PERCEPTIONS ABOUT PARENT INVOLVEMENT: A MULTIPLE CASE STUDY ON THE SUCCESS OF LATINO MALES IN SCHOOL
Date
2020-10
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Abstract
Latino students represent the largest and fastest-growing demographic of culturally diverse school-age children and have one of the highest dropout rates in the nation. Specifically, aside from males of American Indian descent, Latino males are the second-highest ethnic group to drop out of school. The literature stressed that parental involvement does have a positive and significant influence on the achievement of high school graduation, regardless of ethnic background or gender. They also tend to be less involved in the education of their children for a variety of reasons. The focus of this qualitative study was to explore and report the perceptions of Spanish speaking Latino parents about their son's schooling, and the factors that helped or hindered his success. The perspectives of school counselors and parents, as compared and contrasted, were also considered.
A total of 15 participants took part in this study, which consisted of 10 Latino parents and five school counselors. Through surveys and interviews, parents shared factors which they believed impeded or encouraged their involvement, including experiences from their country of origin. Many did not have formal education beyond the fifth grade but based on what they learned from their parents about participation in the school, a majority of the applied the skills learned from their parents to help their child succeed in school. The school counselors told of their experiences and observations about parent involvement at the schools they worked.
The results of the study showed the majority of parent involvement occurred at home. The researcher concluded that Latino parents in the study were active contributors to their child's success, as demonstrated by their commitment through creative ways of involvement. Implications for further research with Latino parents were presented.