Doing Our Homework:
How Schools Can Engage Hispanic Communities
by Andrea B. Bermúdez

Chapter 1
The Importance of Involving Hispanic Parents

In too many places, classrooms have become battlegrounds of competing value systems, learning styles, languages, and attitudes about ethnicity. The casualties have been Hispanic and other minority students who leave school before graduating. Consider these facts:

• Fifty-six percent of Hispanics living in the U.S. are functionally illiterate (Levin, 1987).
• One in four Hispanic students is not expected to graduate from high school as compared to one in ten Anglo students (Barufaldi, 1990).
• According to the 1990 U.S. Census, approximately 6.3 million limited-English-proficient students are currently enrolled in our public schools. This figure indicates a 38.4 percent increase from 1980 (Waggoner, 1993).

These facts have implications for the future occupational and economic opportunities that will be open to Hispanic people.

Although it has been a long time coming, educators have finally taken notice of increases in the population of Hispanic students and the failure of American schools to educate them. As they look for new strategies, one thing they are discovering is the powerful role that parents can play in advancing educational goals.

This chapter summarizes the growing body of evidence to support the belief that involving parents in the education of their children works in the best interest of students, schools, and parents themselves. The discussion begins with a description of benefits to students in the following areas:

a. student academic achievement (Gray & Klaus, 1970; Henderson, 1989; Klaus & Gray, 1968; Schaefer, 1972; Walberg, 1984);
b. language achievement (Bermúdez & Padrón, 1989, 1990; Henderson & García, 1973; Lindholm, 1987);
c. overall school behavior (Levenstein, 1974; Weikart, 1973);
d. attitudes and interest in science among adolescents (Kremer & Walberg, 1981); and
e. cognitive growth (Irvine, 1979; Radin, 1969, 1972).

From there the focus will shift to the benefits for parents in the areas of self-confidence and parenting expertise (Bennett, 1986); relationships with the schools their children attend (Bermúdez & Padrón, 1987a, 1988; Herman & Yeh, 1980; Met, 1987; Morgan, 1982); and relationships with their children (Henderson, 1989). Finally, we will look at the rationale for extending efforts to involve parents past elementary into secondary schooling.

How Students Benefit from Parent Involvement

The direct benefits to students of active parent involvement are numerous. Here is what research has shown:

Student academic achievement. Student achievement can be improved by parent involvement in the home and in the school. Creating a supportive learning environment at homeone in which parents encourage positive attitudes toward schooling and have high expectations for their children's achievementraises student achievement. Becher (1984) identified key family traits as having a positive impact: high expectations, frequent interactions between parent and child, tutoring, role modeling, and parental reinforcement of school learning. In another study, researchers found that high school students' career aspirations are dependent upon their parents' expectations and occupational level (Schlamberg & Chun, 1986). Unfortunately, many low-income limited-English-proficient (LEP) parents perceive their role in their children's education as less important than that of the school's (Carrasquillo & Carrasquillo, 1979).

In addition, studies addressing parent-child relationships have concluded that training parents in home learning strategies helps children at risk of failing in school "to outperform their friends for years" (Henderson, 1989, pp. 3-4). Other studies of student dropouts have cited low parental expectations and support as major causes for former students' decisions to leave school (Barber & McClellan, 1987).

In addition to their actions in the home, parents' interactions with the school are also important. Phillips, Smith, and Witte (1985) investigated 22 school districts in metropolitan Milwaukee and consistently found that parent involvement, regardless of family income, grade level, or location, was associated with student academic performance. They reported that schools having higher student academic performance had more active parent organizations, higher volunteerism, and a high number of positive interactions between home and school.

Student academic success is sustained when parents remain involved (Gray & Klaus, 1970). Programs for involving parents that are well planned, comprehensive, and long-lasting show strength in maintaining student academic success (Gordon, 1978).

Language achievement. The academic failure of many LEP students has been blamed partly on their inability to understand the language of the classroom (Valverde, 1984). As stated at the beginning of this chapter, the number of LEP students continues to escalate.

