Traditionally, the field of education has often adopted a negative perspective in their views of minority families’ contributions to the educational progress of their children. However, research embodying the theoretical framework of ‘funds of knowledge’ attempts to counter that model through its assertion that all families possess extensive bodies of knowledge that have developed through social, historical, and cultural contexts. Teachers carry out studies of familial funds of knowledge in order to understand how family experiences shape the knowledge that a child brings to the classroom. There is then, the potential to use that body of knowledge to create meaningful learning experiences that connect prior understanding and experiences to classroom practice. This research served as a case study of the funds of knowledge existing in the home of a Hispanic family and the connections that existed between that knowledge and literacy. The results indicated that the family possessed extensive funds of knowledge that developed through their historical, cultural, and social experiences. They often used family networks, as well as formal and informal literacy experiences to share this knowledge with their children. A key component of the literacy value system that they communicated resulted from a desire to maintain aspects of their culture and heritage through maintaining and improving their children’s reading and linguistic abilities in Spanish. Furthermore, along with their emphasis on Spanish literacy, they held aspirations for their children related to familial and educational values that often stemmed from their expressed desire for their children to lead lives with greater opportunities and positive examples than they had experienced.

ABSTRACT In this narrative inquiry, I examined parents’ stories to gain insight into their journey toward selecting a French Immersion Catholic stream of education for their Kindergarten-aged children. As a teacher, I first noticed a pronounced shift in the parents who were choosing Catholic French Immersion for their school-aged children and, then, as I formed close relationships with a diverse range of parents, I became cognizant that many families were deeply rooted in a faith other than that of Catholicism. With my curiosity piqued, I engaged in research to explore what these diverse parents believe Catholic French Immersion schools have to offer them. Utilizing both Joseph Schwab’s (1973) notion of curricular commonplaces and Allen’s (2007) web of caring as a framework for my research, I demonstrated how important it is that educators invite parent knowledge (Pushor, 2011, 2013) onto the school landscape as they attend to parents’ intentions in making particular school choices for their children. Using a metaphor of painting, and to paint both individual stories and a triptych of stories to capture parents’ influences, thoughts, hopes and dreams for their children that led them to Catholic French Immersion, I chose narrative inquiry methodology. I utilized field texts gathered from three sets of parents, including stories, journals, field notes, letters, conversations, and family stories, to paint an intimate understanding of the research puzzle. In terms of Catholic education, these families value a faith-based school environment but for different reasons. The Nelson family, rooted in Baptist faith, felt it was important that their child be schooled alongside other faithful children and also believed that Catholic schools inherently value the sanctity of each child. The Padrique family, newcomers to Canada, assumed that Catholic education would teach their child important values and that parents in the Catholic system would share parenting philosophies similar to their own. The Larocque family saw that through learning Catholic doctrine in school their children would be provided an opportunity to be exposed to, and to accept or reject, a system of beliefs not taught to their children at home. In terms of French Immersion, the families understood that their children’s ability to speak French would enhance their employment opportunities in the future. Both the Nelsons and the Padriques further viewed French Immersion as a program choice for the more academically inclined. Similarly, the Larocques, whose children have Treaty Status, understood French Immersion as a more challenging program where children become accustomed to working hard. This research will help deepen educators’ understanding of parent motivations for choosing this stream of education and more fully attend in their practice to parent intentions and parent knowledge.

The purpose of the ethnographic narrative project was to understand ourselves and our students in a more in-depth manner. The ethnographic narrative project has allowed me to explore myself, my students, my classroom, the community I teach in, and the link each of these has to social justice. In order to best serve our students as educators, we must comprehend all of the funds of knowledge our students possess and utilize these facets to aid their learning. I have found that understanding my students cultural, social, academic assets is critical to fulfilling their needs both as students and individuals. I have also explored my own strengths and areas of growth as an educator and solidified my teaching identity. As educators we must not only teach our students academic skills teach social and emotional assets as well.

