Communication with Multilingual Families

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(2025)

What are the federal requirements for sufficiently staffing and supporting language assistance programming? Learn more in this excerpt from Colorín Colorado's updated policy guide, Serving Multilingual Learners: Laws, Policies, and Regulations.

The tenth key topic of this guide focuses on communication with MLs' families. Under federal law, parents and guardians of MLs must have meaningful access to school- and district-related information.

As stated earlier in this document, family engagement is a critical component for supporting multilingual learners to succeed in school and life. Federal law outlines clear responsibilities for schools and districts to ensure that families are both included and informed in ways that support student success.

According to Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015), schools and districts must engage parents of English learners through outreach efforts that help them:

Be actively involved in their child's education;
Support their child in attaining English proficiency;
Help their child achieve high academic outcomes within a well-rounded education;
Understand and meet challenging state academic standards.

Additionally, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division and U.S. Department of Education, Department of Civil Rights (n.d.-b, p.1),

"Schools must communicate information to limited English proficient parents in a language they can understand about any program, service, or activity that is called to the attention of parents who are proficient in English. This includes, but is not limited to, information related to:

registration and enrollment in school and school programs
grievance procedures and notices of nondiscrimination
language assistance programs
parent handbooks
report cards
gifted and talented programs
student discipline policies and procedures
magnet and charter schools
special education and related services, and meetings to discuss special education
student participation in school activities
parent-teacher conferences."

To meet these requirements, districts must implement effective communication strategies, including regular meetings and timely notices that allow families to provide input and stay informed about their child's educational experience.

ESSA also emphasizes the need for clear and accessible communication. To the extent practicable, schools must provide all relevant information in a language that the parent or guardian can understand. This applies to all essential aspects of school life, including enrollment, academic performance, language services, special education, and parent-teacher communication.

Note: The terms "parents and guardians" and "families" are used interchangeably to refer to a child’s legal guardians (e.g., parents in two- or single-parent households, stepparents, grandparents, foster parents, or other relatives with legal guardianship). More broadly, "families" may include siblings, extended relatives, or others who are actively involved in the child’s life and education.

Guiding Questions

What do the federal regulations require of local education and state education agencies to ensure that parents and guardians of MLs have access to school-related information?
What is important to know about the research on family-school partnerships and engagement?
What action steps should be taken to ensure meaningful communication with MLs' parents and guardians?

A Note on Terminology

The strengths-based term multilingual learner is used throughout this document to recognize and value students' existing language abilities and highlight what they know. Keep in mind that states may use different terms and that many federal documents use the terms "English learner" and "Limited English Proficient students." See the federal definition of a multilingual learner in Who Are Multilingual Learners?
The terms "parents and guardians" and "families" are used interchangeably to refer to the legal guardians of a child (e.g., parents in two-parent or single-parent families, grandparents, stepparents, foster parents, custodial parents, and in some cases, other relatives with guardianship). More broadly, "families" can also include siblings, relatives, and members of students' extended families and communities who are involved in students' lives and education.

The Importance of Family Engagement

Research on family engagement affirms that families are important partners in their child’s education. While the importance of family involvement is widely recognized, its unique significance for families from linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds is sometimes overlooked. Many educators may not be familiar with the cultural norms of MLs and their families, as well as their strengths and assets. Conversely, many ML families may not fully understand the culture of U.S. public schools, including the implied ways of thinking, being, and acting shaped by the dominant culture. These differences can lead to misconceptions and misunderstandings on both sides, potentially creating barriers that divide and separate communities.

However, partnerships between schools and ML families have been shown to help students thrive socially and academically while fostering mutual understanding. Creating partnerships with families of MLs calls for educators to:

Help families understand the routines and practices of school
Help the school community understand the family communities of MLs
Bring together the collective assets of families, educators, and local communities before-, after-, and in-school through ongoing partnerships.

Related resources

See more in this related resource collection on multilingual family engagement and English Learner Toolkit: Chapter 10.

