ABSTRACT
Many factors affect children’s ability to learn to read andwrite. Because literacy development is influenced by the attitudes of the family, the school, the community, and the society at large, one must understand the sociocultural context in which literacy development takes place. Although many characteristics of Latino families will overlap with those of the dominant middle-class White community, the beliefs that form the attitudes and values of minority communities may differ from the mainstream in important ways (Garcia Coll, Meyer, & Brillon, 1995). When workingwith ethnicminority families to support children’s literacy development, professionals must be sensitive to the beliefs and values of the community, and also be knowledgeable about the language and literacy development of bilingual children.
