Poster #32 - Unpacking the impact of culturally-supportive classrooms on parent involvement and children’s well-being

• In Event: Poster Session 08

Abstract

The cultural landscape of the U.S. has changed dramatically over the last decade, yet the cultural values reinforced through schools’ instructional practices and curriculum remain fixed (Boykin et al., 2006). As a result, millions of racial and ethnic minority children make the transition into kindergarten each year into schools and classrooms that lack the cultural supports needed to help them thrive. While decades of research have demonstrated importance of children’s early educational experiences on their later academic and socioemotional outcomes (Pianta et al., 2009; Chetty et al., 2011), far less is known about the cultural and linguistic environments of U.S. classrooms and how these contexts may influence racial/ethnic minority children’s development. These cultural and language supports (CLS), spanning classroom demographics (e.g., racial/ethnic diversity) to language processes (e.g., language of classroom materials), represent powerful tools to understanding and promoting the well-being and achievement of racial/ethnic minority youth. The current study (Figure 1) investigates how classroom CLS influences children’s well-being (academic achievement and socioemotional well-being) in the short and long-term. Furthermore, given the important role parents play in children’s early lives, we also explore whether parental educational involvement is a mechanism by which classroom CLS matter for children’s well-being.

The current study addresses these critical research aims using a nationally representative sample of 18,179 children followed from kindergarten to 5th grade from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Class (ECLS-K:2011). Preliminary correlational results reveal that same-racial and ethnic representation was linked to higher math achievement in the short and long-term, yet classroom racial and ethnic diversity was unrelated to the outcomes measured. The availability of classroom materials in languages other than English was associated with lower math and reading achievement, but instruction in a language other than English was linked to fewer internalizing symptoms. Classroom racial and ethnic diversity was related to less parental involvement and more barriers to involvement, whereas same-racial and ethnic representation was positively correlated parental involvement and negatively correlated with barriers to involvement. Non-English instruction was linked to lower parental involvement and greater barriers. Finally, parental involvement was linked to better math and reading achievement and fewer externalizing behaviors, while more involvement barriers were correlated with greater short-term externalizing behaviors and lower long-term internalizing behaviors.

Future analyses will use path analyses in a Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) framework to test the magnitude and significance of relations among the predictors (i.e., classroom cultural and language supports) and outcomes (i.e., children’s academic achievement and socioemotional well-being), with change in academic achievement and socioemotional well-being captured using latent growth curve models. Mediational analyses will test whether parental educational involvement and perceived barriers to involvement mediate the relations between classroom CLS and children’s well-being over time.

By investigating the impact of classroom CLS on children’s well-being within and across time and determining the important role parents play in this relation, this research has the potential to directly inform intervention programs targeted at promoting both parental academic involvement and child academic achievement and improving outcomes for all children.

Authors

• Briana Angela Lopez, University of Texas at Austin
  Presenting Author

• Aprile D Benner, University of Texas at Austin