The population of children from immigrant families
is growing faster than any other group of children in the United States.
According to the U.S. Department of Education, over five million school-age
children are categorized as English Learners.
ELs are more likely to have parents with lower formal education levels
than their non-EL counterparts and to come from low-income families (Vera et
al., 2012).
Parent educational involvement has been one of the
most important predictors of school success.
Most research suggests that it has a great impact on the academic
success of children of all ages. When
parents are involved, children tend to have higher attendance, higher
achievement levels and more positive attitudes toward school. This is true not only in the United States, but
also internationally (Vera et al., 2012).
Different types of parental involvement have
different relationships to achievement.
In this study, the most common type of educational involvement among
families of EL students involved monitoring homework and asking children about
their school day. Helping their children to utilize community resources, such
as tutoring at a public library, was found to be the least common type. Also depending on some demographic factors
such as English language fluency, educational background, ethnicity, some
parents were more likely to be involved than others. Overall school climate and parents’
perceptions of barriers were other predictors.
Other barriers exist, such as a negative climate
toward immigrant parents, individual barriers – lack of dominant language
proficiency, logistical barriers – work responsibilities. Furthermore, in other cultures and countries parental
involvement may be very minimal depending on the country. In some cultures it is disrespectful to probe
about the teacher’s methods. In some
countries parents do not question the schools.
It is the schools job to educate children.
Another barrier parents of ELs encounter, according
to this study, is not understanding the U.S. school system. They also feel they shouldn’t interfere with
how teachers do their jobs. This barrier significantly correlated with parents
reading less with their children. One
suggestion for an intervention is providing education for parents about how
schools work in the U.S. and expectations about the involvement of parents in
the United States (Vera et al., 2012).
It is less educated, Latino parents who may be at
higher risk for not participating in certain types of parental involvement. parents’ educational level was a significant
predictor with respect to parental involvement in reading to their children. In
other words, parents who are more literate, even in their native language, are
more likely to participate in family literacy experiences than those who lack
literacy skills.
Even though there is a plethora of research that
supports the findings that parents who have high expectations for their
children are also those with the most investment in their child’s educational
achievement. This includes have
structure and routines in the home such as having a regular bedtime,
restricting media, enforcing a regular homework routine etc. This may be an
intervention to help educate parents about the benefits of having such
routines.
It is important to tailor interventions designed to
increase parental involvement based on educational background and linguistic
fluency.
The article mentions possible courses of action for
engaging parents, one of them being a community building forum, but schools
should not have the mind-set that they are going to “train” the parents. It should not be a gathering in which
teachers speak to the parents and then everyone goes home, rather parents tell
their stories while teachers listen. Families and teachers work together.
Vera, E. M., Israel, M. S., Coyle, L., Cross, J.,
Knight-Lynn, L., Moallem, I. & Goldberger, N.,
(2012) Exploring the Educational Involvement of Parents of English Learners, School
Community Journal, 22(2), 183-202
This was a very interesting and eye-opening article. This article focuses specifically on EL students, but as I read through it and thought of my own students, it truly applies to all types of students. Parental involvement is so essential for a child to be able to succeed in school. In my class, it is obvious whose parents are involved and whose are not. The article mentions barriers such as educational background as a factor that causes less parental involvement. I think that pertains to all students. If the parent isn’t educated, it is difficult for them to assist their child when needed. Some of the suggestions that were given, such as a community building forum, to help educate parents is a great idea, but how do we convince Administration to pursue this avenue of “training” the parents?
ReplyDeletethis article sounds as though there was some beneficial strategies listed. The most important role of the parent/teacher relationship is of listener. We must learn to share and listen in order to gain that attitude of "being in it together".
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