An Examination of What Informs Latino Parents’ Decisions to Choose a Charter School

• In Event: Roundtable Session 100
  In Roundtable Session: Unpacking the Social Context of School Choice for Parents: Preferences, Information, and Participation

Abstract

Objectives
In recent decades the United States has become more racially, ethnically and linguistically diverse. The Latino population has grown at a steady pace over the last two decades (Guzmán, 2001; Humes, Jones & Ramirez, 2011) and in 2001 Latinos became the nation’s largest minority group (Clemetson, 2003). These population shifts are particularly reflected in urban areas where charter schools proliferate. In cities such as Milwaukee and San Diego and states such as Ohio and Texas, Latino enrollment in charter schools outpaces enrollment in traditional public schools (Zimmer et al., 2009). Despite this increased prevalence of Latinos in charter schools, little is known about what informs Latino parents’ decisions to enroll their children in charter schools. To better understand Latino parents’ interaction with school choice this study asks: What informs Latino parents’ decisions to enroll their children in a charter school? How do their information sources compare to those of other non-Latino parents?

Theoretical Framework
The act of choosing itself may bring schools and families closer together by increasing the possibility of greater parental involvement because of the better ‘fit’ that results from parents selecting a school (Goldring & Mavrogordato, 2011). This argument is particularly salient when considering Latino parents, a group that often faces multiple challenges to engaging in their children’s schools, including English language barriers (Oakes & Lipton, 2006), cultural differences (Stanton-Salazar, 2001) and concerns surrounding legal status (Ream, 2005).

Data and Methods
This paper applies an inductive approach in which the categories used for analysis are derived from the data rather than preceding them (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). Data sources include interviews that were conducted as part of a larger case study of one purposefully selected charter school in Indianapolis. The on-site five-day case study, which occurred during spring of 2009, included semi-structured interviews of more than 20 administrators, faculty and staff. Immediately following the on-site visit, a sample of parents was interviewed by phone. This paper focuses on the interviews of Spanish- (n=8) and English-speaking (n=11) parents, as well as an interview with the principal (n=1).

Results
Preliminary results indicate that Latino parents, like their counterparts, opt to enroll their children in a charter school because they believe the charter school assuages specific concerns about the traditional public school environment, including preoccupations surrounding safety, adequate facilities and student discipline. Latino parents rely on social networks to gather information that underpins their decisions to choose a charter school, but unlike other parents, their decisions are also influenced by key cross-cultural and bilingual school employees who provide a bridge that allows Spanish-speaking parents access to educational information in their native language.

Significance
Our analysis reveals that an important aspect of attracting Latino parents to charter schools is providing a link that connects the school and the Latino community. Spanish-speaking information agents open up social network space for Latino families and help to feed more information into pre-existing tightly knit social networks. These strengthened ties to Latino parents may help to bolster parent involvement and ultimately improve student outcomes.

Author

• Madeline Mavrogordato, Michigan State University