<p> For decades, researchers have investigated strengths and challenges promoting early healthy childhood development, in terms of physical, social emotional and linguistic aspects, for a variety of children groups in the United States. Due to the limited availability of research on the Latino population, addressing the needs of the growing population of Latino children throughout the United States is challenging. Latino students living in the United States are academically behind students of other ethnicities. In 2011, Latinos were identified as the largest and fastest growing minority group in the U.S. with the lowest education attainment levels. Unfortunately, less than 50% of Latino children are less likely to be enrolled in early childhood programs.</p><p> The purpose of this research was to examine the Latino parents&rsquo; beliefs, values and knowledge affecting their decision-making process in opting to send their children to Early childhood programs (ECPs), impacting their readiness for school. Both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered from Latino parent/guardians, Preschool to first grade teachers, and administrators from 9 schools in a school district in Phoenix, Arizona and analyzed. Qualitative data were collected in the form of in-depth interviews and surveys as sources of data from participants. Qualitative data were analyzed using two cycles of coding and represented through matrices. Quantitative data were analyzed using a descriptive analytical method. Five themes emerged that informed the research questions.</p><p> Findings of this study suggested that capitalizing on the Latino parents&rsquo; cultural wealth can help district administrators and policy makers to maximize opportunities for this growing minority group to increase their readiness to kindergarten and success in school. It is important to increase access to high quality early programs to help children begin kindergarten with the necessary tools to succeed in school and in life.</p>

<p> Latinos across the country drop out of high school at higher rates and attain college degrees at lower rates than their peers (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2015b, 2015c). Consequently, they face socioeconomic struggles as adults (NCES, 2016). Understanding and supporting Latino college enrollment may improve educational and socioeconomic outcomes for Latinos. </p><p> The research questions were: 1. How does a mixed methods multiphase study provide an enhanced understanding of Latino college enrollment motivation? (MM) a. How do Latino students describe their motivation to enroll in college? (QL). b. How important do Latino students believe the following variables are in motivating them to go to college: family, school, people, opportunities and benefits, and achievement goals? (QN). c. What is the relationship between Latino motivation to enroll in college and the following demographic variables: age, gender, ethnicity, generation status, family household composition, home neighborhood, income, parent/guardian level of education, and type of high school attended? (QN). d. How do educators describe Latino motivation to enroll in college? (QL). e. How do educators interpret, explain, and extend Phase II survey findings about Latino college enrollment motivation? (QL). f. How do Latino students interpret, explain, and extend Phase II survey findings about Latino college enrollment motivation? (QL). </p><p> Phase I explored motivation through dyadic interviews with Latino college students (<i>N</i>=6). Phase I data informed the development of a Phase II questionnaire administered to Latino college students (<i> N</i>=120). Phase III comprised key informant interviews with educators (<i>N</i>=3). Consenting Phase II participants (<i>n</i>=3) completed reflective questionnaires during Phase IV. Qualitative data were analyzed using Boyatzis&rsquo; (1998) thematic analysis framework. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. </p><p> Qualitative analyses revealed five motivation themes: parents, school, teachers, opportunities/benefits, and that schools can do more. Quantitative analyses revealed significant differences in motivation and the following demographic variables: age, gender, family household composition, income, and parent/guardian level of education. Opportunities/benefits was the most important motivation variable reported (<i>M</i>=4.42, <i> SD</i>=.50). </p><p> Results from this study may provide educational leaders with a richer understanding of Latino college enrollment motivation in order to inform educational practice and policy, and improve Latino achievement.</p>

