Description:
A growing body of research indicates that when parents are engaged in their children's learning and development, their children do better in school. Indeed, increased parental engagement has been found to increase children's accomplishments inside and outside of the classroom. One strategy that educators can use to increase parents' engagement in their children's learning is leveraging the ways parents are already engaged to encourage more frequent and different forms of involvement. This approach is especially important for parents who may appear to be less involved despite holding a high regard for education. For example, Latino immigrant parents consistently place a high value on education, yet appear to be less involved compared with other parents. This brief reports on what was learned through recent interviews with Latina immigrant mothers about the techniques they used to support their children's education at the most malleable stage of development, the preschool years. The interviews explored the various ways mothers supported their children's learning and development, how culture shaped their involvement, and how their involvement might enhance their children's learning and development. Implications of the findings are discussed as they relate to parent empowerment and developing supportive parent-teacher partnerships. (author abstract)
Resource Type:
Fact Sheets & Briefs
Publisher(s):
Country:
United States