ingenuity), while others (familism, fatalism) are associated with limited success and social mobility
 * The Mexican-Origin Population
 * Generalizations about Mexican migration to the United States are inconsistent and contradictory
 * Those who can be categorized as “immigrants” from Mexico still have what can be termed an “immigrant mentality”: they are oriented toward the home country, identify with Mexico, and measure their success using Mexican nationals
 * Mexican-Americans, however, no longer look to Mexico for identification
 * Mexican-Origin Students and Explanations of school failure
 * Family income
 * School composition
 * School financing
 * Family characteristics
 * Language background
 * Fixing the Problem: Educational Interventions
 * Compensatory programs have failed to meet the expectations of policymakers and practitioners who sincerely hoped that correcting or compensating for key factors would bring about significant changes in total educational outcomes
 * The focus for the education of Mexican-origin children has been on finding solutions, establishing policies, funding programs that will address the needs of these children, and implementing promising programs in spite of heavy local and national political fire
 * What is needed: the right kinds of instructional solutions and school programs to bring about meaningful and lasting change
 * The Concept of Family Intervention
 * Parental involvement is an attempt to find small solutions to what are extremely complex problems
 * Parent education programs for Mexican-origin families
 * Schools depend directly on parents for assistance in educating children, and that without parental help the schools cannot carry out their work as effectively
 * Curriculum of the home: parents are their children’s first and most influential teachers. They can do much at home to help their children succeed at school
 * Attention must be directed at educating or changing “non-standard” families (nonwhite, non-English-speaking, non-middle class)
 * Many programs have been established that hope to teach what middle-class professionals believe are valuable parenting skills
 * Another program focused on home literacy in Spanish: encouraging parents to read to their children in their home language and encourage their writing of stories
 * A brief overview of changing goals and purposes of parent and family education
 * Beginning in 1950, in an attempt to redress social inequalities, parent education programs were directed at the disenfranchised urban poor: goals were equalization of opportunities, the promotion of school success, and the early cognitive development of at-risk children
 * In the 60’s and 70’s, research on child development was designed to inform policies and practices that might improve educational opportunities for disadvantaged children
 * The parent involvement movement
 * Parent involvement results in raising student achievement among low-income and minority students, developing parents’ abilities to help their children, fomenting positive attitudes by children and parents toward teachers and schools, reducing absenteeism and dropout rates, and increasing home-school communication
 * 4 popular parent involvement models:
 * Parents as volunteers
 * Parents as receivers of information about the school
 * Parents working at the school
 * Parents working with their own children at home

**Title**: Con Respecto: Bridging the distances between culturally diverse families and schools **Author**: Guadalupe Valdes

**Chapter 2 The Setting and the Families**
Description of the different areas near the Mexican Border of the U.S. Many Mexican families are separated because the father comes to work in the U.S. while the family stays in Mexico. This has many effects on students who have recently moved into the U.S. without their fathers' consistent presence in the home. As teachers, we have to keep this in mind and take that into consideration when planning in our classroom. When teaching in areas that are highly populated with immigrants, it is important to include the cultures' of the students, especially if you are in an area where most of the students represent a specific culture. This chapter gave detailed social, and cultural descriptions of areas close to the Texas/Mexican border where Mexican families have migrated to in search of better employment opportunities. Throughout this chapter, I thought a lot of the poetry anthologies that we just completed, and how I could incorporate them into my classroom in this region.

**Las Fuentes:** "The summer is long and hot", "In the winter, the fields are barren and the days are cold", "Winter is short, and spring begins early", "It is a southwestern spring in which there are sandstorms and days of whistling winds and dust"... (p. 42) Reading this description of the seasons in Las Fuentes made me think of students writing their own descriptions of what the seasons where like in Mexico, and their new home in Texas. I could have students read this specific passage in which the descirption of the seasons is full of imagery. They would model their poems off of that passage.