<p> As school enrollments across the United States include increasing numbers of students of color, the number of administrators of color remains disproportionate. In California school districts, where a large percentage of students are Latino and Latina, Latino and Latina principals remain rare. While studies have suggested why Latinos and Latinas do not enter educational leadership, fewer have examined why they do elect to enter the field. This ethnographic exploratory study examines factors that led Latino and Latina educators to enter administrative leadership preparation programs with the goal of becoming school principals. The sample includes interviews with seven Latino and Latina elementary school principals from a large urban school district in California. The study uses Freire&rsquo;s concepts of banking, conscientization, and praxis as a lens to synthesize the findings. The investigation provides insight regarding how school districts and colleges of education can consider targeted recruitment of Latino and Latina leaders to increase the candidate pool for educational leadership and close the disproportionate ethnic gap between who attends California public schools and who leads them. The research proposes a possible working model for the development, recruitment and growth of the leadership pipeline in California schools. Lastly, this study is a call to action for Latinos and Latinas to consider becoming active participants in the narrative that defines them in the educational landscape of the United States. Issues of race, gender, socio-economic status, language, politics, and immigration are discussed as factors that contribute to the development of Latinos and Latinas in school leadership.</p>

<p>While research on undocumented students and access to higher education is of growing concern, it is equally important to examine mixed citizenship status families. Mixed citizenship status families are families that consist of both documented and undocumented members. Passel and Cohn explain that the number of U.S.-born children in mixed citizenship status families has shown significant growth in recent years, from 2.7 million children in 2004 to 4 million in 2008. </p><p> This study utilizes Bronfenbrenner' s Ecological Systems Theory as a lens to examine the different experiences that members in these families experience through their schooling and in accessing higher education. </p><p> This qualitative comparative case study examined the experiences of three Southern Californian families, consisting of one undocumented student in higher education, undocumented parents, and at least one documented student currently attending high school. This study examined, compared, and contrasted the experiences of 14 different participants and their schooling experiences. </p><p> Major findings in this study revealed that being in a mixed citizenship status family affects different relationship factors and experiences that ultimately impact the documented and undocumented individuals psychologically and academically. Such experiences have the potential of impacting their schooling experience and access to higher education. In this study, changes in policy have had ripple effects that are experienced by youth in very personal ways that have impacted their development and access to higher education. The study revealed that, whether documented or undocumented, all members experienced psychological effects that have affected their access to higher education. </p><p> Findings in this study discovered the impact of changes in policy, how mixed citizenship status families affect the educational trajectories for all members of the family, parental involvement in school, the psychological stressors that affect documented siblings, as well as undocumented, and the ways in which documented siblings may defer their own college experiences in order to keep a pace with their siblings among other findings. </p><p> This study concludes with recommendations for policy and practitioners in the educational field, including suggestions for a more comprehensive immigration policy to include citizenship access for undocumented students and their parents, improvements in the enforcement of labor laws, and professional development for teaching educators about the mixed citizenship status family, promoting home to school relationships, and supplying these families with resources to navigate and widen the pipeline into higher education. </p>

<p>Almost one-third of the students attending public high schools in the United States dropout of school each year with Hispanic students being a significant percentage of the students failing to graduate. While, this is a national problem, there is a variation in the rates in which specific ethnic/racial groups are dropping out of school with Hispanics (36.5%) dropping out at a higher rate than Asian (8.6%) and White (19%) students. This study analyzes the group difference between Latino students' educational aspirations and academic achievement during eighth and 10^th grade, as well as gender difference in aspiration level. </p><p> The findings of this study assessing the relationship of educational aspirations and academic achievement of Latino students who are participants of GEAR UP yielded varying results. The educational aspirations of the GEAR UP Latino students during eighth and 10^th grade showed a growth in the variable over time. Further, the educational aspirations and the academic achievement of the student participants produced relationships of significance during the students' eighth grade year, but not during their 10^th grade year. It was found during eighth grade, participants with educational aspirations of a bachelor's or master's degree had better academic outcomes, based on California Standard Test (CST) performance, than student participants with higher educational aspirations of a professional degree (i.e., medical, law). This was not the case for 10^th grade findings, which yielded non-significant results between academic achievement and educational aspiration after the transition to high school. Next, when analyzing aspiration level based on gender, there was no significant relationship, which may be attributed to the programming of GEAR UP. Lastly, a regression analysis to assess the predictability of 10^th grade GPA was reviewed using the independent variables eighth grade GPA, CST performance, and educational aspiration. The analysis showed eighth grade GPA had the strongest relationship to 10^th GPA. </p><p> These findings suggest there are factors beyond educational aspirations contributing to student persistence and academic achievement in high school, with eighth grade GPA having the strongest relationship to 10^th grade GPA. Based on this, the perception students have about their possible education attainment level may be developed based upon educational experiences from middle school. Therefore, student's relationships, self-efficacy beliefs, and academic performance in this period of the educational pipeline are critical for educational attainment levels beyond high school. </p>

