WITHDRAWN As Turbulent Times Fester, Understanding Immigrant Family Trust in Educational Institutions Is Paramount

• In Event: Individual Identity and Group Influences

Short Description

Conflicting priorities between communities, schools, and parents, often results in loss of trust among immigrant families. Trust has been demonstrated as a significant factor in education, leading to better student outcomes. This study examines the predictors of parental trust in schools among immigrant families residing in a Southwestern state, filling a gap in the literature.

Detailed Abstract

In this globally turbulent time, where policies with negative consequences for immigrant families have been enacted, and public attitude toward immigrants are negatively shifting, understanding factors that may impact educational organizational leadership is important. Most states have experienced a steady increase in the number of immigrant children attending U.S. schools, having various impacts on school systems (Bean, Leach, Brown, Bachmeier, & Hipp, (2011). “Between 1990 and 2000, the number of children ages 17 and under with immigrant parents grew 60 percent, from 8.2 million to 13.1 million. Between 2000 and 2014, the number grew 34 percent, from 13.1 million to 17.5 million” (Zong & Batalove, 2016). As expressed by Capp (2007), the biggest challenge facing the economies of individual states and communities is the impact of immigration on the local educational systems.

Immigrant families’ experiences are complex and heterogeneous. They often face barriers, including economic issues, language barriers, and discrimination, and these barriers tend to result in immigrants relying on those of their own culture to meet their own educational needs (Cornfield & Arzubiaga, 2004).U.S. educational quality is a major concern of immigrant parents because of its impact on the academic success and lifelong success of their children (Bratsberg & Terrel, 2002; Tullo, 2014).

Schools are social institutions and the quality of interpersonal relations, specifically trust relations, influences a host of different school outcomes. Trust within the educational context is correlated to and predictive of important academically related outcomes (Forsyth, Barnes, & Adams, 2006; Goddard et al., 2009; Tschannen-Moran, 2000). Trust can be examined from multiple viewpoints, including parental trust, teacher trust, and school trust (Forsyth et al., 2006, Hoy& Tschannen-Moran, 1999). Trust can be examined as an internal dimension, defined as trust within an organization, or as an external dimension, outside of the school’s formal organizational structure (Forsyth et al., 2006). As proposed by Byrk and Schneider (2002), relational trust between two groups is the extent to which there is mutual understanding of expectations and obligations. School internal trust environment (Forsyth et al., 2006; Goddard et al., 2009), and external trust environment (Forsyth et al., 2006) correlated significantly to academic achievement.

Parental trust for the school, and parental trust for the principal correlated to teacher efficacy, bureaucratic structure, described as enabling or hindering, and student academic performance (Forsyth et al., 2006). Enabling structures promote communication and rules that facilitate the completion of work; hindering structures result from low levels of trust, and are focused on rules and punishment (Forsyth et al., 2006). School trust environment negatively correlated to school socio-economic status (SES), as measured by the school’s percentage reduced and free lunch (Goddard et al., 2009).
School-related predictors of trust and trust predictors have been identified in the literature. A trusting school environment is predictive of school conditions and other consequences; specifically, teachers’ trust of teacher colleagues predicted teacher efficacy, student academic performance, and an enabling school structure, as demonstrated in Forsyth et al.’s (2006) study of the parents, teachers, and principals of 79 public schools. Goddard et al. (2009) demonstrated the relationship between school SES, racial composition, and school size, and school trust. Teachers’ level of trust was found to be a mediator between school low SES, or poverty, and race, and academic achievement (Goddard et al., 2009). Collaboration predicts trust, and collaboration with parents is the strongest statistical link to school trust (Tschannen-Moran, 2001).

Being an immigrant is complicated even more when families have children with special needs or younger children in school Mbesha’s (2013) study of sub-Saharan African families with children with special needs found barriers to be parental knowledge, parental self-education, and educator’s inappropriate practices, including poor explanations, explanations not provided in a meaningful way, and inferior treatment. Consequently, parents perceived they were not respected, and that school administrators and teachers could not be trusted (Mbesha, 2013).

Parental involvement is a significant factor in children’s academic performance (Hornby & Lafaele, 2011; Kremer-Sadlik & Fatigante, 2015; Mbesha, 2013). Parental involvement requires trust (Fiedler et al., 2007). Parental involvement and its affects are multi-faceted. It’s been shown that academic achievement of first and second generation immigrant student is affected by the parental optimism (Kao & Tienda, 1995; Pong, Hao & Gardner, 2005). Pong et al. (2005) found that generational decline in academic achievement for Hispanics occurs from first to second generation, and from second to third generation for Asians. Another finding in literature is that declining academic achievement and aspirations of immigrant students in consistent with the length of time in the U.S. With time in the U.S., immigrant children become more “Americanized”—the “typical American teenager” (Nesteruk, Marks & Garrison, 2009, p. 42).

The aforementioned findings led to the current study to examine immigrant parents’ trust in schools. Also, predictors of parental trust in schools, including length of residence in the U.S., will be measured. The research questions are as follows
1. What is the extent of parental trust in schools located in a Southwestern state?
2. What are the predictors of parental trust in schools among immigrant families residing in a Southwestern state?

The sample size amassed is 377 parents, calculated at 95% confidence level and 80% power. Parents who consent to participate will receive either an electronic version or a paper version of the survey, which takes eight minutes to complete. A valid and reliable trust measure (Forsyth et al., 2006) will be administered with addition of demographic information. The survey will be distributed in both English and Turkish languages. Descriptive statistics will be used to analyze data; in addition a multiple regression model will be constructed to predict parental trust in schools.

Amidst these globally turbulent times, educational institutions are challenged with demonstrating positive outcomes and providing quality education, while balancing the priorities of the government, community, and parents. Trust, demonstrated as a significant factor in education, can lead to better student outcomes, and yet is under-studied among immigrant families. This study will contribute to leadership theory and practice, particularly the subject of leadership in educational organizations.

Participants

• Lunthita M. Duthely, University of Phoenix

• Arfe Ozcan, University of Phoenix