Toward collaborative partnerships: Lessons from parents and teachers of emergent bi/multilingual students

There is widespread consensus that parental involvement in their children’s education contributes to the children’s success at school. However, it is also recognized that non-dominant populations, particularly immigrant families, face language and cultural barriers, racism, poverty, and other obstacles to navigating school practices that many families do not face. In this article, we argue for the need to reject overtly school-centered parental involvement practices in favor of collaborative partnerships that position parents as equal partners and decision-makers. We first present critical features that characterize home-school collaborative partnerships, based on key literature detailing research from this perspective. Second, we present 2 examples of attempts to forge home-school partnerships, based on qualitative research independently conducted by the coauthors. Finally, we discuss the challenges and possibilities of school-parent partnerships that are illustrated by these examples and conclude by suggesting potential pathways toward more collaborative partnerships.