Home and neighborhood play an integral part in either promoting or deterring the language acquisition process. This statement is not meant to imply that the home needs to switch language mediums. In fact, the opposite is true: A well-developed home language experience is a strong foundation for second language acquisition (Cummins, 1981, 1993). This means that parents who read to and talk with their children in their home language help their children develop language skills in ways that will facilitate their learning of English.

A note on the cultural significance of increasing the parent-child dialogue in linguistically diverse homes: For many of these children, the process of acculturating to the school setting can mean an irreversible separation from home values and mores. When this happens, children are cut off from developing a crucial aspect of their identities. Strong parent-child dialogue in the home language can lead to children seeing themselves as cherished members of a cultural community within the mainstream society.

School behavior and attendance. Behavior discipline is a culturally shaped concept. Each group defines behavioral limits according to a value system agreed upon and generally favored by that group. When schools and homes work together to set behavior guidelines, students are not caught in the middle of confusing double messages. Involving parents in monitoring school behavior is one way schools have collaborated with parents to successfully combat violence and drugs.

Low attendance is usually a strong warning signal that a student is at risk of eventually dropping out of school. Informing parents of their children's truant behavior often serves to draw parents into the effort to keep a child in school.

Science and mathematics achievement. The absence of women and minorities in financially rewarding careers related to science and mathematics is evident in studies of unemployment, underutilization, and salaries (Task Force on Women, Minorities, and the Handicapped in Science and Technology, 1988). Parents play a key role in helping their children form ideas about what is possible for their futures. In fact, according to the task force report, "...parent expectations are strongly associated with children's participation in science-related activities" (p. 49). Too often, low-income minority parents do not, themselves, expect their sons and daughters to pursue careers in fields related to science and mathematics, fields that they may associate only with white, male, middle-class individuals.

Tracking low-income minority LEP students into nonacademic programs has become the norm, diminishing their access to many opportunities. According to Oakes (1990), low-income LEP students in nonacademic tracks lack (a) exposure to the college preparatory curriculum, (b) parental or school adults' high expectations for their career choices, (c) academic orientation of peers, (d) perceived future relevance of academic subjects to career goals, and (e) confidence in their abilities in these areas. Parent education programs can increase parents' knowledge about their roles in their children's aspirations, including their influence on their sons' and daughters' career choices, and on their children's pursuit of scholarships and financial aid available to minority students.

Children's cognitive growth. Irvine (1979) examined reasoning, verbal concepts, and school-related skills (controlling for other factors such as income and education) and found that measures of these abilities improve significantly in low-income preschool children when parents participate in their schooling. Parent participation in this study included hours devoted by parents to helping their children during the school year, contact with school personnel during home visits, parents visiting the school and attending meetings, and incidental contact.

In addition, Radin (1969) found that high IQ kindergarten children in an enrichment program demonstrated significant cognitive gains as a result of their mothers' teaching them at home. The mothers received training in the use of home teaching materials to reinforce classroom learning. Replicating the study with low IQ preschoolers, Radin (1972) found similar positive results.

How Parents Benefit from Involvement

Getting parents to participateeven at a minimal levelhelps overcome many parents' initial feelings of anxiety about becoming involved in school activities or acting as an advocate for their children in the educational system. Often, this apprehensiveness arises from feelings of low self-worth or alienation from a system they do not readily understand (Petersen & Warnsby, 1992). Additionally, Hispanic parents often have so much respect for the teacher that they will blame themselves for their children's problems in school rather than blame the teacher, the school, or the academic program (Carrasquillo & Carrasquillo, 1979).

When parents lack knowledge about beneficial programs that their children could take part in, their role as advocate is undermined. For instance, in Texas during the 1993-94 school year, there were well over 40,000 parent refusals for special services that were tailored to meet the students' needs (Texas Education Agency, 1994). Lack of parent ownership of these programs may be at the heart of such a situation, and parents will not feel their ownership until they are drawn into the process and fully informed.

