Home-to-School Contact and Its Impact on Students' School Belonging: A Triadic, Mixed-Methods Approach

Abstract

Home-to-school contact can reduce educational inequity. Yet, little research has examined how schools in low- and high-SES neighborhoods engage only-German-speaking and multilingual families. Our mixed-methods study addressed this gap by: (1) analyzing diversity-related codes of conduct and communication strategies, (2) comparing teachers', parents', and students' home-to-school contact perspectives (MANOVA), and (3) linking them to school belonging. Participants included 944 students (Mage = 13.4; 64% multilingual), 28 classroom-teachers (Mage = 46.8), and 352 parents (Mage = 44.5; 40% multilingual). A content analysis of school websites revealed similar diversity-related codes of conduct, focused on tolerance and inclusion. High-SES neighborhoods displayed more customized home-to-school communication strategies. Teachers and parents reported more contact in only-German-speaking families, and teachers reported more contact with multilingual families in high-SES neighborhoods. All three contact perspectives predicted school belonging in high-SES neighborhoods, but only teacher and student-reported contact showed effects in low-SES neighborhoods. Findings call for disentangling informant, SES, and migration factors in diverse schools.