Increasing opportunities for partnership with culturally and linguistically diverse families

It is ''Back to School Night'' at a large elementary school serving an ethnically, linguistically, and economically diverse suburban community. There is a large turnout, and parents seem to have enjoyed themselves. There is a loud hum as they exchange information among themselves and talk excitedly to teachers. After all of the parents have left, the teachers linger to discuss the success of the evening. In the course of the conversation, a special education teacher of a mixed-age K-3 classroom seems to become less excited. Finally she confides her disappointment to a fellow teacher, ''Not one of the parents of my second-language kids came tonight. I just don't understand how to get them to come in. I hope it's not like last year-I never even met some of my parents.''.