How to Overcome Barriers Above You

I want to take a moment to acknowledge that even if you are still observing challenges with equitable communication for your families, you are not alone. You can and should give yourself and others grace. Take care of yourself each day. Acknowledge the efforts you make. And if it is right, get yourself some help. You don't have to do it alone, and it doesn't have to be so difficult and exhausting. Fast forward to "Better Together" below for more information on how to get help and community.

Tip of the Week

Pause to identify if there are barriers above you. 

Is there anyone higher than you who is not aware of or not invested in solving this problem? Perhaps they are a barrier in that they have actually been an obstacle to your efforts in the past. But maybe they are a potential powerful ally, who could be supporting you, but just aren't (yet).
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Identify who and why, so you can start chipping away at that barrier in order to: 

a) get their thought partnership, and 
b) hear “yes” more often when you make requests (for time with schools, PD for yourself, a new position, outside help, etc.).

The Story

Just a couple weeks ago a friend introduced me to someone who I think we could call a local influencer in education. We had a brief chat, and when he found out what I do (i.e. multilingual family communication), he said, “Principals aren’t feeling the need yet. There just aren’t many [ELs], but numbers are growing slowly”.

​This person gets rave reviews from people I trust, so I have faith that this person does a lot of influencing for the better. And I think the comment above illustrates how even smart, “good”, educated people can be entirely out of the loop when it comes to multilingual family communication.

He was trying to emphasize future need, but was reflecting back the lack of common awareness of the very pressing and urgent current need, no matter what the numbers are.

I responded to him, “Part of my job is to show principals that not only is growth imminent, but in the meantime, the students that they have already are suffering while they aren’t making this a priority.”
There is so much more I wanted to say, but for a passing introduction, I kept it short, with the promise to connect further.

Like me, this comment might have you thinking:

• Numbers of multilingual families aren’t growing slowly. They are growing quickly. Very quickly.
• Deprioritizing equity and inclusion work because the numbers are small is not what equity and inclusion work is all about. In fact, that thinking leads in the opposite direction of equity and inclusion.
• If you wait to prioritize something until the numbers are high, it will be too late.

Plus, who is to determine when the number is high “enough” to become a priority? It isn't principals. It is the DOJ and the DOE, and they say …

• It doesn’t matter how few multilingual families you have, if you aren’t communicating in their language (in the appropriate manner), you are out of compliance.

Have you encountered thought processes like this one in people you know and even admire?
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In my experience, higher-level positions are often unaware of the problem because it isn’t a part of their daily experience or responsibilities, and if they don’t hear about the problems, they understandably think all is well ... or similarly to the story above, they think that this isn’t a priority because the percentage of students is too low to merit attention.

But your experience is more important than mine. Yours will lead you to the key that unlocks the barriers you encounter.

Call to Action

1. Take a moment to reflect on the barriers "above" you. You can fill this out to help you think it through, and receive your responses back in an email to yourself to revisit after break. I’ll take a peak as well, and reach out if I have any thoughts or suggestions!

2. If you meet regularly with your manager, whether or not this person represents one of your barriers, start sharing about the world of multilingual communication regularly. For example, create a standing “Section VI Compliance” agenda item where you tell them what issues arose this week, including any erroneous action and inaction that you are aware of.

3. When you share, recount the actual human stories about how staff members, families, and students were affected by the school's mistake. If you spent time cleaning up a mess, make sure you share the cost of that time. If you weren't able to work on really important A, because you were dealing with dysfunctional B, they should know about that wider impact. You can share steps you have taken to correct the issue, systemic problems you see, and the legal implications as well.

​If you need help backing up your legal claims, you can either a) get really granular and show them pages 37-40 of the DOE’s 2015 Dear Colleague Letter, or b) get really practical and use the checklist I created.

​The checklist is aligned with Dear Colleague letter, absent my own opinions on the matter, so you can be sure you are presenting text-based evidence to your higher-ups. It is a shortcut for determining where your schools are in or out of compliance. Just use the checklist, or also use the article that precedes it. (I like the article, but I am biased.)

Better Together

So many leaders know that their multilingual families aren't getting equitable access to information, programming, or people in their schools.

Yet often times these leaders are the only ones who see it, because multilingual communication has been segregated to them and/or their team alone. This makes it an uphill battle to fix a serious problem that everyone else thinks is going just fine.
Anne Truran helps educational leaders advocate for their multilingual families and lead measurable change to the communication support they receive.
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To get support from Anne:
1) Schedule a free no-pressure consultation.
2) Tell me about your school and community.
3) Get your plan for creating a better experience for multilingual families, and better results for kids.​