**The Valley:** The description of this town called "the valley" was that is is a quaint place that takes pride in its history. It is a town filled with artists and very poor families who are involved in the farming industry. I could see my class doing an "artistry project" in which students would paint and write descriptions of this town, especially students who live directly in it and are closely involved. This would become a beautiful literary mural in my classroom in which students thoughts, and artistic talents in relation to this town would come alive.

**The City:** In general, "Las Fuentes" is sectioned into three different areas: down town, east side, mixed neighborhoods, and lastly, the primarily anglo neighborhoods. This would make for a good descriptive writing assignment in student journals. Students could reflect upon their neighborhoods in which they live by writing about them in their journals. The journal entries would only be for my eyes, so that students would not feel embarrased or worried about what the other students might think or say about them.

**The Mexican "Barrio":** "El barrio" is a term that is used to describe a town. The barrio (east side or the neighborhood looks like a working class neighborhood. Many of the signs and business flyers are written in English and residents have lost the desire to use the written Spanish language.

Research was conducted door to door of 50 households in the Las Fuentes community. The research was in order to figure out what language and literacy skills residents of the area had. The purpose was to narrow down what children of the immigrant families would need in terms of their academic help. Overall, the language that was heard the most was English. English was used in oral language as well as written language. "Spanish when it is heard, is generally spoken at a low volume.

**Conclusion:** Making the decision to leave Mexico and begin a new life in the U.S. is an emotional decision that carries much weight for families. Many times the teenagers in these families have to begin working right away in order to help the family financially. It is important to remember as teachers that students will have other responsibilities at home. It is our responsibility to inquire regarding their life outside the classroom in order to help accommodate for their needs.


 * Title**: Con Respecto: Bridging the distances between culturally diverse families and schools
 * Author**: Guadalupe Valdes

**Chapter 3 Coming Across**
This chapter describes how the Mexican immigrants entered into the U.S. illegally and started their family lives with extreme caution and fear during the illegal period. Through interviews of wives in the case studies, it is disclosed that few people knew the process to become legal except help from relatives and other resources. Nonetheless, in order to seek a better and new life, these immigrants started their lives in the U.S and worked hard to bring success and happiness to their families.
 * Summary**: It is "difficult to imagine what it is like for early immigrants to leave their countries and to arrive in the United States" (Page 58).

**Entering the United States**
 Contrasting to legal arrival of immigrants, many Mexican families came across the U.S.-Mexico border illegally  Men of Mexican families often suffered more from fear of being caught and separation with families when they came to the U.S. without much help. 

**The illegal period**
 Wives’ belief of success: only their husbands’ hard working made it possible for their families to remain in the States.  Ignorance of the education system causes fear of sending children to schools.  Unstable life caused the Mexican families lived a very private and cautious life within their own families during illegal status when they stay in the U.S.

**Arreglando (Becoming legal)**
 Many people lacked the understanding of the regulations or process to obtain legal status in the U.S.   Immigrants believed that the process of becoming legal involved money and finding the right lawyer.  By investing family energy and resources, families arrived in the U.S. illegally were determined not to return to Mexico.

**Maintaining links to Mexico**
 To reunited family is extremely important for Mexican immigrants no matter how they reached out to their close family members or extended families.  Some families went back and forth between Mexico and the U.S., while others strived to bring the rest of their family members to live together in the U.S.

**Coming to stay**
 For Mexican immigrants, they valued highly their families to live together no matter where they live.  However, these immigrants were not well prepared to face the challenges and the different culture in the U.S. as they started their lives. __My reflection__: Children who were born in Mexico would experience drastic differences with their lives in Mexico and in the U.S. Adolescent students may even get confused with their cultural identities and how to deal with their heritage in Mexico. Teachers can help students to think about their connection with their home country, Mexico, by employing authentic literature about Mexico and its culture. With interaction of such texts and media, students would become aware of their unique heritage and further understand their experiences that otherwise they can be confused and even be reluctant to accept.

Chapter 4 The Ten Women
This chapter covers more detailed description of ten women who participated in this study. It is through the women’s perspectives that we see the hardship and what is important in their family lives of Mexican-origin immigrants in the U.S. It goes into deeper to explore who they are, how they got to the country, and how they use their resources to survive in a different world.

