Minority Parents as Cultural Mediators for Education: Deaf Parents Mentoring Hearing Parents of Deaf Children

Abstract Connections to communities can enhance the knowledge, power, and efficacy of families as well as schools. In this paper we will describe a community-based project that works to establish links for cultural communication, mediation, and understanding among families of minority (deaf ) children, Deaf community members, and school personnel in a deaf education program (see endnote 2). Through this depiction and analysis we shed light on the power of community-family-school relationships for children's education. Specifically, this paper describes the Deaf Parent-to-Parent Project, an initiative intended to bridge the cultural gaps between the Deaf community and the hearing parents and school personnel who are nurturing and educating deaf children. Throughout a series of workshops and the informal interactions that accompanied them, Deaf parents acted as resources and mentors to hearing parents raising deaf children, as well as to their schools. Introduction Schools are increasingly recognizing their responsibility for educating all children. As schools seek support for the goals of equity and excellence for all, the discussion frequently turns to the importance of culturally relevant pedagogy: curriculum and instruction that is rooted in children's cultures (Ladson-Billings, 1992, 1994). But, in order to base pedagogy in culture, the school and its teachers must first have some understanding of the relevant cultures, and must be able to take the perspective of the families and communities of their students. School personnel acknowledge the challenges when educators and children are from different cultural, linguistic, and experiential backgrounds. Teachers who, historically, were often born and raised in the same communities as children now often come from cultural backgrounds and geographical locations far removed from those of their students. While teachers may believe they understand children and child development, there is often a gap between their understanding and the actual children they are teaching. If we believe that knowledge of children's cultures- language, norms, values, and ways of doing things-is critical for successful education, then we know we must find a way to learn more about the children we teach. One way of bridging the gaps that often exist between the knowledge and experience of teachers and the learning strengths and needs of their students is to develop partnerships with the adults who know them best-adults who can act as cultural translators and links to cultural knowledge (Cummins, 1989; Delpit, 1995; Hulsebosch, 1996; Moll, 1992). For most children, partnerships between teachers and families serve this function. Families can act as mediators helping to interpret and, sometimes, reconcile the differences in norms, values, beliefs, and ways of doing things between homes and schools without labeling the child as unacceptable (Delgado-Gaitan & Ruiz, 1992). Parents can help their children understand just what it is the school expects from them and why. They can also help teachers understand their child's actions through the socio-cultural lens of family, thereby opening up new avenues to accomplish educational goals. Families, with their intimate knowledge of their children, can also offer funds of knowledge (Moll, 1992) derived from homes and communities. These "funds" include understanding and experiences typically not included as part of school curriculum: knowledge about managing a restaurant, growing vegetables, home repair, automotive mechanics, or community history. Teachers can then incorporate this knowledge of students' cultures into the daily school curriculum and instruction. Partnerships between home and school offer the possibility of bridging cultures. However, for some children it is not enough for only families and teachers to reach out to one another. Bridges among the adults in their immediate life must be multiplied if a fuller cultural understanding is to be gained. …