<p> This study examines the experiences of Spanish-speaking Latino/a parents in their attempts to obtain school-based speech and language services for their children; the impact of these experiences on parents; and parent perspectives on how school-based speech-language pathologists can co-create collaborative relationships. Through a detailed analysis of a focus group and individual interviews of 31 Spanish-speaking parents of children in the REAAD! (Reaching Educational Achievement and Development) Literacy Enrichment Program at a university in Los Angeles, California, this study provided a space for parents to share their experiences and offer insights regarding what shaped their experiences. Through the theoretical lens of dis/ability critical race theory (DisCrit), Latino critical race theory (LatCrit), and Yosso&rsquo;s community cultural wealth model, parents&rsquo; stories were collected, transcribed, and analyzed. Parents consistently expressed their hope for their children to have a better life than the one they had, one that was attainable through education. Unfortunately, in their quest for educational supports, parents were often met with systematic roadblocks that denied their children resources and supports. Parents in this study were keenly aware of the struggle to support their children in the face of deficit views of their family based on the intersection of their language, race, and ability levels. More often than not, parents utilized the assistance of sympathetic teachers and speech-language pathologists to obtain services for their children. For parents in the study, having a school professional who they believed demonstrated <i>coraz&oacute;n </i> (heart) made all the difference in their ability to advocate for their children.</p><p>

<p> School-centric views of Latinx parent involvement value preexisting particular middle -class and Eurocentric forms of parent participation in the classroom and in the school. In contrast, there is a growing body of research that looks at Latinx parenting practices from asset-based perspectives. However, there are few studies that illustrate the Mexican immigrant mothers&rsquo; points of view. The purpose of this qualitative study was to document and understand what Mexican immigrant mothers perceived to be good approaches to parenting. The conceptual framework drew from Chicana/Latina feminist epistemology (Delgado Bernal, 1998) and community cultural wealth (Yosso, 2005). The study was conducted using <i>pl&aacute;ticas</i> as a method and methodology. The following themes emerged (1) <i>consejos</i>, (2) faith/catholicism (3) <i> estar al pendiente</i> (4) <i>educaci&oacute;n</i>, (5) setting bounderies and being consistent, and (7) obstacles. Results showed that Mexican immigrant mothers are deeply involved and do a series of parenting practices that help their children be ready to learn.</p><p>

<p> The problem that undergirds this study is the communication and understanding gap that exists between parents of Long Term English Language Learners (LTELL) and educational institutions. The purpose of this qualitative study was to uncover what Latino parents of LTELLs understood about their children&rsquo;s language development as well as their academic standing. Using focus groups and interviews, the study examined how five parents of LTELL students communicated with their children&rsquo;s schools and what understanding they held about the educational programs and policies in the district. The study included gathering parents&rsquo; ideas for how to improve the current system of communication between parents of LTELLs and the schools. </p><p> By exploring parents perceptions, through counter-story telling, of what was communicated to them about their children&rsquo;s linguistic progress and academic placement, they made sense of current practices and determined future expectations between them and the school. Additionally, the study helped parents understand the academic trajectory and linguistic development of their children and the impact they can create by having their voices heard. </p><p> The analysis revealed four overarching themes. First, parents moved to the U.S. because they <i>desired for a better future</i> for their children. Second, the notion of <i>education versus la educaci&oacute;n </i> was explored, where parents expressed cultural and linguistic teaching expectations at home and at school. Third was the theme of <i>self-blame, </i> where parents tended to blame themselves, rather than the system, for their children&rsquo;s lack of language proficiency. Finally, parents highlighted <i>communication,</i> which they described as the core cultural and linguistic barrier at home and school. </p><p> Although the parents of LTELLs may unintentionally experience being uniformed and overlooked, they are highly concerned about their children&rsquo;s English language proficiency and academic placement. Their collective voices expressed the hope for a good education leading to a successful future.</p>