Several recent studies have suggested that to involve parents, the most successful schools reach out to the community. In a recent ethnographic study of parents whose children attend a dual-language school, it was found that volunteering in the school was an important mechanism to build and maintain close relationships between parents and the school. This article reports on the patterns of volunteering in the school and the ways that parents used these opportunities, not only to benefit the school and the community, but to improve their own lives.
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