Educ Cultural & Ling Diversity: SL:Fmly Schl & Cmty Collab

Provides a foundation for understanding basic concepts regarding home, school, and community collaboration. Focuses specifically on creating partnerships between diverse families, families whose children have disabilities, and community partners and schools that serve these populations. Prerequisites: ECLD 1560, EDSP 1050; or Instructor permission. Pre/Co-requisite: ECLD 2020.

Prereqs enforced by the system: ECLD 1560 and EDSP 1050; Open to Degree and PACE students

Relying on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory of human development (1979, 1986), we will (a) explore the benefits of partnership between adults who interact with children, (b) examine barriers to creating these partnerships, (c) learn research-based innovative practices to increase these partnerships, and (d) explore such partnerships in our own community. Although benefitting all students, families, and professionals, partnerships between the family, school, and community are especially important for supporting children with more intensive support needs that cut across contexts, such as students with disabilities, and to increase equity for children from marginalized groups, such as students with refugee backgrounds. Therefore, in this course we will focus specifically on partnerships between education and community agency professionals and families whose children have disabilities or refugee backgrounds. Course Goals By the conclusion of the term, you will be able to:
 1. Articulate the role of the family, community, and school in children’s development.
 2. Utilize theory to understand and explain the diversity of family structures, strengths, and needs. 3. Describe research-based family-professional partnership practices.
 4. Serve as a community resource and advocate for students with disabilities and ELs and their families. 5. Apply the federal and state regulations governing family engagement and service delivery in educational matters. 6. Explain issues that can affect students with disabilities and their families and how they can affect student learning. 7. Explain issues that affect students from refugee backgrounds and their families and how they can affect student learning. 8. Use the equity literacy framework to collaborate with colleagues to seek to understand diverse perspectives and promote equity within the school community. 9. Understand the importance of out of school time (OST) and the community programs available for students and families during these times.

This class is scheduled to meet in person. This is a Service-Learning Course. You will be expected to participate in activities supporting community partners throughout the semester.