Latina Mothers of English Learners as Policy Makers? Barriers and Opportunities Toward Critical Participation in the Local Control and Accountability Plan

• In Event: 29.033 - Political Space, Deliberation, and Collective Action: Students, Teachers, and Parents as Socially Conscious Actors

Abstract

As parents to the 3.8 million Spanish-dominant English learners (ELs) in the U.S. (NCES, 2016), Latina mothers represent a potentially influential stakeholder group in education. Yet little is known about their engagement in district-level policy-making processes as few studies have undertaken this topic.

The objective of this research was to understand why, how, and to what extent Latina mothers of ELs become and remain engaged in district governance. The following questions guided this study: What motivates Latina mothers of ELs to become and remain engaged in education governance? What factors encourage or discourage their critical and empowered participation? What impact does their involvement have on district policy decisions?

This area of inquiry is particularly important given California’s newly adopted Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) policy.

LCAP explicitly calls for the involvement of parents of ELs in helping districts decide how to spend the approximately $48 billion in annual funding districts receive from the state (CDE, 2014). Thus, LCAP can be viewed as an opportunity for Latina mothers of ELs to elevate their influence in local districts. This is especially true for those active in District English Learner Advisory Committees (DELACs), the primer district-level parent group that advocates for ELs and one that has an official role in the LCAP.

Under the right conditions, LCAP could cultivate empowered participation (Fung, 2004), where everyday members of a local community have genuine and equal authority to decide agency goals, priorities, and strategies. LCAP could also prompt Latina DELAC members to embody critical forms of school-based civic engagement (Terriquez, 2011), where their interests, concerns, and ideas contribute to decision-making processes. As critical participants, parents question and critique school policies, bringing to the surface alternative ways to think about programs and practices (Terriquez, 2011). It is through the lenses of empowered and critical participation that the data from this study were analyzed.

Using a case study approach, this yearlong research study centered the insights and experiences of five Latina DELAC mothers in a Southern California district. Given LCAP's call to involve parents of ELs, analysis focused on the voices of Latina mothers and their engagement and interactions in district policy-making.

Data sources included five 1.5-hour individual interviews, one 2-hour focus group, and eight 2-hour DELAC meeting observations.

A major theme emerging from the data centered on English fluency. Many of the mothers described fluency as a form of power and advantage in the district. Moreover, mistrust grew among parents when quality and consistent translation and interpretation were not provided by the district. Further inhibiting participation were parents’ nebulous understandings about LCAP and their roles in it, absence of meaningful data, limited opportunities for open dialogue, and a perceived lack of unity among parents. Despite the challenging environment, every mother regarded her involvement important and intended on continuing her engagement in the coming school year.

Illuminating what motivates Latina mothers to become involved, and barriers and opportunities to empowered and critical participation, this study contributes to participatory policy-making and parent involvement literature.

Author

• Diana A. Porras, California State University - Long Beach