In a report aimed at identifying ways to increase school involvement of Hispanic parents, many of the same conclusions were found. In addition, a further disconnect was noted, in which some educators viewed Hispanic lack of involvement and non-confrontational, non-assertive tone as lack of caring for their child’s academics. It’s important to note that Hispanic parents have many influences that impact their ability to make ongoing school involvement commitments. Some of these include:

• Economic Issues

Often, Hispanic families have little to no disposable wealth, or are living in poverty situations. When this is the case, work takes precedence. Whereas a comfortable middle class family may have one parent who can decide to reduce their workload in order to devote more time and energy to their child’s academics, this is often not feasible for Hispanic families.

• Cultural Differences

Many Hispanic parents have the cultural understanding that it’s the teacher’s role to provide all academic learning. Their own parents weren’t involved in their academics, so they have no model for parental involvement at school.

• Communication

Often, even if documents are translated, parents don’t feel as though a meaningful message is being conveyed to them. When there is little proactive contact on the part of educators, Hispanic parents often avoid engaging. In this study 12% of uninvolved parents report a lack of knowledge on what is going on, or how to start becoming more involved.

With 38% of Hispanic parents citing a full-time work as the main reason for their lack of time for school involvement, it’s clear that out-of-the-box thinking is required to provide support.

The Latino Family Literacy Project teaches providers how to address these issues in a supportive program. After an educational facility has implemented this program, participating parents gain much needed resources that inspire them to play an active role in their child’s academics. Educators are given resources and proven methods for finding ways to work around economically-strained Hispanic populations.

Find out more about parent programs offered by The Latino Family Literacy Project, and give your parents practical tools that will inspire them to stay involved.