1. ISELA SOTELO
 * Isela was 35 years of age and lived with her husband in El Paso, Texas. They lived in a two-bedroom apartment with eight children aging from 11 to new born.
 * Isela was separated with her source family members who were living in Mexico.
 * Isela did not speak English except selected words and phrases, but she did most of the negotiation with offices and agents.
 * Despite the hardship of life and traffic-accident injuries of one of her children, Isela is a good-humored, optimistic person.

2. VELMA SOTO
 * Velma was in her middle or late thirties and naturally energetic and large-boned.
 * Velma suffered from back pain due to an accident during her work. She sought help from an attorney on a compensation case with her company.
 * Velma and her sister lived in the States in a permanent status. She struggled to understand the system in the U.S., but was determined to enlist every resource to help her get benefits for her family.

3. AMELIA SOTO
 * Amelia was in her mid-thirties. She was timid and dependent on her sister, Velma.
 * Amelia was married for 18 years. She was long separated with her husband who worked on farm in the U.S.
 * Amelia’s family lived on the farm which was more isolated than apartment neighborhood.
 * Amelia had four children, three of whom were born in Mexico and the youngest was born in the U.S.
 * Amelia’s life was troubled that her oldest daughter dropped out high school after pregnancy and her husband’s unfaithful to marriage. But she continued her life without complaint.

4. REINA LEYBA
 * Reina was in her late twenties and was talkative. Reina was the youngest of 11 children in her family, nine of whom were in the same city, Las Fuentes in the States.
 * The fact that Reina’s mother was a U.S. citizen made it easier for Reina and her siblings to move and live in Las Fuentes in the U.S. legally.
 * Reina had three children and worked long time shift from three to eleven. Reina had others to help her take care of her children when she worked. Reina was cheerful and optimistic with her life, especially when they built a cement-block house into the desert.

5. ROSARIO CASTRO
 * Rosario was Reina’s sister-in-law. Rosario was in her mid-thirties, inner strong and loyal to her family.
 * Rosario was proud and loyal of her husband and her family with six children. Rosario seldom complained her husband, Chuy, who drank heavily.
 * Despite her worsening health condition, Rosario did not want to get cure due to her lack of health insurance in the U.S.
 * Rosario was determined that her children should finish high school.
 * Rosario was faced with hardship of life with her strength. Music and family gathering were frequent.

6. GLORIA CERDA
 * Gloria was in her mid-twenties and had three children.
 * Gloria lived with her father and brothers in Mexico when her mother worked in the U.S. before she arrived in the U.S. at 12 years of age.
 * Gloria was fluent in English and had unpleasant schooling experiences till ninth grade.
 * Gloria was more knowledgeable and familiar with the system than other women in term of getting social support for her family.

7. EULALIA GOMEZ
 * Eulalia was twenty-five and live more middle-class oriented lifestyle that she acquired after arrival in the States.
 * Eulalia shared much of the background with other women such as growing up in rural area in an extended family.
 * Eulalia was not fluent in English and had little schooling in Mexico and in the U.S.
 * Eulalia decided to have two sons as children in large family got less family care. She had more time to enjoy her life than to struggle unlike other women.

8. CARMEN ORNELAS
 * Carmen was a single parent with seven children between the ages of 10 years to 6 months from her several marriage.
 * Different from other women, Carmen had a happy childhood and grew up as an only child in her family with her grandma in Mexico.
 * Carmen was better educated compared to other women in the study and got her own job.
 * However, Carmen’s life changed drastically after she went through several relationships and had her own children. Carmen was able to make her two ends meet, while the fathers visited her children and bought toys for them.
 * Carmen knew little English, and she relied on others for transportation.

9. MARIA ELENA RAMIREZ
 * Maria was in her late twenties and was from a very poor family of six daughter. Maria was illiterate neither in Spanish or English.
 * Maria came to the States illegally with her husband.
 * Maria had four children. Maria’s husband was always away from home, and he became familiar with the system and knew how to get resources.
 * Maria felt that she was lucky as she got support for her family and children.

