Connecting School and the Multilingual Home

This book examines the educational gaps that multilingual students in rural communities experience. It argues that responsive, successful relationships between schools and multilingual families are a crucial aspect of all educators’ work and that no single strategy will work for all families. Rural multilingual family engagement involves building meaningful partnerships and relational trust, based on significant knowledge of families' cultures and language repertoires. Educators can reframe their work by learning from families and building on the strengths of multilingual families, which are too-often overlooked in school policies and educator practices. This is the first book to focus specifically on rural school settings. However, the conceptual framework of equity and linguistically responsive pedagogy are applicable across settings for educators who wish to support their multilingual students and families.

Reading this book gives me hope. Rural multilingual families are challenged in so many ways: from encountering steady jobs, to locating health services they can understand, to being able to attend (at worst), and participate fully (at best) in school. This book highlights action, strengths, and engagement opportunities for rural multilingual families in school through non-traditional, culturally and linguistically responsive, and equitable ways. It is a long-needed resource., Outstanding teachers make a significant difference to students’ academic success and chances in life. This thought-provoking book stunningly articulates the importance of developing caring and trustworthy relationships with rural multilingual families and children by equipping educators with the tools to reflect and act on behalf of those families., This useful book fulfills a critical need for more complex understandings of multilingual children and families living in rural communities. Skillfully drawing on anecdote, theory, and research, Coady not only shows readers why a strength-based perspective is necessary for school-home-school engagement, but offers concrete ideas for how to create more humanized spaces for multilingual learning in rural communities., A significant strength of this text is that it scaffolds the reader’s theoretical learning and ability to apply it to their own particular context, making the text practical and engaging for school-based practitioners and preservice teachers with field exposure as well as for various community members (e.g., social workers, community organizations, health organizations) that interact with rural multilingual families in the education space.

Maria R. Coady is Irving and Rose Fien Endowed Professor and Associate Professor of ESOL/Bilingual Education at the University of Florida, USA. She has worked extensively in rural multilingual settings. She is director of Project STELLAR (Supporting Teachers and Educators of English Language Learners Across Rural Settings) and has taught English in the USA and abroad. She has also directed a rural biliteracy development project, Libros de Familia, with multilingual families.