There are a number of factors that contribute to the differences in college access rates of under-represented students compared with their white and Asian American counterparts. Families play a role in whether students experience a college-going culture. In an effort to challenge the dominant literature which focuses primarily on familial deficits, the intent of this research is to understand families from a different model, that of funds of knowledge (Moll, Amanti, Neff, & Gonzalez, 1992). Using a qualitative approach of embedded case studies and oral history interviews, this study explored the funds of knowledge present in six Mexican families in a university outreach program and sought to understand how those funds of knowledge contribute to the development of the college ideologies for their families. Participants are represented by the term household clusters, which includes extensions of families beyond the nuclear household (Vélez-Ibáñez & Greenberg, 2005). Three theoretical frameworks were used for this study. The primary framework utilized is funds of knowledge (Gonzalez, Moll & Amanti, 2005), with social capital (Bourdieu 1973, 1977) and cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1986; Bourdieu & Passerson, 1977) serving as supplemental frameworks. Findings illustrate that funds of knowledge in the form of daily educational practices were present in household clusters and influenced children’s academic experiences and college knowledge. Educational ideologies highlighted the ways in which beliefs around the college-going process were formed and manifested as both helpful and limiting. Finally, it was evident that parental involvement was valued; this also included examples of non-traditional involvement, particularly when mothers worked at their children’s schools.

This dissertation builds on and contributes to work in the field of parent-school collaboration and the funds of knowledge approach. In South Africa, policies have been developed to promote collaboration between schools and parents. These policies, however, do not fully recognise or aim to use parents’ funds of knowledge in this collaboration. In addition, numerous studies have examined the challenges associated with collaboration amongst working-class households, however, little attention has been given to the lower middle-class in South Africa in particular. This study therefore explores the funds of knowledge of lower-middle class parents, and ways in which schools and parents manage these ‘funds’ to enhance the literacy development of foundation phase learners. The dissertation draws strongly on the work of Moll, Amanti, Neff and Gonzalez (1992) whose funds of knowledge approach holds a transformative perspective on people with a lower socio-economic background. The data for this qualitative study was collected through 30 semi-structured interviews. I argue that parents accumulate various knowledge, skills and abilities through their life experiences that could significantly enhance the literacy development of their children. The findings suggest that, while parents possess these skills, there is a lack of transmission of the skills and knowledge amongst their children. Factors that influence the collaborative use of these funds of knowledge are discussed and explored in this study. I conclude with a discussion on the dynamics of a South African classroom and existing policies on collaboration and how this affects the collaborative use of parents’ funds of knowledge to enhance the literacy of foundation phase learners. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Education Management and Policy Studies / MEd / Unrestricted

Parental involvement is highly important for children's success at school. Research has shown that parental involvement leads to higher student achievement, better school attendance, and a reduction in dropout rates. However, what happens with those parents who do not speak English or have limited communication skills in this language? How can they become involved in their children's schooling when the children attend school in a language foreign to the parents? This study examines the experiences of three Mexican immigrant mothers and one father getting involved in their children's education in the United States. Helena was an active participant of a service-learning program hosted by a medium-sized Land Grand University. Sandra also attended the program but only for some time. Finally, the Hernandez parents, Mercedes and Jose Luis, were randomly selected in the community and did not participate in the service-learning program. This qualitative study relied mainly upon semi-structure interviews with the participants along with observations and field notes. The conclusions from this study provide insight as to how Mexican-immigrant parents with low-income develop an understanding of the school system in the United States. Analysis revealed two main strategies that parents use to communicate with the school: 1) using interpreters as affordance networks for communication, and 2) using their own knowledge of English to take actions and comply with school requirements. Data show that, contrary to common assumptions, parents do not prefer children as their first option for interpreting functions. In terms of learning about standard cultural practices of parental involvement parents accommodate to school demands by using various strategies and resources from their funds of knowledge. Parents learn about standard cultural practices of parental involvement and at the same time they support their children's education; in this process parents rely on their own cultural repertoires. Besides, parents seek places where they can develop community ties in order to learn about the how-tos of life in the United States. Finally, findings demonstrate that parents feel frustration and anxiety about their relationship with the schools, since they are facing with great resilience the every life challenges of living in a culture and language different from their own. The main findings of this study and discussing on the implications provided a discussion for policy changes in the context of the NCLB act, and suggestions for teacher preparation programs, and local school or service programs. / Ph. D.

