Preparing for equitable family and community engagement through home visiting: linking culturally...

This manuscript examines how home visiting by educators aligns with and informs culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogy (CR-SP) through the lens of developmental theory. Drawing on a synthesis of multiple qualitative studies, we analyze evidence of home visiting's influence on four dimensions of CR-SP: teachers' beliefs, dispositions, instructional practices, and integration of family and community knowledge. We find the strongest alignment between home visiting and teacher beliefs, including enhanced self-reflection, cultural competence, and asset-based thinking. While evidence of impact on responsive instructional practices is emerging, findings show limited influence on teachers' sociopolitical consciousness, curriculum adaptation, or integration of family knowledge into classroom environments. To guide our analysis, we apply asset-based educational frameworks alongside developmental theories, including Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, and developmental systems theory. This interdisciplinary approach highlights home visiting as a potentially powerful relational and developmental bridge between families and schools, while also underscoring the need for structural supports-such as targeted professional learning, reflection tools, and policy guidance-to realize its full promise. We conclude with implications for theory, research, and practice, calling for more robust and longitudinal inquiry into how home visiting can support equity-driven, developmentally aligned teaching across varied educational contexts.