Factors that inhibit school involvement of Hispanic parents

Abstract

Scope and Method of Study: The purpose of this study was to identify factors that inhibit parental involvement of Hispanic parents in non-metropolitan areas. Participants in the study were 15 non-English speaking Hispanic parents. Seven of the participants completed a 20 item written survey in Spanish and subsequently participated in a focused interview for approximately one and one-half hours each; eight participants were interviewed as a focus group after the initial interviews. All interviews and documents were translated into English and coded into predominant categories and analyzed.

Findings and Conclusions: The difficulty of communication created by the language barrier is substantially inhibiting, especially where schools do not translate school-to-home materials into Spanish. A majority of the participants indicated a willingness to attend English language classes for adults if they were conveniently offered. Hispanic parents in this study generally felt welcome in their children's schools but were reluctant to offer suggestions that might be viewed as being disrespectful. In contrast to earlier research that focused on non-English speaking Hispanics living in metropolitan areas in which subjects expressed a reluctance to fully integrate into and embrace the existing non-Hispanic culture, participants in this study indicated a willingness and desire to fit into the non-Hispanic culture of their community.