PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT

As you enter the teaching profession, I urge you to reflect upon your perception of parental involvement. What constitutes parental involvement? What expectations do you have for parental involvement in your classroom and at home? How will you approach the topic with the parents of children in your classroom?

Parental involvement has been at the forefront of many studies, leading to the conclusion that increased parental involvement improves academic achievement (Barnard, 2003; Hill & Taylor, 2004; Jeynes, 2003). Studies often examine parental involvement from the perspective of school personnel with little regard for the parents’ perspective, particularly parents of lower socioeconomic status (Orozco, 2008). Despite findings suggesting the benefits of parental involvement, research reveals a lack of parental involvement among Latino parents (De Gaetano, 2007; Ladky & Peterson, 2008; Olivos, 2006). Prior to dismissing the lack of involvement to a lack of caring on the part of Latino parents, it is prudent to examine how they perceive their role in their children’s education. I urge you to explore the socioeconomic, historical, and cultural factors that may influence their perception. The purpose of this article is to offer results from a study conducted to examine how Latina mothers view their role in their children’s education and cultural factors that influence their perception.

This article focuses on two mothers, one from Guatemala and one from Honduras. Both mothers lived in small, rural villages and grew up in poverty. Their families earned a living by farming and selling food. At a young age, they were expected to help with farm work, cook, clean, and care for siblings. One mother did not attend school, and the other mother attended until sixth grade. Data collected reveal that both mothers moved to the Unites States so that their children could receive an education.

Definition of Parental Involvement

For the purpose of this study, I drew from data pertaining to how school personnel in a previous pilot study defined parental involvement. Their definition included assisting with homework, reading with children, meeting the teacher for parent-teacher conferences, and parents and teachers working together as partners in learning.

Making Sense of Parental Involvement

Data collected demonstrate that both mothers believe their role in their children’s education takes place in the home and not in the school (Carger, 1997; Delgado-Gaitan, 2004). They stress the importance of raising well-mannered children (Browning-Aiken, 2005; Carger, 1997; Delgado-Gaitan, 2004; Valdés, 1996). They do not perceive their role to include assisting with homework, reading with their children, or volunteering in the school. The mothers indicated that they do not feel comfortable helping with homework because they do not have the academic background or English proficiency to explain many of the concepts taught in U.S. schools. Their role focuses on una buena educación or a good education (Villenas, 2002) that refers to the moral upbringing of their children, which is not a primary focus of a school’s definition of knowledge.

Educators expect parents to teach and reinforce academic knowledge based on the school’s curriculum and expectations. The mothers’ perception of their role differs from that of most teachers, which leads to a disconnect between the home and the school. This, in turn, may lead to teachers viewing the parents as deficient (Valdés, 1996; Villenas, 2002). Ultimately, Latina mothers rely on their cultural knowledge of a mother’s role shaped by their experiences in their native countries as discussed below.

How Culture Shapes the Meaning Given to Parental Involvement

Data collected demonstrate that early experiences in the native country greatly influence how the mothers envision their role in their own children’s education. They share knowledge with their own culture and people, which does not necessarily reflect the dominant culture of the United States (Berger & Luckman, 1966; Burr, 2003; Gergen, 2003, 2009). Historically, many people do not receive an education in Guatemala (Hong, n.d.) or Honduras (Merrill, 1995; Nazario, 2007), which was the case with the mothers in this study. The mothers stated that with regard to parental involvement in the school, neither Guatemalan nor Honduran schools expect parents to have a visible presence in the school, which represents shared knowledge in the community (Gergen, 2003). Their presence is not part of the school culture or the social construction of the parents' role in their children’s education (Gergen, 2003). Teachers have the responsibility to teach academics, and parents have the responsibility to raise well-behaved children.

The mothers indicated that school personnel understand that parents need to work and do not have time to assist with homework; therefore, parents are not expected to help the children with their school work or to come into the school. One mother expressed that in her native country parents are only contacted by the school if their child is misbehaving.

