“A most welcome addition to the growing, yet urgently needed literature on family diversity. . . . An excellent selection for teacher education courses that cover the role of families in society and that guide students to work successfully with many kinds of families. Individual chapters could be a wonderful addition to almost any course in a teacher education program.”
—Teachers College Record

“Other Kinds of Families will help teachers to avoid making mistakes in their work with many different types of family diversity, and will provide the knowledge and ideas important to working with all families.”
—Carl A. Grant, University of Wisconsin-Madison

“Teachers, researchers, and policymakers will find thought-provoking ideas, engaging stories, and practical strategies for including those who have typically been excluded from the conversation.”
—Sonia Nieto, Professor Emerita, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

“Other Kinds of Families will enlarge your sense of humanity, encourage you to rethink the meaning and importance of our most intimate relationships, and change forever the way you see families—everyone else's and your own.”
—William Ayers, University of Illinois at Chicago

Turner-Vorbeck and Miller Marsh contend that the vast diversity found in schools and society today suggests an urgent need to reconsider the ways in which families are currently represented and addressed in school curriculum and culture. In this important volume, they provide critical and theoretical analyses combined with narrative experiences to address such issues as multi-generational views of the schooling experiences of immigrant families, the educational needs of gay and lesbian families, the representation of adoption and adoptive families in children’s literature, and the experiences of homeless students and their families with the educational system.

Essential reading for everyone interested in building more inclusive communities, this book:

• Looks at families that diverge from the so-called norm, including single parent, multi-racial, foster, adoptive, blended, LGBTQ, and immigrant families.
• Features a varied group of authors, including teachers, students, parents, principals, school counselors, and professors.
• Offers examples of how both school and university personnel have responded to incorporating all family types into the school community.
• Provides guidance to help readers affect positive and appropriate change in their own classrooms and communities.
• Includes questions for reflection and discussion at the end of each chapter.

Contributors: Lesley Colabucci • Matthew D. Conley • Elizabeth Heilman • Janice Kroeger • Ilyana Marks • A.Y. Ramirez • Lisa Rieger • Teresa J. Rishe • Tracy Thoennes

Tammy Turner-Vorbeck is a visiting professor of teacher education at Wabash College. Monica Miller Marsh is an associate professor of education at DeSales University.