Bilingual Education Program at Texas A

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Creating Partnerships of Success
Email bilingual_at_tamu.edu
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Parental Involvement
More than PTA...
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Parental Involvement

• Texas AMs Bilingual Program is a partner with
  three strong parental involvement projects that
  serve over 250 parents weekly.

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Timeline with Parental Involvement

• Aldine ISD
• 1995 to date
• Bryan ISD
• 2000-to-date
• Cypress-Fairbanks ISD
• 1996 to 2000
• Waller ISD
• 2001- to date

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Funding

• Part of OELA School-Wide Improvement Grants to
  Districts
• State and District Funds
• Qualified Volunteers

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Benefits of Parental Involvement

• Affective Motivation for children
• (Crawford, 1989, Connell Wellborn, 1990)
• Promotes Academic Achievement
• (Epstein, 1990, 1992, Hidalgo, et al., 1995
  Suárez-Orozco Suárez-Orozco, 2001)

Parent involvement reinforces L1 development

• Empowers Parents by Promoting Their Own
  Linguistic, Academic, and Technology Skills

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Barriers to Overcome

• Barriers may be in place that serve to limit some
  Hispanic parents involvement (Bermúdez,
  Márquez, 1996 Cummins, 2001 Inger, 1992
  Suárez-Orozco Suárez-Orozco, 2001).

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Threats

• inconvenient times such as during working hours
• material is sent home in English only
• school personnel that rarely speaks Spanish
• few administrators or teachers are offered
  guidance or training to help them understand and
  reach Hispanic families
• often both parents work, and may work a long
  distance from the school
• intense financial pressures and work
• long hours

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Threats, cont.

• Improperly lit campuses in inner city or rural
  communities may deter participation, particularly
  at night
• child care arrangements
• some parents may have had bad experiences with
  schools themselves
• reluctant to question school personnel
• lack of understanding of the school system
• perceive the schools role as
• that of instilling knowledge
• often parents do not feel needed or wanted in
  their children's schools

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We Can Overcome

• Vargas and Fultz (2001) found that parents were
  highly motivated to
• obtain better jobs,
• to help their children with their homework and
  school success
• the third prevailing theme was
• parental self improvement.

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• Parents needs may need to be met before they can
  fully contribute to their childs education
• This is not to imply that these can not all
  coexist and develop concurrently.

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A Successful Parent Involvement Model
Parenting Classes GED ESL Technology
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CLD families need a new parental involvement
paradigm which broadens the repertoire of the
family capital

• (a) increasing parental awareness of school
  procedures and community resources
• (b) providing self-improvement training where
  parents can acquire skills that may help them
  secure jobs outside of low-paying jobs
• (c) Increasing awareness of their rights and
  responsibilities.

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NEEDS
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• Opportunity for social gatherings and
  celebrations
• Programs and meetings that directly made parent
  concerns
• Classes on helping their children in a fun and
  non academic way, yet in a manner that complies
  with the state mandated objectives and school
  goals.
• Evaluation instruments for the program
• Constant program evaluation and restructure as
  deemed necessary and according to parental needs.

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Hispanics Need Technology Access and Training

• Vast inequities in access to technology for
  Hispanic parents and children

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Technology Literacy is a NecessityBeyond
Functional Literacy
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with Home Computers US
1999 National study

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with Online Services US
1999 National Study

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Academic and Literacy Skills

• GED in Spanish - one of our programs is the only
  site w/i a 75 mile radius that offers such
  classes. Over 30 GED graduates. Many have
  improved vocational status greatly due to GED.
• Individual tutoring for some parents with lower
  levels of literacy

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English Classes

• Beginner Intermediate
• Theme based that focus on real-world needs and
  family issues.
• Such as jobs, interviewing, health care,
• shopping, housing, drivers license.

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Parenting Classes

• See PDF files

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Success Stories

• Diana passed all portions of the GED this
  semester
• Enrolling in Community College in the Fall
• At current Teachers Aid Diana wants to be a
  certified bilingual teacher

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Success Stories

• Rosalba graduated with GED and is attending
  college
• Claudia graduated and is now working for the
  school district and attending college to become a
  certified bilingual teacher

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Helpful References

• Cummins, J. (2001). Negotiating Identities
  Education for empowerment in a diverse society.
  (2nd ed.). Los Angeles, CA California
  Association for Bilingual Education.
• Henderson, T. A. Berla, N. (1994). A New
  Generation of Learners Collaboration among
  Teachers, Students, Families and Communities. NY
  St. Martin Press.
• Lara-Alecio, R., Irby, B. Ebener, R. (1997).
  Developing Academically Supportive Behaviors
  Among Hispanic Parents. Preventing School
  Failure, 42(1), 28-34.
• Parker, R., Lara-Alecio, R., Ochoa, S.H., Bigger,
  M., Hasbrouck, J. Parker, W. (1996). School
  improvement ideas Guidance from parents and
  students from three ethnic groups. The Journal of
  Educational Issue of Language Minority Students,
  16. Retrieved March 15, 2002, from
  http//www.ncbe.gwu/miscpubs/jellms/vol16/
• Sosa, A.S. (1997). Involving Hispanic parents in
  education and activities through collaborative
  relationships. Bilingual Research Journal, 21,
  (23)
• Suárez-Orozco, C. Suárez-Orozco, M.M. (2001).
  Children of immigration. Cambridge, Mass.
  Harvard University Press.
• Vargas, P. Fultz, M. (2001). Factors that
  influence the decision making process of parents
  of Bilingual/ESL students to improve their
  English language skills. In Language Diversity
  Network On-line. Available http//ldn.edu/awres
  earch/papers.html

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Language Diversity Network

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Language Diversity Network

• National Bilingual Education Website
  http//ldn.tamu.edu/ (federally funded)
• National Parent Information Network
• http//npin.org/
• National Center on Adult Literacy
  http//ncal.literacy.upenn.edu/

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• For further information
• Martha M. Galloway
• Bilingual Program TAMU
• 979-845-5625
• FAX [phone]
• Email bilingual_at_tamu.edu