Pacific Island Cultural Perspectives in Parent Partnerships

• In Event: 31.031 - Advancing Social Justice by Bridging the Cultural Worlds of Students, Families, Communities, Schools, and Universities

Abstract

Many immigrant parents are unfamiliar with the U.S. school system (Perreira, Chapman, & Stein, 2006) and reluctant to engage in their children’s education because of their perceived lack of knowledge and skills, and cultural and language differences (Fuligni & Fuligni, 2007; Heine, 2002; Suarez-Orozco & Suarez-Orozco, 2001). These barriers may impede efforts by educators to include families and cause misperceptions among educators that families do not care about their children’s educations (Joshi, Eberly, & Konzal, 2005). Understanding cultural perspectives can help teachers and cultural minority parents develop successful partnerships to improve students’ success in school.

Purpose
This case study explores changes in perceptions among parent participants and staff of a community-based organization in a 15-week training program for Pacific Island immigrant parents in supporting their children’s education.

Theoretical Framework
Social experiences and culture affect how people interact with one another and how they interpret these experiences (Vygotsky, 1978). Understanding diverse perspectives can help interpret behaviors and develop effective strategies to partner with parents towards positive change in children’s school success.

Methods
Participants. This case study was bounded by a cohort of staff and participants of the Sunday Project, a parent-led training program for new immigrants to promote their children’s success in school. It included 12 family participants and six staff members, all from the same Micronesian minority group and all immigrants to the U.S. They had completed a weekly program of 15 two-hour sessions, informally structured and parent-led, to learn about and discuss issues relevant to their children’s success in school. Participants chose topics, including the importance of regular school attendance, how to read a report card, setting an appropriate family schedule, and supporting their children’s homework.
Data Sources. At the end of the program, I interviewed parent participants about changes in their perspectives and behaviors related to their children’s education. I also interviewed staff of the program and parents who had already completed it. I observed all meetings for an entire cohort and examined documents related to past trainings of similar groups.

Results
All participants perceived specific and measurable changes in their own behaviors and perceptions about their children’s educations. These changes included delineating specific bedtimes, identifying homework space and time, and creating daily schedules. In addition, parents reported improved communication between themselves and their children in general and about school in particular. They also reported improved school attendance by their children, their own increased participation in parent-teacher conferences, and stronger beliefs they could affect their child’s school experiences.
Parents’ sharing their own stories and perspectives with the group helped develop relationships among them and between parent participants and staff members, thereby greatly enhancing how parents received the program’s information about schooling.

Significance and Implications
These findings indicate that a parent-led mode of intervention that allows cultural minority participants to share their own stories can lead to significant changes in parents’ confidence, knowledge, and behaviors related to their children’s school success. This strengths-based approach holds important implications for building engagement of cultural minority families and their children’s school success.

Author

• Katherine T. Ratliffe, University of Hawaii