Hispanic Parent Involvement in their Childs Education

Introduction
When I was younger, the building where I attended elementary school had two schools
within the building. They were P.S.83 and BBMS. I attended P.S.83. Since I was younger, at the
time I thought the only differences between the schools were the uniform colors. I wore a white
top with navy blue bottoms while students that attended the other school wore white tops with
grey bottoms. However, I realized there was another difference besides the uniform color. BBMS
meant Bilingual Bicultural Mini School. When I would walk passed down the hallways to my
next class, I would look into the classrooms, and I would hear the teacher and the class
responding in Spanish. According to the Insideschool Review, BBMS is a cozy school,
committed to bilingual education for new immigrants and English Language Learners (ELLs)
within the zone (insideschools.org). This explains why I heard Spanish being spoken in the
classrooms. Unlike traditional bilingual programs designed to move students to English-only
instruction as quickly as possible, BBMS gradually shifts the balance of instruction from Spanish
to English. (insideschools.org). The website was stating that BBMS doesnt transition quickly
from Spanish to English, but the school support bilingual education by teaching social studies
and sciences in Spanish (insideschools.org). I always believed that parent involvement is
necessary for a child to do well in school. A parent support is what guides the child into excelling
in school. This got me thinking, in BBMS, its easy for parents to communicate with teachers and
their child to be involved in their childs education. But what about parents who arent able to
communicate with the school about their childs education? This is what got me interested in this

topic. I wanted to explore the language barrier and more importantly language differences
between parents and school staff and how it affects students, teachers, and parents.
According to the English Oxford dictionary, language barrier is a barrier to
communication between people who are unable to speak a common language. My experience led
me to question parent involvement and I wanted to know what children, teachers, and parents
face with a language barrier and how it affects education. More importantly, I wanted to
investigate how involved a parent is in their childs education. It seems that language barrier is
the reason why parents arent involved in their childs education in school, however, it can also
be the parents education level that doesnt permit them to communicate with school faculty.
How did I began & Research
I first began by reading Parent Involvement: Influencing Factors and Implications by
Delores C. Pena. Pena discusses several factors that influences parent involvement in their
childs education. Several of these factors are language, parents education, attitudes of the
school staff, cultural influences, and family issues (Pena, p.42). While some teachers encourage
parents to be involved in the classroom as motivation for the students, other teachers dont feel
comfortable having parents in their classroom. Not only is a parent being in the classroom
motivation for the students, it positively affects the learning environment. According to recent
research (Berger, 1995), the primary factor for childrens educational success or failure is parent
interest and support (Pena, pp.42). However, this becomes an issue when parents cant speak
English. They arent able to communicate with the school. Pena states that there are beliefs on
behalf of teachers and administration that the working class and minority parents choose not to
participate, but it is more often that parents cannot participate because of language difference or
their limited education (Pena, p.48). This causes tension between parent and teacher

relationships. A relationship between teachers and parents can already be hard to achieve because
there is no communication. Some teachers also believe that parent involvement in teacher
responsibilities jeopardizes their professional status. Not all teachers and staff members are
comfortable with increased parent-school collaboration. (Pena, p.43). Teachers feel that parents
wont understand the curriculum and what is happening in the classroom. While on the other
hand, parents feel like teachers wont understand them because of the language difference and
they feel embarrassed to ask for help.
To begin, the United States has the largest amount of Spanish speakers besides Mexico.
Pena specifically studied Mexican American Parents and their involvement in their childs
school. She focused on one school and investigated parent involvement at Parker Elementary
School in Texas (Pena, p.45). She chose to focus on this school because it had a high percentage
of Mexican American students enrolled (Pena, p.45). I believe that it is important to have a study
conducted solely on Mexican Americans because students may be first generation or second
generation children, meaning their parents may have difficulty communicating in English. One
positive aspect about the Parker Elementary school was that it had an established parent
involvement program. Its called the Dual Language program. In the school most teachers are
bilingual which helps the language barrier issue. This was an intentional program created mainly
to eliminate the language barrier issue. Pena states, Parker Elementary and another elementary
school received a federal grant of %1.25 million in 1996 for a 5-year period to provide all
students with the opportunity to become biliterate and bilingual (Pena, p.45). The money helped
fund the dual language program.
During this study, both parents and teachers were interviewed. Pena hints some concerns
parents had that prevented them from being involved in their childs education. Parents are