In addition, see the following articles for building, training, and sustaining an effective cadre of interpreters and translators. Each features insights from Dr. Jennifer Love, Director of Language Access Services for Prince George's County School District in Maryland:

Wolfe Street Academy, Baltimore
An example of the type of family/school partnerships is Wolfe Street Academy, a community school serving a large ML population in Baltimore, MD. Like many schools across the globe, it made the rapid shift from in-person to remote schooling when COVID-19 struck. Prior to the pandemic, its after-school programming had been an integral part of students' lives. Rather than forgo this mainstay, Wolfe Street quickly and adeptly launched several after-school remote activities including yoga, robotics, art, and debate classes taught by staff, ML families, and members of the local community (Zacarian, 2023; Zacarian, Calderón, and Gottlieb, 2021). See more from Wolfe Street in this special Colorín Colorado video project, How a Community School Helps ELLs Succeed.

Wolfe Street Academy, Baltimore

An example of the type of family/school partnerships is Wolfe Street Academy, a community school serving a large ML population in Baltimore, MD. Like many schools across the globe, it made the rapid shift from in-person to remote schooling when COVID-19 struck. Prior to the pandemic, its after-school programming had been an integral part of students' lives. Rather than forgo this mainstay, Wolfe Street quickly and adeptly launched several after-school remote activities including yoga, robotics, art, and debate classes taught by staff, ML families, and members of the local community (Zacarian, 2023; Zacarian, Calderón, and Gottlieb, 2021).

See more from Wolfe Street in this special Colorín Colorado video project, How a Community School Helps ELLs Succeed.

Tools for Educators

These tools can support educators in their work related to communicating with families. A PDF version of these questions is available.

Action Steps: Ensure Meaningful Communication with MLs' Parents and Guardians
The following resource of action steps, drawn from Zacarian (2023, p. 202), is intended to support meaningful communication with parents and guardians of MLs. What steps are we taking to establish meaningful communication with families of MLs and to become partners in supporting their child's education? What additional actions could we take to strengthen those steps? What documents, forms, and protocols are we using? What professional readings or school/district documents should be included to ensure meaningful communication with families? What additional questions should we ask about partnering and communicating with families that we have not yet included? What cultural and linguistic considerations do we need to address? What type of professional growth do we need to support stronger and more meaningful communication and partnerships with families?

Action Steps: Ensure Meaningful Communication with MLs' Parents and Guardians

The following resource of action steps, drawn from Zacarian (2023, p. 202), is intended to support meaningful communication with parents and guardians of MLs.

What steps are we taking to establish meaningful communication with families of MLs and to become partners in supporting their child's education?
What additional actions could we take to strengthen those steps?
What documents, forms, and protocols are we using?
What professional readings or school/district documents should be included to ensure meaningful communication with families?
What additional questions should we ask about partnering and communicating with families that we have not yet included?
What cultural and linguistic considerations do we need to address?
What type of professional growth do we need to support stronger and more meaningful communication and partnerships with families?

Copyright© 2023 by Corwin. All rights reserved. Adapted from Transforming Schools for Multilingual Learners: A Comprehensive Guide for Educators, Second Edition by Debbie Zacarian. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, www.corwin.com. Posted with permission from Corwin Press.

Dr. Jennifer Love: What Do Districts Need to Know About Language Access?

This helpful overview about what language access means for school districts is a great introduction to the requirements, best practices, and funding streams related to language access in public education. This interview features Dr. Jennifer Love, the Supervisor of Language Access and Engagement in Prince George's County Public Schools, Maryland.

A warm welcome for immigrant families in the front office

Norieah Ahmed, the Child Accounting Secretary at Salina Elementary School in Dearborn, MI, talks about her role in welcoming newcomer immigrant families to the school from the moment they walk in the door.

This video is an excerpt from our 20-minute film, You Are Welcome Here: Supporting the Social and Emotional Health of Newcomer Immigrants.

Henry Sales, Mam Educator: Indigenous Families' Rights to Translated Information from Schools

Henry Sales, a Mam educator who was born in Guatemala, explains that all families, including those who speak Indigenous languages, have a right to information in their home languages from their child's school. You can see this video in Spanish and Mam as well.

This video is an excerpt from our trilingual video collection, Partnering with Indigenous Families from Latin America.

References

See the Reference List for this document.

Reprints

You are welcome to print copies or republish materials for non-commercial use as long as credit is given to Colorín Colorado and the author(s). For commercial use, please contact [email protected].

Communication with Multilingual Families

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