Educators often face a problem of the lack of ongoing contact between the school and students' homes (Delpit, 1995; Delgado-Gaitan, 1991; McCaleb, 1994). Literacy development at school is facilitated by teachers' knowledge of students' home-based discourses (Auerbach, 1989; McCaleb, 1994; Voss, 1996). This dissertation research responded to the question: What do educators need to understand and appreciate about their students' home or living context in order to create partnerships with parents and young students that will nurture literacy growth? This research is an ethnographic study. I spent one school year as a participant observer in a family literacy program. Young mothers who never finished high school and had children under the age of eight attended this program twice weekly. I observed during the family literacy sessions, recorded field notes, and conducted formal and informal interviews with nine family literacy program participants. I visited four women in their homes and conducted interviews. All interviews were tape recorded which were then transcribed. I collected copies of women's written pieces produced during the family literacy program. Data analysis and interpretation (Coffey & Atkinson, 1996) revealed themes and issues consistent within each of six women's stories. The deficiency model (Auerbach, 1989; Purcell-Gates, 1995; Sleeter, 1996) was challenged as each women demonstrated resourcefulness, articulated goals, the use of multiple literacies, commitment to their families' welfare, support and initiative in their children's schooling and a keen awareness of social class barriers. Repositioning our perspectives (Sleeter, 1996) enables educators to discover the strengths in students' home discourses that include multiple literacies (Voss, 1996) and other funds of knowledge (Moll & Greenberg, 1990). We need to move our lens from that of critique and judgement to that of discovery. Each student comes to school with an abundance of family and home experiences that need opportunities for expressions and learning. The pressures of negotiating home discourses with the dominant discourse (Gee, 1990; Sleeter, 1996) create reservoirs of strength for many families that is often masked by non-middle class appearances. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this study is to review the lives of three immigrant women from the town of Doctor Mora, Guanajuato, Mexico. The following questions were used to gather and analyze the data: 1) How were their lives prior to migrating to the U.S.? 2) What was their experience crossing the border? 3) What are their life experiences in the U.S.? This study is intended to analyze the history and path of acculturation of these three immigrant women. This study analyzes Alejandro Portes's theory of selective acculturation, concept of funds of knowledge, Gordon's classical theory of assimilation, and the concepts of cultural and social capital. Selective acculturation theory is applied as a basis for analysis of the case studies. These studies were conducted using observational, audio-taped and open ended interviews. This study took place in Tucson, Arizona. Interviews took place in Spanish, the interviews were transcribed, translated, verified and analyzed. Findings show the persistence of these participants to become part of American society through education and involvement in the host society, utilizing their inherent cultural and social capital and supporting the theory of selective acculturation path. The next section gives a more detailed introduction of this study.

The purpose of this ethnography was to examine the elements of my personal goals and aspirations of being an elementary school teacher with the real experience of teaching students within my classroom. Through the lens of an ethnography, and grounded in the research components of culturally inclusive education and, this thesis provides a critical and needed pedagogical approach to how teachers can make a difference in the lives of their students, and in the process learn that they are really the ones being taught.

Reform initiatives such as Science for All Americans (AAA, 1989) and National Science Education Standards (NRC, 1996) argue for making science accessible to all children regardless of age, sex, cultural and/or ethic background, and disabilities. One of the most popular and prevailing phrases highlighting science education reform in the last decade has been science for all. In terms of making science accessible to all, science educators argue that one role of science teachers ought to be to embrace students’ experiences outside of the science classroom by becoming aware and inclusive of the cultural resources that student’s households contain. Moll, González and Amanti (1992) termed these cultural resources as funds of knowledge which refer to culturally developed bodies of knowledge and skills essential for household well being. This study examined the career transition of a former Latina scientist from a research scientist to a high school science teacher. Her lived experiences that influenced her career transition were examined using interpretive biography through a feminist theory lens. The following question guided the study: How have the lived experiences of the participant as engaged through cultural, historical, and social interactions influenced a transition in career from a research scientist to a classroom teacher? A former Latina scientist and her family participated in this study to facilitate the documentation, narration, and interpretation of her career transition. The researcher immersed herself in the field for five months and data collection included in-depth interviews with the participant and her family. In addition, the researcher kept a reflexive journal. Data were analyzed using socio-cultural thematic approach to identify snapshots and to develop emergent themes. Data analysis revealed that the participant’s cultural socialization conflicted with the Eurocentric/Androcentric culture of science found in both the university and research laboratories. Consequently the participant’s strong need to have a family was a powerful contributor to her selection of teaching as a second career. The participant’s lived experiences emphasized a need to explore the impact and interaction of ethnicity and gender in the myopic science culture that has left women and people of other cultures at the doorsteps of the scientific enterprise.