Poster #182 - What School Readiness Skills are Most Important to Immigrant Parents? A Comparison Across Groups

• In Event: 3-159 - Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Section - School Readiness/Childcare

Integrative Statement

Immigrant children are a vulnerable and growing population in the U.S. educational system. These children often face numerous risk factors, such as low socio-economic status and limited English proficiency, that are related to less than optimal academic achievement (Hoff, 2013). To facilitate the academic success of immigrant children, educators and researchers must have a rich understanding of immigrant parents’ school readiness beliefs. A robust body of research indicates that parents’ school readiness beliefs are directly related to their children’s future academic success (e.g., Belfield & Garcia, 2014; Puccioni, 2015). However, there are few qualitative studies that explicitly focus on immigrant families (Parmar et al., 2008; Tamis-Lemonda et al., 2013). Furthermore, it is important not to assume homogeneity in immigrant families. For instance, Chinese and Latinx immigrant parents vary in how they interact with their children, which is not surprising given different socio-cultural histories (Ansari & Crosnoe, 2015; Tamis-Lemonda et al., 2013). Research also points to differences within immigrant groups (Crosnoe & Turley, 2011). Thus, the aim of the current study was to investigate what Chinese and Latinx immigrant parents, primarily Dominican and El Salvadoran, believe are the most and least important skills necessary for their children’s academic success.

We collected data from 61 immigrant parents with children entering kindergarten in Fall, 2018. Participants represented fairly equal numbers of Dominican (28%), El Salvadoran (36%), and Chinese (33%) first or second generation immigrant parents. Participants’ highest educational levels ranged from less than high school (7%) to a graduate degree (21%).

Data were collected in the parents’ preferred language (i.e., Spanish, Mandarin, English). Parents completed an investigator developed Q-sort which consisted of 36 statement cards; each card listed a skill that could be classified into approaches to learning (e.g., is self-confident), social/emotional (e.g., ability to make friends), academic (e.g., knows the names of shapes), language (e.g., can communicate well in English), school-related behaviors (e.g., uses materials carefully), and motor skills (e.g., stacks blocks). The parent classified these cards based on how important the skill is for a child to be successful in kindergarten (1=less important; 4 = very important). Parents were interviewed about their responses.

Table 1 indicates what skills Chinese and Latinx immigrant parents prioritized as most and least important for school readiness. Parents prioritized the importance of approaches to learning and social-emotional skills; motor skills were deemed less important for school success. Additionally, Table 2 shows results of a factor analysis that revealed parents clustered into 3 profiles; the majority of Chinese parents (75%) represented Profile 1, whereas Latinx parents were more heavily represented in Profiles 2 and 3. For the presentation, we plan to further analyze the Q-sort data in order to examine similarities/differences between the 3 key groups of immigrant parents (i.e., El Salvadoran, Dominican, and Chinese) as well as the reasons parents provided for how they prioritized skills. We will also examine whether demographic variables, namely parents’ education level, acculturation status, child gender, and sibling order, influence parents’ prioritization of school readiness skills.

Authors

• Brook Sawyer, Lehigh University
  Presenting Author

• Susan Sonnenschein, UMBC
  Non-Presenting Author

• Peggy Kong, Lehigh University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Bridget Dever, Lehigh University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Cassandra Lynn Simons, UMBC
  Non-Presenting Author

• Xinwei Zhang, Lehigh University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Xiaoran Yu, Lehigh University
  Non-Presenting Author