intimidated by educational jargon, which impedes communication between them and teachers
(Pena p.44). In other words, the way a teacher speaks, parents may not understand making the
whole situation feel intimidating, which is why there is a lack of communication between them.
Parents want to be involved, but many felt uncomfortable.
Pena also states that a parents reason for not being involved is because of cultural
differences. Parents observe if their childs school validates their language and culture.
Validation plays a big part in parent involvement. In my opinion, if parents dont feel welcomed
and are looked down upon because of ethnicity and culture, they wouldnt be involved in their
childs education because they wouldnt want to interact with teachers and school staff.
The teachers who were interviewed stated that they encourage parent involvement by
communicating in both languages. However, some teachers see this as a burden. They feel as if
helping the parent understand what the child is doing in the classroom will result in the teachers
having the burden of more work. Teachers have to find ways to communicate with parents and
need to be trained sometimes so they would have to attend workshops. Teachers that see it as a
burden dont want to attend these workshops that would help them communicate with parents.
Whats also taken into consideration is the parents educational status. Pena points out
that parents have stated that they are unable to help their children because of their limited
education. They have not received a formal education from the United States or Mexico. There
are parents that believe that it is the schools responsibility to educate their child without their
involvement. Parents feel that because they dont have an educational background, it is only the
schools job to educate their child.

Parker Elementary Schools dual language program, helps teachers and parents
communicate by making sure that both the English and Spanish languages are validated. By
validating both of these languages, Parker Elementary School relieves the English language issue
for parents communicating with the school. Research shows that language is the main factor as to
why parents arent involved in their childs education (Pena, p.52).
What is being done?
Pena states, It is important to understand that there is no precise method that will
automatically lead to enhanced parent involvement. Increasing parent involvement requires time
to gain the trust of parents and to inform them of how they can be involved (Pena, p.52). Pena
discusses an ABC workshop, which is intended to help parents out, to teach them and help them
communicate with their children. Parent who spoke Spanish and had no formal education but
looked out help from the parent training specialist. Pena states, At another parent gathering, the
ABC workshop in the fall, the influence of the parents education on their ability to participate,
was vividly displayed. All three instructors for the workshop explained and demonstrated in both
English and Spanish how parents were instructed to put together three little ABC books. The
teachers showed examples of sentences that the parent could use for one of the pattern books and
how parents were asked to work with their children at home (Pena, p.49). This ABC workshop
exists in Parker Elementary School and is intended to give parents tips to communicate with their
children.
Conclusion
The language barrier between parents and teachers is the main factor preventing parent
involvement in their childs school. The issue is that parents want to be involved in their childs

education but have trouble accessing help. I agree with Pena that it is the teachers responsibility
to make a parent feel welcomed. Teachers should help parents understand in the simplest way.
Pena states, Although some parents may speak and dress differently, one should recognize that
all parents simply want their children to be successful (Pena, p.52). Parents want to be involved,
and not feel excluded. It is up to the school staff to help parents feel welcomed and figure out
what is necessary so that parents can be involved in their childs education.

Works Cited Page

Cortina, Regina. (2006, February). Bridging Language Barriers. Originally printed in School
Business Affair, Volume 72, No. 2 (21-23).

Insideschools. Website: http://insideschools.org/component/schools/school/179

Pena, D. (2000, Sept.-Oct.). Parent Involvement: Influencing Factors and Implication. The
Journal of Educational Research, Vol. 94, No. 1, pp.42-54. Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/27542302