Latinx Family Engagement in Schools and Surrounding Communities: Assessing the Impact of Parent (and Other Family Member) Development on Improving Student Educational Outcomes at Gene Ward Elementary School

Rosemary Q Flores,Phyllis Morgan,Christine Clark,Linda Rivera

doi:10.3390/educsci9020149

Rosemary Q Flores, Phyllis Morgan + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci9020149

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Abstract

This article examined the success of broadly defined family engagement activities of Latinx parents of students at Gene Ward Elementary School. Gene Ward Elementary School is a part of the Clark County School District in Las Vegas, Nevada. This article is based on a larger study of parent and family member participants in these activities at 25 district schools between 2003 and 2012.

Highlights

Parent and Latinx parent involvement programs have tended to focus on heteronormative and/or biological definitions of parents, as well as on parental development exclusively or primarily on directly impacting student educational performance [1,2]; for example, teaching a mother and father to regularly communicate high educational expectations to their children
Student academic achievement, demarcated by key educational outcomes tracked by CCSD (e.g., student attendance rates, homework completion rates, grades, grade level progression rates, graduation rates, and college attendance rates), were evaluated prior to, concurrent with, and after parental participation in the family engagement activities
Educational achievement is often seen as the key to securing access to full participation in democracy for historically underrepresented racial, ethnic, gender, and economic groups in the United

Summary

Introduction

Parent and Latinx parent involvement programs have tended to focus on heteronormative and/or biological definitions of parents, as well as on parental development exclusively or primarily on directly impacting student educational performance [1,2]; for example, teaching a mother and father to regularly communicate high educational expectations to their children. Like many schools in the CCSD, the number of students in the school at any given time is over 700, much larger than most elementary school campuses across the nation (NRC, drilled to Demographic Profile (by academic year)). Over 85 percent of Gene Ward students fall below the poverty line, and the majority speak English as a second language (NRC, drilled to Demographic Profile (by academic year)). Most (70 percent) of the students who speak English as a second language speak Spanish as their first language, there are 19 other languages spoken as a first language other than English on the Gene Ward campus (NRC, drilled to Demographic Profile (by academic year))

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