A herd of wide-eyed families squeeze through the doors held open by teachers displaying their biggest smiles. Families bustle down the hallways, some still wearing their work clothes since there was no time to go home to change. They find their child’s teacher’s name on a colorfully decorated door and slowly enter the classroom. Once inside the door the teacher spouts out a beautiful array of acronyms like NWEA, ELA, WIDA, ELL, SpEd, IEP and also other words like ParentVue, Dojo, Jamboard, Google form, Google Meet, and more. Minds are spinning as families are ushered into the crowded hallway once again. Tables line the gym with information on afterschool programs, school services, PTO/PTA sign ups, sports and tutoring promotions, and more. Thirty minutes later, bewildered families with a stack of yellow, pink, and blue papers emerge from the school building, still replaying the events of the evening in their heads. And then just like that back to school night is over.

Simply reading through the description of this event can cause anxiety to build up. For a family that is multilingual/cultural this can cause feelings of worry, helplessness, frustration, insecurity, and even shame. Imagine walking into a crowded building with unfamiliar faces, cultural norms, and language. Multilingual/cultural families often nod politely as they decipher bits and pieces of a language they may still be developing. Often one or two documents are translated into some recognizable words but so many seemingly vital parts are missing. Teachers might offer brief interactions but then, with the realization there is a language barrier, turn away to have a more detailed conversation with a family who is English proficient. As a devoted parent or caregiver strives to provide the best educational opportunity available to their child, this experience can solidify the feeling that not only does that family not belong but neither does their child. During Back to School “parents will be alienated by the use of educational jargon, lack of translation, or interest conversion, and could be dissuaded from becoming active participants in their children’s educational careers”  (Hwang et al., 2020).

Since “education is a shared responsibility of home, school, and community,” (Epstien, 2022) and family engagement is linked to student success (Jeynes, 2016 & 2017), the first acceptance into a cooperative relationship begins with Back to School night. Especially since Back to School night is one of the highest attended school events (U.S. Department of Education, 2018).