10 .SOCORRO TINAJERO
 * Socorro was in her late thirties and was a quiet and soft-spoken woman. Her inner strength was covered with her proud and loyalty to her family.
 * Though Socorro tried to do the best with what she had, she struggled how to balance her job and child-caring responsibilities.
 * Socorro worried about her children’s performance at school. She believed that her children should know how to work hard to achieve success in their lives.

Examining through the ten women in the study, they had varied experiences and characteristics. Nonetheless, most of the women were from small or rural areas in Mexico and received very little schooling. Taking responsibilities of raising-child and doing household were thought to be women’s obligations in their eyes. Though every family had a different story, thinking about the characteristics shown from the ten women, we can describe them as brave, optimistic, enduring, determined, loyal, and perseverent. __My Reflection__: They loved their children and cared about them just as any other parents. Teachers of children who might have similar immigrant background need to know more how immigrant parents value education of their children so that we can avoid the unpleasant schooling experiences for immigrant children. The ten women believed that their children can get better jobs only when they finish high school. They supported their children to go to school and made every effort to prevent them dropping out. It disproves the misconception that Mexican immigrant parents do not care about the education of their children.

** Chapter 5 Surviving in a New World **
This chapter continues to describe how the immigrant families in the study managed to make a living in a new world. Everything in the States turned out to be different from what they knew in Mexico. There were rules and regulations everywhere that they were not familiar with before. However, they were not defeated. They made every effort to face the complication and to confront the challenges in their lives.

Mediating experience: The family’s collective wisdom
Family’s collective wisdom is an important survival strategy for immigrant families. It is to gather information via personal experiences from extended family and community “authority” before they made any important decisions that might lead to severe consequences.

** Making a living **
Employment was extremely important for men in those families. They felt satisfied with a steady income and affirmation of their work. As most of the men started to work from bottom jobs to better ones, they did not think that any certain job defined who they were. Few of the women had a regular job, while most of them were responsible for children and households even when they had jobs. It was important for them to work hard and to earn trust of their bosses as the better jobs were obtained through relatives. Working on the farm was viewed as the last choice to fall back on. Un Negocito (a small business) To own “negocito” (a small business) was considered to be successful compared to work for others. However, starting a small business was not easy for immigrant families. Even though they had ideas, they were seldom acted on. The Tinajero restaurant: Socorro Tinajero’s family was the only one out of the ten families that was able to start their own small restaurant with sufficient knowledge and capital.

__My reflection__: Teachers can engage students with discussion how they define success. It would be a good start for students to get to know and respect each other’s goal and beliefs. Students from different families and cultural background would probably have different understanding of success.

** Finding housing **
Overcrowding was a typical problem that almost all of the families had. However, the author noticed that the families had little complaints or comments on the crowded living condition as they thought they were able to deal with it. Though the ideal solution of housing for the poorest families was to get house assistance, it was not easy to obtain an adequate house that could meet the program requirements. It was essential to get help from experienced ones. Carmen was the only family who got the assistance. As a result, families ended up moving frequently when they did not get assistance. It turned out to be the family collective wisdom that enabled the Castro family to obtain public housing given that their close relatives lived in the neighborhood too. Their neighbors were mostly poor people in the east barrio including some second- and third-generation Mexican-origin Chicanos. However, the Castro family tried to stay away from their Chicano neighbors as they thought they were too rough. Two families were involved in building up their own houses during the study. After purchasing the land, they themselves built up their own house a little at a time throughout a couple of years. As they did in Mexico, the two families thought that building a house was a private thing instead of adherence to external regulations or obtaining building permit. Fortunately, the officials did not go to inspection of the two constructions. Two families were able to buy their own houses at the east side of the barrio with mortgages. Socorro Tinajero’s family had previous experiences of buying a house, while Eulalia Gomez’s family had little experiences. However, they share the same goal that is to pay off the mortgage with every penny they earned to own their houses.
 * Obtaining housing assistance
 * Living in public housing projects
 * Building a house
 * Buying a house in the Barrio

__My reflection__: Unsteady housing always leads kids to change schools. Kids tend to have more segmented schooling experiences than those who live a steady life. It is necessary to know the previous educational experiences so that teachers can better assess where their students are and what they may learn. It is also revealed that kids of first generation immigrants tend to live with extended families instead of their core families. Inviting students to share their family stories and experiences would reflect different aspects of family lives.

