Towards a culturally and linguistically appropriate and responsive family engagement model for low-income Chinese immigrant parents in San Francisco: A qualitative analysis

The purpose of this transdisciplinary study was to develop a culturally and linguistically appropriate and responsive family engagement model for low-income Chinese American immigrant parents. The inquiry investigated culturally and linguistically appropriate and responsive components of existing family engagement programs to isolate successful elements of parent education and engagement frameworks in early care and education settings. Multiple disciplines, such as early care and education, sociology, immigration psychology, intercultural and cross-cultural psychology, Chinese American history, and human development expanded this inquiry's perspective. Although low-income Chinese American immigrant needs have historically been masked by the Chinese Model Minority myth, this study uncovered how stakeholders could go beyond this myth and develop adequate resources for young children and their families. In this study, the researcher analyzed national-scale meta-analysis studies of parent engagement models and provider relationships, as well as national and local parent engagement models. Additionally, parents' voices were captured through focus groups, an inductive process aimed at improving and validating the framework elements developed through data integration. The current study's findings reveal a set of framework elements for constructing a parent education and engagement model for low-income Chinese American immigrants, consisting of four key policy components and four system capacity components. The four key policy components are (a) customization of the family engagement programs based on community needs and empirical data, (b) employment of professional staff, (c) building capacity and expertise to develop strength-based programs from the ecological view of children development, and (d) development of program components from a multiperspectival angle. The four key system capacity components are (a) honoring generational wisdom; (b) acknowledgement of resilience built through the stressors experienced during immigration; (c) cultural humility, particularly in communication; and (d) program development from an integrated intergenerational coparenting approach. Early care and education programs can employ these elements when working with low-income Chinese immigrant parents to support their acculturation process, increase their understanding of the American educational system, and explain the cultural differences in student and parental expectations. In turn, their children may be better able to successfully navigate transitions between home cultures, school cultures, and various school systems.