Hispanic Parents’ Involvement and Teachers’ Empowerment as Pathways to Hispanic English Learners’ Academic Performance

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between Hispanic English learners’ learning, their parents’ involvement, and their teachers’ empowerment through professional knowledge. It is believed that Hispanic parents’ involvement in their children’s school activities is more influential to academic performance and educational attitudes than is teacher empowerment alone. A total of 339 Hispanic English learners, 339 parents, and 40 teachers participated in this study. Structural equation modelling was used. The analysis produced an empirical model with a nonsignificant value of χ² (53.11). Due to the nonsignificant difference of the p value, the empirical model was found to be a good fit. These results revealed that Hispanic parents’ involvement has a positive impact on their children’s academic performance, and that teachers’ empowerment has a negative impact when primarily focused on professional knowledge attainment only.

Keywords

parental involvement English learners teacher empowerment academic performance

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

American Institutes for Research. (2014). The college and career readiness and success organizer. Retrieved from https://ccrscenter.org/sites/default/files/College%20and%20Career%20Readiness%20and%20Success%20Organizer%20Brief_FINAL.pdf

Anderson

K. J.

Minke

K. M.

(2007). Parent involvement in education: Toward an understanding of parents’ decision making. The Journal of Educational Research, 100, 311-323.

Auerbach

(2004). Engaging Latino parents in supporting college pathways: Lessons from a college access program. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 3, 125-145.

Bentler

P. M.

(1990). Comparative fit indexes in structural models. Psychological Bulletin, 107, 238-246.

Browne

M. W.

Cudeck

(1993). Alternative ways of assessing model fit. In Bollen

K. A.

Long

J. S.

(Eds.), Testing structural equation models (pp. 136-162). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

Buckingham

Wheldall

Beaman-Wheldall

(2014). Why poor children become poor readers: The early years. Educational Review, 66, 428-446.

Chavkin

N. F.

Gonzalez

D. L.

(1995). Forging partnerships between Mexican American parents and the schools. Retrieved from ERIC database (ED388489)

Chetty

Friedman

J. N.

Hilger

Saez

Schanzenbach

D. W.

Yagan

(2011). How does your kindergarten classroom affect your earnings? Evidence from Project STAR. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 126, 1593-1660.

Clotfelter

C. T.

Ladd

H. F.

Vigdor

J. L.

(2006). Teacher-student matching and the assessment of teacher effectiveness. Journal of Human Resources, 41, 778-820.

10.

Collier

V. P.

Thomas

W. P.

(2004). The astounding effectiveness of dual language education for all. Journal of Research and Practice, 2, 1-20.

11.

Colombo

Furbush

(2009). Teaching English language learners: Content and language in middle and secondary classrooms. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.

12.

Council of Chief State School Officers. (2014). English language proficiency standards. Retrieved from http://www.k12.wa.us/MigrantBilingual/pubdocs/ELP/WA-ELP-Standards-K12.pdf

13.

Dahl

Ceballo

Huerta

(2010). In the eye of the beholder: Mothers’ perceptions of poor neighborhoods as places to raise children. Journal of Community Psychology, 38, 419-434.

14.

Desforges

Abouchaar

(2003). The impact of parental involvement, parental support and family education on pupil achievement and adjustment: A literature review (DfES Research Report 433). Retrieved from http://bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/files_uploaded/uploaded_resources/18617/Desforges.pdf

15.

Dubow

E. F.

Boxer

Huesmann

L. R.

(2009). Long-term effects of parents’ education on children’s educational and occupational success: Mediation by family interactions, child aggression, and teenage aspirations. Merrill-palmer Quarterly, 55, 224-249.

16.

Gimbert

Bol

Wallace

(2007). The influence of teacher preparation on student achievement and the application of national standards by teachers of mathematics in urban secondary schools. Education and Urban Society, 40, 91-117.

17.

Glenn

(1990). Teacher empowerment. Music Educators Journal, 77(2), 4-5.

18.

Gomez

Freeman

(2005). Dual language education: A promising 50-50 model. Bilingual Research Journal, 29, 145-164.

19.

Häkkinen

Kirjavainen

Uusitalo

(2003). School resources and student achievement revisited: New evidence from panel data. Economics of Education Review, 22, 329-335.

20.

Hill

N. E.

Tyson

D. F.

(2009). Parental involvement in middle school: A meta-analytic assessment of the strategies that promote achievement. Developmental Psychology, 45, 740-763.

21.

Hoover-Dempsey

K. V.

Walker

J. M. T.

Sandler

H. M.

Whetsel

Green

C. L.

Wilkins

A. S.

Closson

(2005). Why do parents become involved? Research findings and implications. The Elementary School Journal, 106, 105-130.

22.

Hurtado

Carter

D. F.

Spuler

(1996). Latino student transition to college: Assessing difficulties and factors in successful college adjustment. Research in Higher Education, 37, 135-157.

23.

Jeynes

(2005). A Meta-Analysis of the relation of parent involvement to urban elementary school student academic achievement. Urban Education, 403, 237-269.

24.

Klugman

Lee

Nelson

S. L.

(2012). School co-ethnicity and Hispanic parental involvement. Social Science Research, 41, 1320-1337.

25.

