Supporting School Responsiveness to Immigrant Families and Children: A University-School Partnership

A partnership between a university program and an urban public school was created to help the school respond to the significant increase in the school's population of immigrant, English language learners. School staff and university faculty established an agenda to learn about local immigrant families, improve communications with the families, and provide responsive instruction to the children. Over a two-year period, a series of graduate courses were offered to teachers, focusing on culturally responsive curriculum, second language instruction, and Spanish language learning. In addition, the university faculty provided ongoing consultation with teachers in classrooms, as well as a series of parent workshops with the school families. Dedicated to embracing the immigrant community and children, more than twenty teachers and the school principal participated in the graduate courses and used the experience to change the school culture, promote school-community relationships, and improve classroom instruction for the English language learners.