Cultural Competency as Skilled Dialogue, Essay Example

The level of educational achievement is based on the literacy and educational level of the parent, more importantly the mother. The changes in technology have helped to propel methods in which people are able to get educated. In order to improve the welfare of children in the new generation, they most first improve parent literacy. According to Kalil (2012), “42 percent of children who grew up in households in the bottom quintile of the income distribution ended up in the bottom quintile themselves as adults” (Kalil, 2012). One of the driving factors of a productive learning environment is at home, but for low-income children the home environment falls short of others that are more advantaged. In order to narrow the gap, attention needs to be focused on the income achievement gap which is now much larger than the black-white achievement gap (Kalil, 2012). Kids that come from Hispanic-Latino descent that are low income face the difficulties in allocating their already limited financial resources. (Vaala, 2013) They also happened to have one of the highest levels of child poverty, low college enrollment, and low achievement in traditional schooling. (Vaala, 2012) The National Center for Family Literacy among other organizations has come together to find a viable solution.

A proposed solution is to rely on technology resources such as social media, innovative technologies in order to reach those dual generations of families. According to Vaala, Americans that are Hispanic-Latino descent are among the highest media consumers. (Vaala, 2012).Media has been expanding over the past decades, and many teenagers and adults are utilizing every aspect of social media in platforms such as, social, games, and media. Parents and children engage in “coviewing” where they watch television together but do not engage in any discussion about the program.(Takeuchi, Stevens 2011) What parents can do is engage in educational shows and discuss, while also using other technology sources to educate both the child and the parents.

Going from the first chapter, it is essential for education policies to develop education curriculum in order to better serve the literacy needs of children from all backgrounds. In Barrera and Corso (2002), article “Cultural Competence as Skilled Dialogue” they discuss the need for early childhood special education practitioners to have develop strategies that serve the needs for families who have different cultural backgrounds. The solution that Barrera proposes is Skilled Dialogue, which shows that diversity is a relational embedded reality (Barrera, Corso 2002). Children with different cultural backgrounds that may be children of immigrants, or talk another language deal with schooling in different ways than the average American student. The differences in which mean in communications, question and response, differences in expectations, differences in behavior, and the way they learn. (Cheatham, Santos, 2005)

The way that teachers can help to teach the children is by learning new ways to communicate in order to reach students that are not prepared to be in school environment. However, one of the first steps is to start from home. Home based learning is essential in creating a home learning environment where discussion is being going on about what is being read. The children that are most affected come low income families from European American or African American families. (Sonnenschein, Munsterman, 2002) Home based learning environment begins at the age of 5 or younger by storybook reading, or other methods of childhood literacy. Research has shown that discussion about books that are recently read help young children develop their comprehension, graphemic, and phonological skills that are necessary for reading. (Sonnenschien, Munsterman, 2002) Home based learning is essential in helping the younger generation with their literacy and other education skills.

This chapter covers teachers being researchers. Souto-Manning and Swick discuss the problems of the dissonance between teacher and parents. Teachers hold many beliefs as to what they may have generalizations and assumptions that are influenced by isolated experiences. (Souto-Manning, Swick 2006) Teachers must aim to foster healthy relationships between the families and their involvement in supporting family participation in relation to the wellbeing of the family and the child. The teachers beliefs about parents and their family involvement our conducted from their own childhood schemes. Limited roles for parenting in schools can isolate the parent-teacher relationship that would become standard. Great emphasis is placed on the parent’s role to read to the child, and get the parent involved in their child’s learning with home based activities. (Souto-Manning, Swick 2006) Research has shown that parents that are involved in their children’s home based education show positive results than those that are not. However, not all activities are included in home-based learning rituals such as afternoon play or visiting families.

Ways in which this problem and solutions can be researched is through knowing the correct steps to take which include literature review of past research and literature written. Other steps include finding out the research problems, and knowing how to formulate the questions that want to be ask. The literature review piece raises questions on knowing what to when you want to find out viable information. Asking questions such as why are certain ethnic groups having difficulty reading than, the correct person will know how to address the challenge by conducting a resourceful literature review of reading the right materials. Literature reviews are important research tools that are use primarily in emerging areas where populations that are able to yield small samples. This is conducted so that the reader will get the overall picture.