Lara-Alecio

Irby

B. J.

Ebener

(1997). Developing academically supportive behaviors among Hispanic parents: What elementary school teachers and supervisors can do? Preventing School Failure, 42, 27-32.

26.

Lareau

(2002). Invisible inequality: Social class and childrearing in Black families and White families. American Sociological Review, 67, 747-776.

27.

Lee

Bowen

N. K.

(2006). Parent involvement, cultural capital, and the achievement gap among elementary school children. American Educational Research Journal, 43, 193-218.

28.

Leithwood

Jantzi

(1998). Distributed leadership and student engagement in school. Retrieved from ERIC database. (ED424645)

29.

Louis

K. S.

Dretzke

Wahlstrom

(2010). How does leadership affect student achievement? Results from a national US survey. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 99, 315-336.

30.

Marks

H. M.

Louis

K. S.

(1997). Does teacher empowerment affect the classroom? The implications of teacher empowerment for instructional practice and student academic performance. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 19, 245-275.

31.

Maxwell

(2012). Raising Latino achievement seen as “demographic imperative.” Education Week, 31, 4-5.

32.

McDermott

Rothenberg

(2000). Triangulating data about exemplary urban teachers with focus groups. Philadelphia, PA: The Qualitative Report.

33.

Muthén

L. K.

Muthén

B. O.

(1998-2017). Mplus user’s guide (8th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Author.

34.

National Center for Education Statistics. (2016). English language learner (ELL) students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools, by grade, home language, and selected student characteristics: Selected years, 2008-09 through fall 2014. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d16/tables/dt16_204.27.asp

35.

Neri

Lozano

Chang

Herman

(2016). High-leverage principles of effective instruction for English learners. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED570911.pdf

36.

Olson

C. B.

Matuchniak

Chung

H. Q.

Stumpf

Farkas

(2017). Reducing achievement gaps in academic writing for Latinos and English learners in grades 7–12. Journal of Educational Psychology, 109, 1-21. doi:10.1037/edu0000095

37.

Orr

A. J.

(2003). Black–White differences in achievement: The importance of wealth. Sociology of Education, 76, 281-304.

38.

Parker

Lara-Alecio

Ochoa

S. H.

Bigger

Hasbrouck

Parker

(1996). A school at risk: Ideas for improvement from parents, teachers, and students of three ethnic groups. Journal of Educational Issues of Language Minority Students, 16, 149-177.

39.

Peterson

G. W.

Cobas

J. A.

Bush

K. R.

Supple

A. J.

Wilson

S. M.

(2005). Parent-youth relationships and the self-esteem of Chinese adolescents: Collectivism versus individualism. Marriage and Family Review, 36, 173-200.

40.

Ramsdal

Bergvik

Wynn

(2015). Parent-child attachment, academic performance and the process of high-school dropout: A narrative review. Attachment & Human Development, 17, 522-545.

41.

Reed

R. P.

Jones

K. P.

Walker

J. M.

Hoover-Dempsey

K. V.

(2000). Parents’ motivations for involvement in children’s education: Testing a theoretical model. Retrieved from ERIC database (ED444109)

42.

Rouse

C. E.

Barrow

(2006). U.S. elementary and secondary schools: equalizing opportunity or replicating the status quo? Future Child, 16, 99-123.

43.

Sad

S. N.

Gurbuzturk

(2013). Primary school students’ parents’ level of involvement into their children’s education. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 13, 1006-1011.

44.

Schneider

Martinez

Ownes

(2006). Barriers to educational opportunities for Hispanics in the United States. In Tienda

Mitchell

(Eds.), Hispanics and the future of America (pp. 179-221). Washington, DC: National Academies Press.

45.

Short

P. M.

(1994). Defining teacher empowerment. Education, 114, 488-492.

46.

Smith

Stern

Shatrova

(2008). Factors inhibiting Hispanic parents’ school involvement. Rural Educator, 29(2), 8-13.

47.

Sweetland

S. R.

Hoy

W. K.

(2000). School characteristics and educational outcomes: Toward an organizational model of student achievement in middle schools. Educational Administration Quarterly, 36, 703-729.

48.

Texas Education Agency. (2007). English language proficiency standards. Retrieved from http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/chapter074/ch074a.html

49.

Tong

Irby

B. J.

Lara-Alecio

Koch

(2014). A longitudinal study of integrating literacy and science for fifth grade Hispanic current and former English language learners: From learning to read to reading to learn. Journal of Educational Research, 107, 410-426.

50.

Tong

Lara-Alecio

Irby

B. J.

Mathes

G. P.

(2011). The effects of an instructional intervention on dual language development among first grade Hispanic English learning boys and girls: A two-year longitudinal study. Journal of Educational Research, 104, 87-99.

51.

Urdan

Solek

Schoenfelder

(2007). Students’ perceptions of family influences on their academic motivation: A qualitative analysis. European Journal Psychology of Education, 22, 7-21.

52.

(2016). Addressing challenges in urban teaching, learning and math model-strategy-application with reasoning approach in linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms. Journal of Urban Learning Teaching and Research, 12, 47-60.

53.

Wynne

(2001). Teachers as leaders in education reform. Retrieved from ERIC database (ED462376)