Digging Deeper...

I wanted to take my search a little deeper, so I decided to utilize UC's library website to find journal articles related to my topic. I came across the following recent study, "An Examination of Common Teacher Perceptions of ELL Students and Families and Recommendations for Peagogical Change (2011)," by Colleen M. Worman from the University of Washington. The study examines the underlying biases and assumptions of teachers, preK- 12, in one school district.
As I perused the literature review I was struck by the following quote:
"Throughout the literature it is explained that we 'continually seek to explain minority school failure by asking what is wrong with 'those students' or their families rather than by examining how school (and larger society) structure produce the failure of particular groups' "(Bartlett & Brayboy, 2005, p. 362). 
This is true about so many things! How often do we seek to place the blame on others, rather than reexamine our own methods, stratgies, biases, and assumptions? Instead of pointing fingers, we, as educators, need to take responsibility for the factors we can control - namely how we approach the situation and respond to it, rather than giving it up as a lost cause because we assume that the family is uninvolved and/or unconcerned about their child's progress in school.
The article goes on to discuss the common misconception that because ELL students are often unpaticipatory in the classroom, that they lack motivation and desire to succeed. This notion is further perpetuated by the amount of ELL students who are referred for special education and the difficulty of distinguishing between langauge difficulties and actual learning deficits. In response to these challenges, teachers need to set aside their biases and tap into one of the most effective resources that is linked to student achievement and success - family involvement. Obviously this presents a challenge in and of itself when faced with the language and cultural barriers to communication, but it is an obstacle that needs to be overcome as explained in this quote from the article:
"As Gay (2000) states '…communication cannot exist without culture, culture cannot be known without communication, and teaching and learning cannot occur without communication or culture' (p. 77)."
We cannot seek to overcome these challenges without establishing and maintaining communication with families of ELL students - those with and without disabilities. 
The article suggests using other parents in the school community who speak languages commonly used in the community to help teachers and schools communicate with ELL families. I think this is a great idea to an extent, depending on the nature of the communication and the discretion of the person who is helping you communicate with the family.
Overall, it is essential for us, as educators, to acknowledge our biases and assumptions, but to not allow them to determine how we teach and interact with our students and their families.

http://search.proquest.com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/docview/900828208