Crossing Cultural Boundaries: Latino Parents Involvement in Their Childrens Education

1
Crossing Cultural Boundaries Latino Parents
Involvement in Their Childrens Education

• Kristen E. Closson, Andrew S. Wilkins, Howard M.
  Sandler Kathleen V. Hoover-Dempsey
• Vanderbilt University
• http//www.vanderbilt.edu/Peabody/family-school/

2
Acknowledgements

• Special thanks to the Peabody Family-School
  Partnership Lab, the parents and schools that
  made this study possible and OERI/IES (grant
  R305TO10673-03).

3
Background Information

• Positive correlation between parental involvement
  and student achievement
• Hoover-Dempsey and Sandlers (1995, 1997) Model
  investigates why parents choose to become
  involved and how their mechanisms of involvement
  influence child outcomes

4
Hoover-Dempsey Sandler (1995 1997)
5
Background Information

• Lower levels of involvement among Latino parents
  relative to other parent groups (Goldenberg,
  1987 Ritter, Mont-Reynaud, Dornbusch, 1993
  U.S. Department of Education, 1996)
• Growing Latino population
• 546 growth in local Latino population
• 62 are foreign born
• Largest minority group in U.S.
• (U.S. Census, 1990 2000)

6
Background Information

• Cultural differences Emphasis on moral
  education, respect, and obedience more strongly
  than academics (Delgado-Gaitan, 1993 Reese,
  2002 Reese, Balzano, Gallimore, Goldenberg,
  1995)
• Language barriers, perceived lack of knowledge,
  and less flexible work schedules (Delgado-Gaitan,
  1993 Goldenberg, 1987 Henderson, 1997 Lopez
  Cole, 1999)
• Understanding differences brings us closer to
  bridging the ethnic divide in education

7
Research Questions

• Compared to Anglo-American parents, do Latino
  parents
• Have a lower sense of efficacy?
• Have a more school-focused role construction?
• Perceive fewer general invitations for
  involvement?
• Perceive fewer specific invitations for
  involvement?
• Have a lower sense of their knowledge and skills
  for involvement?
• Are any of these differences related to lower
  levels of involvement for Latino parents?

8
Methods

• Compared the questionnaire results of two groups
  of parentsSpanish-speaking Latinos (n105) and
  Anglo-Americans (n107)
• Participants included parents of 1st 4th grade
  students in three Metro Nashville Public Schools
• Response rate for all parents was 37

9
Methods

• Questionnaires included scales assessing Levels
  One and Two of the Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler
  (1995, 1997) model of the Parental Involvement
  process
• Questionnaires were available in English and
  Spanish

10
Results
11
Results (contd)
12
Results (contd)

• No significant correlations between study
  variables and demographics (income, education,
  etc)
• Helps to rule out idea that effects may be due to
  different economic or social status

13
Results (contd)

• We examined two separate hierarchical regressions
  based on our hypotheses drawn from the
  literature.
• We predicted that Anglo-American parents level
  of involvement would be more highly predicted by
  personal variables.
• We predicted that Latino parents level of
  involvement would be more highly predicted by
  contextual variables.

14
Results (contd)
15
Discussion

• Efficacy
• Consistent with our hypothesis, Latino parents
  had a lower sense of self-efficacy for helping
  the child succeed in school.
• Likely due to lack of experience and less
  familiarity with the American school system.

16
Discussion (contd)

• Parental Role Construction
• Latino parents had a more school-focused role
  construction.
• Higher levels of parent- and partnership-focused
  role constructions.
• Lack of understanding of their role in childrens
  education.
• High sensitivity to the impact of education on
  the whole family.
• Determination to try hard on multiple levels.

17
Discussion (contd)

• Invitations
• Latino Parents perceived more general school,
  specific teacher and specific child invitations.
• Likely due to their general cultural inclination
  to respect the teacher and school, who they view
  as an authority on the childs education.
• Specific Child Invitations
• Latino children may need more help due to
  language barrier.
• Salience of education.
• Parent as a co-learner.

18
Discussion (contd)

• Levels of Involvement
• Latino parents reported higher levels of general
  school involvement.
• Latino and Anglo-American parents reported
  similarly high (5.44 and 5.45 out of 6) levels of
  child-focused involvement.
• Different factors contributed to parents level
  of involvement.

19
Limitations

• 37 overall response ratelikely parents who are
  most involved filled out surveys.
• Possible misinterpretations of questionnaires,
  stemming from cultural and linguistic differences
  between groups.
• Lack of qualitative data.
• No information regarding length of time lived in
  the United States.

20
Next Steps

• Explore how results change as immigrants
  assimilate over time.
• Increase response rates to gain a more
  representative sample.
• Examine Latino populations across the country to
  explore differences based on location and various
  school systems.
• Examine how social support networks influence
  parental involvement and student achievement.

21
(No Transcript)
22
Level 5
 Student outcomes, including
Self-efficacy for school success
Skills and knowledge
Level 4
 Tempering/mediating variables
 Parents use of developmentally appropriate
strategies
Fit between parents involvement actions school
expectations
Level 3
Mechanisms of parental involvements influence on
childs school outcomes
Modeling
Reinforcement
Instruction
Level 2
Parents choice of involvement forms, influenced
by
Parents skills knowledge
 Other demands on parents time and energy
 Specific invitations from the child and school
Level 1
Parents basic involvement decision, influenced
by
Parents role construction
Parents sense of efficacy for helping the child
General school invitations for involvement
General child invitations for involvement
23
Results (contd)