** Staying healthy **
The families used home remedies and medicines from Mexico to self cure small sickness. Immigrants tended not to trust American doctors. Language became a large barrier in communication with doctors even with interpreters including bilingual children. Sometimes life was in danger when there was misinterpretation. Families who needed health support made extraordinary efforts to get financial support. For instance, Velma who suffered from severe pain due to injury during work filed a lawsuit of her company to reimburse the cost. She considered the accident as an opportunity to bring in fanatical support to her family rather than trying to regain her health.

__My reflection__: The fact that bilingual children were asked to do interpretation for their family members indicates that these kids whose parents do not speak English need to learn their language and literacy skills desperately.

**Chapter Six: Raising Children**
This chapter made me think of differences in cultures, particularly how children are reared differently across the world. It made me reflect on my own childhood and how I was many times treated different as well as disciplined differently than my peers at home.

**The Role of Children in families:**
 * In many traditional hispanic families, children's "firsts" are celebrated. When personality traits begin to appear whether they be good or bad, the traits are accepted and many times (if they are negative) are not corrected. The parents aim to separate their children based upon their personalities. If one child is a fighter, than he/she will remain a fighter. If one child is the peacemaker, he she/will remain the peacemaker. If one child is a "crybaby", he/she will remain the crybaby.
 * Children are expected to keep up with their chores once they are at an appropriate age to do so.
 * **Family Interaction:** Typically, the roles that a mother and father are well established within hispanic families. The mother typically is the one who provides the nurture, where is the father is seen as the disciplinarian. Children must learn to have "respeto" for their elders. Which essentially means they must learn to respect their elders.Children learn from a very early age who gives the orders in the house.
 * **Parental Responsibilities:** The father typically works outside the house and the mother typically works in the home, taking care of household chores and the children.
 * **Family structure:** Families typically would have "floating populations" in which relatives would be coming in and out of the home at different times when they need a place to stay.
 * Many of these characteristics were similar to my culture and upbringing. (I am of carribean descent) We were taught to have respect for our elders and that we had to take responsibility for our actions and helping out in the home from a very young age.
 * "Respeto" overall means to have a recognition and acceptance of the needs of others with whom you interact with.
 * In terms of school and talents, some students have more talents than others they believe. Some will do well, and others won't.
 * **Raising children:** Raising children is a collaborative effort, involving many relatives in the life-lessons a child will learn.
 * All of these areas of the hispanic culture are very similar to mine, and I think that it is important to talk through these aspects with children in our classrooms. These topics would make for a great free writing activity in which students share what is typical to their families/culture.

Chapter 7: The School Context (Research on bi-lingual children)
- There were no bilingual programs available in either of the schools that the children attended. This alone I thought was not beneficial for students in this research because bi-lingual students need an opportunity to practice English while still maintaining their native language. - Some students will not speak or participate at all in class because of fear that they will say something wrong, or that they will not understand the other children. -It takes time for students who have migrated from another country to be comfortable with teachers and new school systems. " They do not trust teachers yet" (p. 146) - Teachers are not always sensitive to students who have just come from another country. - Students have to adjust to a new lifestyle, and a new school system. Sometimes, students can go through cultural shock, and teachers have to be sensitive to that. Students might expect their new school to be like their old schools in the countries that they came from. -Some parents that were in the study had very little formal education. The value of education vs. working was not the priority for many parents. Some of those same parents regretted the fact that they were not able to complete their education and therefore felt they had limitations in terms of what they could contribute to their children's education. Many parents were not able to complete school because they had to stay home and care for younger siblings. This complex also causes issues for this generation's immigrant children who might have to stay home to help raise younger siblings. (Especially if they did in the lives they just left).
 * The focal children and their school placement:**

