Latino Fathers’ Involvement in Their Children’s Education: Counternarratives Fostering Strengths-Based Thinking

• In Event: Roundtable Session 10
  In Roundtable Session: Families First: Involvement, Identity, and Influence

Abstract

This paper presents an overview of findings from a qualitative study that explored how and why Latino parents of middle-school students support their children’s educational success. It focuses on the five fathers in the study whose motivations and modes of involvement offer a compelling counter-narrative that fosters a strengths-based perspective on Latino paternal involvement. This small, exploratory study aims to contribute to current understanding of how fathers participate in their children’s schooling and to help practitioners’ recognize, validate and extend Latino fathers’ involvement. Data include a focus on five fathers’ responses in semi-structured interviews with fifteen parents and informal observations of two of the school’s PTO meetings.

Authors

• Anne Marie FitzGerald, Duquesne University

• George White, Lehigh University