Cambio verdadero: Empowering Latino parents and enhancing school community

Research demonstrates that academic achievement increases with parental involvement. A substantial achievement gap exists between majority and minority students, with Latino students having the smallest academic success rate among minorities. As one would expect, these minority students also have lower rates of parental involvement. Culturally and linguistically diverse parents are likely to find traditional parent involvement activities difficult because of their lack of familiarity with American school culture and their limited English ability. As a consequence of these and other factors ethnic, working-class parents are less likely to participate in traditional parent involvement activities. These parents lack prior experience with the American school system and subsequently lack understanding of the norms for parent involvement. Therefore, low levels of parent participation by Latinos appear to be related to a lack of culturally based knowledge of the American school system. However, cultural differences have seldom been examined to explain Latinos' lower rates of parental involvement.; The present study investigated how cultural differences affect culturally and linguistically diverse parents' knowledge of the American school system. A culturally based psychoeducational group was created to provide first-generation Latino parents information about the rules, personnel, and resources of their child's school. The group was conducted in the participants' dominant language (Spanish) and lasted eight weeks. Parents' level of satisfaction and frequency of communication with teachers were assessed to determine if either changed over time. Two pre- and posttest measures were created to assess whether participants' knowledge increased and if participants' satisfaction with their children's school had changed. Frequency of parent-teacher communication was tracked throughout the group sessions.; Results suggested participant's knowledge about school staff, protocol, and resources significantly increased. Satisfaction levels had no change; frequency of contact data was insufficient for analysis. The current study has many significant implications: it can serve as a model for implementing culturally appropriate interventions; evidence generated by the present study can be used to enhance the cultural sensitivity of educators; and finally, the methodology of the study can be utilized as a cost-effective method for presenting parents the tools to help their children achieve greater academic success.