- Due to different cultural values, sometimes it is hard for parents to come to the U.S. and involve themselves in the education of their children. "Commitment and interest in education, however, were not enough to make up for the parents' lack of familiarity with U.S. institutions" (p. 155).
 * Confusions and Misunderstandings:**

- Involvement was limited to "ceremonial occasions". Not much of that time is dedicated to discussing students' progress. This can create challenges for teachers and parents in building relationships and also in order to discuss students' progress. - Sometimes even though parents might be involved in students' education, they are hesitant to speak with teachers due to different reasons such as language barriers etc. - Many parents are particularly interested (from Hispanic families) in the //behavior// of their children in school rather than their academic progress.
 * -Parental "Involvement" in School:**

**Chapter 8: Education and Life Changes**
//What’s the problem?// //The author then went on to discuss the traditional values among ten different Mexican families. Some of these values included:// What was more interesting to me, however, was when the author pointed out how these values were transferred to the ideals of their children. While all of the newly arrived immigrants had hopes and dreams comparable to their values, they failed to examine their assumptions and expectations, and fully expected that their children would grow up with the same notions of how life should be, by putting family first. Problems begin to occur, however, when American values are slowly revealed, such as the importance of a high school education in having and maintaining a job, and parents struggle to understand the potential conflict between their child’s education and their traditional values. //Mexican educational system// //Hopes and Dreams// //Questions//
 * Many recent immigrants lack familiarity with schools and make incorrect assumptions about the nature of the educational system
 * Confusion and misunderstanding between parents and school personnel
 * Schooling and education have different meanings in Mexico than in the United States.
 * For many Mexican families, individual success and accomplishment have less value than people’s abilities to maintain ties across generations and to make an honest living somewhere close to home
 * Filial loyalty
 * Reciprocity
 * Conformity to social conventions
 * Maintaining social linkages
 * Mexico has generally been unsuccessful in educating their its citizens
 * Every year, 300,000 children do not have access to education
 * Nearly 88,000 students drop out of primary school within the first 3 years of schooling
 * The average level of schooling among the Mexican population is 6 years
 * Post-secondary education (beyond 9th grade) is often inaccessible in rural areas
 * Most adults do not focus on education as a key solution to opening doors for themselves in Mexico: It is obvious here that this ideal transfers much to this culture’s way of life in the United States.
 * Children are expected to contribute to the family income
 * The author discusses that while children were not the central focus of the case study families, the mothers in the study all had hopes and dreams for their children
 * These dreams, however, had little to do with success or achievement: their goals had to do with simply raising good, responsible human beings
 * Mothers had smaller aspirations for their children-having a job where one wouldn’t have to work too hard and one where one could make a decent living
 * How can teachers understand these values in order to aid to the development of an education for these children?
 * How can teachers bridge the gap more between home and school cultures, in order to see education as more valuable?
 * Would teachers be stepping on the toes of the students’ parents in having higher aspirations for them than the parents hold?
 * How can the American values of education be expressed and upheld while maintaining the ingrained cultural values of many ELL students?


 * Changing Families: Chapter 9**

Teachers believe that “the problem is the parents” and that “they don’t care about education” Parent Education Programs Are parents at fault for the low achievement of students? What can be done to help the parent to become the child’s first teacher? Some believe that parent education programs directly intrude into the organization of families and attack their values and language. Parents must not be coerced to be good parents, but what kinds of home literacies can or should be taking place to help connect to the child’s school literacies?
 * Mexican parents must be helped to become “involved” in their children’s education
 * They must be taught how to succeed in American schools
 * School success is directly connected to particular parental behaviors and values
 * Mexican parents in the study were well-meaning families, but did not have the ability to support their children’s academic learning
 * Educating, empowering and involving non-mainstream parents
 * Parent education programs focus on general child-rearing practices
 * Parental involvement programs: valuing parents’ interactions with schools as crucial to success
 * They argue that the parent does not come to the expert for help, but instead it is the experts who decide that certain kinds of families need certain kinds of treatment