Global Educational Research Journal

Teachers’ Perceptions of Latino Parental Involvement Within an Urban Low-Income School Context in The United States.

Abstract

Accepted 7^th July, 2017.

The purpose of this study was to examine teachers’ perceptions of Latino parents’ school involvement, as well as to investigate whether these perceptions are related to teachers’ characteristics (i.e., age (generational cohort), race/ethnicity, teaching experience, bilingual ability). Data for this study were collected from 141 teachers working in low-income, urban charter schools in a large city in Southern California. Using descriptive and inferential statistics, the author analyzed teachers’ overall characteristics (i.e. race and ethnicity, age, gender, bilingual ability, teaching experience) and whether these characteristics predicted their perceptions of Latino parents’ school- related involvement. Results suggest that teachers working at these urban low-income charter schools are diverse in terms of race and ethnicity, gender, and language (i.e., English and Spanish), and that a majority have graduate degrees. More importantly, teachers’ rated, on average, home-based (non-observable) parental involvement activities and strategies significantly lower than school-based (observable) activities and strategies. Furthermore, teachers’ perceptions of Latino parents’ school involvement varied by generational cohort (i.e., age): younger (i.e., millennial teachers) perceived Latino parents as being significantly less involved in their child’s schooling as compared with older teachers. No other characteristic (i.e. race and ethnicity, age, gender, bilingual ability, teaching experience) predicted differences in teacher perceptions of parental involvement. Implications for practice are discussed.

Keywords: Latino parents, Parental Involvement, Charter Schools, Millennial teachers, urban schools