Chapter four discusses the Harvard Family Research Project. When reading and reflecting on this chapter there are several bits of information that stand out. As discuss in previous chapter, technology is a moving force in education. The use of using social platforms such as Twitter and Facebook serve as a chronicalized journal of daily school events. One of the movements for technology based education and parent involvement is the use of a Student Information System (SIS). (Starkie, 2013) SIS systems are used throughout the United States in a majority of schools for data tracking of student performances. They can be used on a lower scale such as attendance, grades, and test scores. Or they can be used online for education organizations and enabling an online parent portal that allows for parent involvement in students’ performances.

There are several discussions in the academia environment on the roles of parents in their students’ education. They are coming up with ways to keep the parent informed and active in their children’s education. The concept of sharing data is thought of as nothing new in the field of education but how educators think and share the education data has changed over the years. (Patton, 2013)  Sharing of data in the education field is focused mainly on monitoring and accountability when evaluating student and school progress. These sets of data is used to create opportunities that connect the parents and the teachers to be apart of the students’ overall success. Teachers and schools must create ways in which educators can place the data to be more accessible, coherent, and actionable for the parent. (Patton, 2013) However it is clear from, “Breaking New Ground” (2010), that there is no one solution that really works in reforming schools so that the data can be used for parent engagement. In order for it to work everyone needs to be on board and cooperate to be a success in their children’s’ lives.

Works Cited

Barrera, Isaura, Corso, Robert. (2002). Cultural Competency as Skilled Dialogue. Hammil Institute on Disabilties. Retrieved from http://tec.sagepub.com/content/22/2/103

Breaking New Ground: Data Systems Transform Family Engagement in Education. (2010).Harvard Family Research Project. Retrieved from http://www.hfrp.org/publications-resources/browse-our-publications/breaking-new-ground-data-systems-transform-family-engagement-in-education

Cheatham, Gregory, Santos, Rosa Milagros. (2005). ABC’s of Bridging Home & School Expectations for Children and Families of Diverse Backgrounds.

Kalil, Ariel. (2002). A Dual-Generation Strategy: Using Technology to Support Learning for Children and for Families. Foundation for Child Development. Retrieved from http://fcdus.org/sites/default/files/A%20Dual-Generation%20Strategy%20%20Using%20Technology.pdf

Literature Review and Research Problems. (n.d). Research Methods in Education and Psychology.

Patton, Christina L. (2013). Making Data Meaningful. Harvard Family Research Project. Retrieved from http://www.hfrp.org/publications-resources/browse-our-publications/making-data-meaningful

Sonnenschien, Susan, Munsterman, Kimberly. (2002). The influence of home-based reading interactions on 5-year-olds’ reading motivations and early literacy development. Early Childhood Research Quarterly 17. 318–337.

Souta-Manning, Mariana, Swick, Kevin. (2006). Teachers’ Beliefs about Parent and Family Involvement: Rethinking our Family Involvement Paradigm. Springer Science. DOI: 10.1007/s10643-006-0063-5

Starkie, Barbara. (2013). Data Sharing Through Parent Portals: An Exploration of Parental Motivation, Data Use, and the Promise of Prolonged Parent Involvement. Family Involvement Research Digests. Retrieved from http://www.hfrp.org/publications-resources/browse-our-publications/data-sharing-through-parent-portals-an-exploration-of-parental-motivation-data-use-and-the-promise-of-prolonged-parent-involvement

Takeuchi, Lori, Stevens, Reed. (2011).The New CoViewing: Designing for Learning through joint media engagement. The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop and LIFE Center. Retrieved from http://www.joanganzcooneycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/jgc_coviewing_desktop.pdf

Vaala, Sarah. (2012). Aprendiendo Juntos. The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop. Retrieved from http://www.joanganzcooneycenter.org/publication/aprendiendo-juntos