Dauber and Epstein (1993) found that parents want to know more about how to help their children learn. Therefore, helping parents gain knowledge and expertise in how to assist their children with schoolwork and to take advantage of opportunities available to them allows parents to be more effective in supporting their children's learning. This empowerment leads to increased self-confidence and a better sense of their own authority as equal partners in the education of their children.

Parent Involvement in Secondary Education

While the need for continuity between home and school increases during middle school and high school years, parents tend to become less confident that they can help their children at home. During this critical time, youngsters begin to separate themselves from the home, often looking to peers for role models. This situation can be especially threatening for homes whose language and culture are different from the mainstream. In these homes, the natural act of growing up can become a total disengagement from the foundations of that child's heritage.

All too often parents relinquish the mentoring of high schoolers to the teachers and administrators. According to Powell, Farrar, and Cohen (1985), parents have passed on the responsibility to socialize their adolescents and have given up curricular decisions to the youngsters themselves. Helping students at home with their schoolwork is more infrequent as parents feel they are not prepared to help their children. There is hardly any school guidance beyond the elementary grades for parents who want to assist their children in learning (Dauber & Epstein, 1993).

For many parents, the feelings go beyond insecurity about their ability to help their young with schoolwork in the upper grades to negativity about their roles. Schools often reinforce this negativism by contacting parents only when their children are doing poorly or misbehaving (Moles, 1987). A destructive cycle is created that tends to foster parental reluctance to become involved.

This is very unfortunate considering the possible positive impact these parents could be having on their sons' and daughters' achievement. One study identified parent and community involvement as the key factor in students' high school achievement and career aspirations (McDill, Rigsby, & Meyers, 1969). Despite its importance, studies show that parent participation dwindles after the primary grades (Epstein, 1984; Lucas & Lusthaus, 1978). Schools' efforts also diminish after the primary grades. Elementary schools' initiatives to involve parents tend to be more positive and comprehensive than secondary schools'. In a recent study, actively participating parents reported that teachers at the elementary school level took more initiative to involve them (Dauber & Epstein, 1993).

Even the mechanisms that commonly do exist in secondary schools tend to be used ineffectively. Parent-teacher conferences are one example. Although there is potential for such conferences to be effective, generally they merely become a one-way vehicle for transmitting information from teacher to parent with little, if any, impact on long-range activities or follow-up (Tangri & Leitch, 1982).

Research has shown in study after study the long-term impact of parents' role as mentors in their children's lives, and the impact of home dynamics on achievement. However, parents and educators continue to lack understanding of this role, which keeps parents from pursuing a collaborative role in the upper grades.

Now that the rationale for educational involvement of Hispanic parents at all grade levels has been established, this book will provide a historical perspective for understanding how parents became disengaged in the first place.

Highlights of Chapter 1

The purpose of this chapter was to provide a rationale for parental involvement of Hispanics across all grade levels, particularly those with limited English proficiency. The chapter included the following summary points:

• Involving families in schools has become a major goal of professionals, particularly those working with at-risk students. Establishing a collaborative relationship with the families of these children is essential in assessing and planning interventions.
• Studies show that parent involvement in the education of their children works in the best interest of students, schools, and parents themselves.
• Benefits for students include (a) improved student academic achievement, (b) increased language achievement, (c) improved overall school behavior and attendance, (d) sustained achievement gains, (e) improved attitudes and interest in science among adolescents, and (f) increased cognitive growth.
• Additionally, through involvement in their children's education, parents gain (a) self-confidence and expertise, (b) skills and attitudes to improve home-school relations, and (c) improved relationships with their children.
• With these benefits assured, schools can more successfully perform their role of educating all students.
• In spite of the importance of parental involvement in students' academic success and career aspirations, parental participation diminishes as children grow older.
• This unfortunate situation may be due to the fact that parent involvement is directly related to the nature and scope of programs and practices; and these are stronger, more positive, and more comprehensive at the elementary level than in the higher grades.
• Students need connectedness within their homes, schools, and communities in order to develop a strong identity and a sense of responsibility for their futures. Three important interactions facilitate academic success: (a) parent-child, (b) home-school, and (c) home-school-community partnerships.