IMPLICATIONS FOR EDUCATORS

Let us now return to the questions posed in the beginning. What constitutes parental involvement? What expectations do you have for parental involvement in your classroom and at home? How will you approach the topic with the parents of children, particularly English Language Learners (ELLs), in your classroom?

It is crucial that teachers look beyond the aforementioned definition of parental involvement and reflect upon how Latina mothers define their role in their children’s education (Nieto & Bode, 2008). The meaning Latina mothers derive from parental involvement is shaped by their history and culture. If teachers work to gain an understanding of how the mothers perceive their role in their children’s education, teachers can draw on and incorporate the mothers’ views into interactions with them. This action can bridge differences in expectations and perceptions, which can transform different perspectives and shared knowledge into just a difference as opposed to a deficiency.

References

Barnard, W. (2003). Parent involvement in elementary school and educational attainment. Children and Youth Services Review, 26, 39–62.

Berger, P., & Luckman, T. (1966). The social construction of reality: A treatise in the sociology of knowledge. New York, NY: Anchor Books.

Browning-Aiken, A. (2005). Border crossings: Funds of knowledge within an immigrant household. In N. González, L. Moll, & C. Amanti (Eds.), Funds of knowledge: Theorizing practices in households, communities, and classrooms (pp. 167–181). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Burr, V. (2003). Social constructionism (2nd ed.). London, England: Routledge.

Carger, C. L. (1997). Attending to new voices. Educational Leadership, 54(7), 39–43.

De Gaetano, Y. (2007). The role of culture in engaging Latino parents’ involvement in school. Urban Education, 42, 145–162.

Delgado-Gaitan, C. (2004). Involving Latino families in schools: Raising student achievement through home-school partnerships. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Gergen, K. (2003). Knowledge as socially constructed. In M. Gergen & K. Gergen (Eds.), Social construction: A reader (pp. 15–17). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Gergen, K. (2009). An invitation to social construction (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Hill, N., & Taylor, L. (2004). Parental school involvement in children’s academic achievement. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 13, 161–164.

Hong, M. (n.d.). Guatemalan Americans. Retrieved from http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Du-Ha/Guatemalan-Americans.html

Jeynes, W. (2003). A meta-analysis: The effects of parental involvement on minority children’s academic achievement. Education and Urban Society, 35, 202–218.

Ladky, M., & Peterson, S. (2008). Successful practices for immigrant parent involvement: An Ontario perspective. Multicultural Perspectives, 10(2), 82–89.

Merrill, T. (Ed.). (1995). Honduras: A country study. Retrieved from http://countrystudies.us/honduras/58.htm

Nazario, S. (2007). Enrique’s journey: The story of a boy’s dangerous odyssey to reunite with his mother. New York, NY: Random House.

Nieto, S., & Bode, P. (2008). Affirming diversity: The sociopolitical context of multicultural education (5th Ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.

Olivos, E. M. (2006). The power of parents: A critical perspective of bicultural parent involvement in public schools. New York, NY: Peter Lang.

Orozco, G. (2008). Understanding the culture of low-income immigrant Latino parents: Key to involvement. School Community Journal, 18(1), 21–37.

Valdés, G. (1996). Con respeto: Bridging the distances between culturally diverse families and schools, an ethnographic portrait. New York, NY: Teachers College.

Villenas, S. (2002). Reinventing educación in new Latino communities: Pedagogies of change and continuity in North Carolina. In S. Wortham, E. G. Murillo Jr., & E. Hamann (Eds.), Education in the new Latino diaspora: Policy and the politics of identity (pp. 17–35). Westport, CT: Ablex.

Dr. Stephanie Sebolt has taught English language learners K –12 since 1993 and works as an adjunct professor for the University of Mary Washington, in Fredericksburg, Virginia, in the United States. She received her PhD in curriculum and instruction from Virginia Tech in 2010.