Virginia’s Families and Communities
Driving questions
We often hear the phrase “families are children’s first (or most important) teachers.” But what does that really mean and do we act in ways that are consistent with that belief? The following questions will guide you as you seek to better understand the challenges, strengths, and perspectives across the diverse families with whom you will collaborate to support children:
- How have the demographics across Virginia shifted over the past 20 years?
- How does Virginia’s past impact today’s experiences across communities?
- How has the educator workforce evolved over the last 20 years?
- What recent policies and political narratives reflected and elevated conversation about diverse family and community needs across Virginia’s school communities?
The scenarios below and in the following chapters provide opportunities to explore these questions. As you read, we encourage you to consider what currently exists in your community and to imagine what might be possible. As you read the stories, write down your responses to the driving questions above.
Welcoming Bess and Manny
As a first year teacher, Mia relied on her mentor to obtain a great deal of information about the school division. Thankfully, the new teacher academy held just before the school year started introduced her to many important resources and central office leadership. She remembered that her division had a Newcomer Office specifically organized to support families and students new to the United States or who recently relocated to Virginia. In addition to the open-ended prompts to learn about her students, she included some basic demographic information on the questionnaires she distributed on back to school night. When she reviewed the responses, she realized that many of her students’ family members were multilingual or emerging bilingual speakers. The school counselor shared with her that many were recently relocated refugees, so they had both many resources and opportunities available to them, as well as many structural barriers to overcome while raising their children. She made a list of the families’ primary languages and emailed the Newcomer Office director to ask what translation services they had and their suggestions for communicating in languages that Mia didn’t speak. When she met with her mentor to check in at the end of that week, she mentioned how helpful that office was! Her mentor, a teacher with over 15 years of experience teaching in that school, looked a bit perplexed and asked, “What office?”
What happened here? What may have led to this disconnect? We often think of mentors as those with extensive experience in our profession, or in a clinic, center, school, or division; these are the experienced clinicians and educators who can guide us. Why might mentors be unfamiliar with such resources integral to the success of both children and families? In this chapter, we will explore how changes in our communities influence the intersections between families, educators, clinicians, and policymakers. We will question where missed opportunities exist and seek opportunities to meet the ever-evolving needs of the children and adolescents we serve. Let’s begin by exploring how the population in Virginia is different today than even just a few years ago and the opportunities and challenges inherent in change[1].
- This chapter focuses on Virginia’s context, but shares many characteristics with other regions and states in North America. For those reading this chapter while working elsewhere, this may present an opportunity for a comparative analysis. See the instructor’s/ facilitator’s guide for ideas. ↵
