Latino Immigrant Parents’ Involvement and Their Children’s Middle and High School Educational Outcomes

• In Event: Partnerships With Immigrant Latino Youth and Families: Aligning Models and Practice From Childhood Through College

Abstract

This study examines links between intensive parent involvement and educational outcomes of middle and high school students participating in GEAR UP, a federal pre-college program. Interdisciplinary “multiple worlds” theories (Cooper, 2003; Phelan, Davidson, & Yu, 1998) are used to explore how youth and parents co-create a sense of moral purpose and identity as an intergenerational and cultural project while drawing on institutional resources. Studies using these models reveal how Latino immigrant families’ and students’ agency and resilience in dealing with discrimination, poverty, immigration, and other challenges help build pathways to college (Ceja, 2004; Portes & Fernandez-Kelly, 2008; Rodriguez, 2006).
Instead of measuring parents’ involvement solely by their attendance at PTA meetings, back-to-school nights, and fundraisers, front-line staff in this partnership recognized immigrant parents’ efforts at home, such as reviewing children’s homework, supporting their aspirations, or providing information to supplement classroom experiences. Cultural repertoires of many immigrant parents reflect funds of knowledge functioning as social capital (Lopez, 2001; Rios-Aguilar, 2011). Recent studies recognize such assets when evaluating the effectiveness and success of family partnerships (Downs, Martin, Fossum, Martinez, Solorio, & Martinez, 2008). Still, studies linking programs with immigrant parents to students’ learning and college pathways are limited.
The current study focuses on two questions: Do students whose parents were intensively involved perform better than those whose parents who were not? What are students’ perceptions of their parents’ involvement and how are these related to their educational outcomes?

Methods

Using a mixed-methods approach, participants included 155 students who were in 7-11th grade when their parents became intensively involved through three California GEAR UP sites. Intensive involvement consisted of participating in either a Parent Academy, Parent Leader Training Program or both. Academies included a series of workshops on college knowledge and ways to help guide children on the path to graduation and college. Parent Leader Training went further, training parents to make home visits to share this knowledge with other families who did not intensively participate in these parent programs.
School transcripts of all students in GEAR UP cohorts from the three sites were used to examine links between parent involvement and educational outcomes and compare outcomes of students whose parents were intensively involved and students from the rest of this GEAR UP cohort. Further, focus groups involving 13 students were conducted to learn about students’ perceptions of their parents’ involvement.

Results and Implications

Preliminary results indicate that students whose parents who were intensively involved performed at higher levels than students whose parents were not in the program. However, these students were already performing at slightly higher levels before GEAR UP. These results hold implications for program recruitment and serving both proactive parents of students on higher pathways and reactive parents of struggling students (Gutman & McLoyd, 2000).
Although we cannot conclude that the parent component alone caused higher attainment, students whose parents were involved continuously expressed the importance of their parents’ involvement. This highlights the need to support both students’ and parents’ agency in immigrant families’ project of college going.

Authors

• Angelica Lopez, University of California - Santa Cruz

• Catherine R. Cooper, University of California - Santa Cruz

• Maria Rocha-Ruiz, University of California - Santa Cruz

• Merle Lustig, University of California - Santa Cruz