1-132 - Supportive home and classroom contexts as protective factors for Latino children’s academic outcomes

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

There is strong empirical and theoretical evidence that children who are exposed to adversity are at risk for poor academic outcomes. For example, many of the academic difficulties faced by the growing population of Spanish-speaking Latino children stem from adverse experiences such as poverty. Less is known about the protective factors that foster Latino children’s resilience in the face of adversity. A central barrier to understanding Latino children’s positive development has been a primary research focus on across-culture comparisons, which overlooks the variability in Latino children’s classroom and home experiences. The papers in this symposium use a within-group framework to examine the features of Latino children’s classrooms and homes that serve as protective factors across different academic outcomes, including language, reading, self-regulation, and coping. We draw from ecological theories and various methodological techniques –parent interviews as well as observations of parent-child and teacher-student interactions–to reveal wide variability in Latino children’s emotional supports across classrooms and homes. Paper 1 shows the positive influence of teachers’ emotional as well as linguistic supports on Latino students’ language and reading comprehension skills. Paper 2 demonstrates the critical role of autonomy-supportive teaching in promoting Latino students’ academic language skills. Paper 3 highlights the significance of familial supports, environmental resources and engagement with school in supporting Latino children’s self-regulation skills, including approaches to learning. Paper 4 focuses on how family context promotes Latino children’s development of adaptive coping, which in turn, supports academic competence.

Sub Unit

• Education, Schooling

Chair

• Perla B. Gámez, Loyola University Chicago

Individual Presentations

• Teachers’ linguistic and emotional supports for Latino students’ language and reading comprehension development - Presenting Author: Perla B. Gámez, Loyola University Chicago; Non-Presenting Author: Nonie Lesaux, Harvard Graduate School of Education; Non-Presenting Author: Holly Griskell, Loyola University Chicago; Non-Presenting Author: Kristia Wantchekon, Harvard University

• Supportive classroom contexts for Latin@ students' language development: The complex role of autonomy-supportive teaching - Presenting Author: Emily Phillips Galloway, Vanderbilt University; Non-Presenting Author: Paola Uccelli, Harvard Graduate School of Education; Non-Presenting Author: Chris Barr, TIMES-University of Houston; Non-Presenting Author: Bryant Jensen, Brigham Young University

• Familial supports and parental investments: Supporting Latino children’s self-regulation development - Presenting Author: Tatiana Yasmeen Hill, University of Virginia; Non-Presenting Author: Natalia Palacios, University of Virginia

• Family and child coping among Mexican-origin immigrant families: Links to academic competence - Presenting Author: Catherine DeCarlo Santiago, Loyola University Chicago; Non-Presenting Author: Anna M. Ros, Loyola University Chicago; Non-Presenting Author: Yvita Bustos, Loyola University Chicago; Non-Presenting Author: Sarah Jolie, Loyola University Chicago