Connecting School and the Multilingual Home: Theory and Practice for Rural Educators, Paperback

This book examines the educational achievement gap that multilingual students in disadvantaged, rural communities experience and argues that responsive, successful relationships between schools and multilingual families is a crucial aspect of educators' work. The author recognises that no simple strategy will work for all families in all circumstances and that family engagement is more complex than a list of strategies. Building meaningful partnerships and relational trust requires significant knowledge of and engagement with a family's culture and language repertoire. Educators must reframe their work to recognise the strengths of multilingual families, which are too-often overlooked in school policies and educator practices. This is the first book to focus specifically on rural school settings, but the ideas and information it contains will be of use to all educators wishing to aid their students to fulfil their potential.

Maria R. Coady is Irving and Rose Fien Endowed Professor and Associate Professor of ESOL/Bilingual Education at the University of Florida, USA. She has worked extensively in rural multilingual settings. She is director of Project STELLAR (Supporting Teachers and Educators of English Language Learners Across Rural Settings) and has taught English and run a mobile bilingual book project with multilingual families.