Family Diversity

Overview

Characteristics that are commonly identified as relevant to family diversity and education include ethnicity, culture, language, and socioeconomic status. Although some education sources routinely [Page 883]emphasize only ethnicity when referencing diversity, empirical evidence points to the need for educators to understand diversity in a more complex manner by including additional variations such as gender and gender role identity, religion and religiosity, identified disabilities, and geographic region because all of these differences are found in research to influence family involvement in education and student outcomes.

Planning for diversity in education is a different paradigm from what was once the mainstream or majority population in the United States: middle-class, Christian, and European Americans. As U.S. demographics change, diverse families are greater in frequency and proportion than in earlier eras. Families are complex, dynamic social units typically affected by numerous characteristics rather than only ethnicity, abilities, or any one characteristic that might be categorized as diverse. The sheer number of students from diverse family backgrounds has led to broader attention to the necessity of individualizing education to increase the likelihood of success for all students.

Research

Although many categories of diversity are distinguished as requiring differentiated instruction and assessment, research efforts have been primarily directed to differences regarding race, ethnicity, culture, language, and income levels. Attention has been given to studies of African American, Latino, Native American, immigrant, and language minority students, and students from poor families because improving school achievement among these populations has been one of the continuing challenges in U.S. education. Schools are essentially staffed and led by White, middle-class professionals, sometimes forming a barrier for diverse family involvement in their children's education.

One challenge in both research and practice is the understanding that poverty is a factor that may be confounded with race, ethnicity, culture, and language. Although the percentage of poor families of color and immigrant families is greater than the percentage of White poor families, the sheer majority of families living in poverty are White. Although ethnicity and poverty are related, they are not indistinguishable.

Some of the major research results specific to family diversity and education include the following:

• All families have high aspirations for their children's success.
• Families are actively involved in their children's education, although low-income and racial/ethnic/cultural minority families' involvement is likely to be different from the involvement of middle-class European American families.
• Barriers have been identified to family involvement of diverse families in their children's education, including transportation, child care needs, and availability during school hours; lack of translators; exclusion and discrimination issues.
• Attention to complex interactions among families of diverse backgrounds and schools is necessary for closing the achievement gap.

Theory

Theories from human development and family studies have been applied to increase understanding about differences in families as well as ways to support family involvement in children's education. Two theories from a contextualist paradigm that have been noted as relevant to family diversity are Urie Bronfenbrenner's bioecological theory and Lev Vygotsky's sociocultural theory. Additionally, a variety of family systems theories offer explanations in regard to family diversity.

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