The purpose of this qualitative interpretive research study was to explore the perceptions and experiences of seven second- and third-generation U.S.-born Latino parents in a high-poverty urban school district in Texas regarding their role in their children’s schooling. Specifically, this study was organized to understand what the selected Latino parents perceived as parent involvement, what expectations they had of the school and, conversely, what expectations the school personnel had of them, and finally, what perceptions the parents held about their role in school-parent activities. Though parent involvement is considered to be one of the most important factors in a child’s success in school, this study also explored the perceived chasm in the alignment between the school and the home of the U.S.-born Latino family. The interpretative approach and dialogical exchange, through a semi-structured interview process, provided the opportunity to add the voices of second- and third-generation U.S.–born Latino parents to the current discourse about parent involvement. All of the participants met a general description as a second- or third-generation U.S.-born Latino, whose primary language is English, whose children have been involved in the identified school system for at least five years and were academically successful, and who the school considered to be uninvolved in the schooling process. The data analysis process involved a methodical process of breaking down the information presented in in-depth interview transcripts, observation, field notes, documents, and participant and researcher texts. By using a focused coding technique, patterns or concepts that best represented the participants’ voices surfaced. The codes were reviewed and categories or themes were then developed. The parents’ voices also provided information suggesting that the perceived lack of participation in the sanctioned school activities by some U.S.–born Latino parents stems from an apparent failure on the part of school personnel to recognize the cultural capital and richness of the culturally diverse household. Specifically, through the theoretical framework of funds of knowledge, the stories of the seven second- and third-generation U.S.-born Latinos noted that Latino families have assets that contribute to the academic success of their children, yet they are often dismissed by school personnel.

This dissertation, presented in the form of a grant application, intends to deliver a technique for decreasing the pervasive achievement gap between White and Latino students. Specifically, the aim of the proposal is to identify and implement a school-embedded, family-centered intervention designed to address the local values and concerns of a southern Oregon Latino population. Latino students face unique acculturation stressors under the current U.S. system that create academic difficulties, place strain on familial relationships, and put students at greater risk for problem behavior. In addition, barriers in the U.S. school system present challenges for recently immigrated Latino parents to participate within the school. When embedded in schools, family-centered interventions addressing the needs of Latino students will strengthen the parent-child-teacher relationship and create support structures across family and school social systems to help decrease the achievement gap and produce positive academic and behavioral results. The research approach includes both qualitative and quantitative methods. Initially, a systematic process derived from a model of evidence-based practice will be used to determine a locally-appropriate family-centered intervention for implementation in an educational context with a southern Oregon Latino population. After the selection of an appropriate family-centered intervention, a pilot randomized control trial will be employed to gather data on preliminary outcome measures, including intervention feasibility, fidelity, and effects of the intervention on parents and students. Finally, project results will be disseminated to key stakeholders and funding options for larger efficacy studies will be explored. Three outcomes will result from this project: (1) identification and selection of a locally-appropriate, evidence-based, family-centered intervention for use in a southern Oregon educational context with the Latino population; (2) pilot research to determine the feasibility, implementation fidelity, and initial program effects on student and parenting outcomes; and (3) dissemination of project results and exploration of options for funding intervention efficacy research.

This study investigates principals’ perceptions about the importance and degree of building relationships with Hispanic/Latino families in highly diverse schools in an Atlanta area school district. Over the past ten years, the school district’s Hispanic/Latino student population increased by more than 12,000 students. The school district’s current Hispanic/Latino enrollment is almost 15,000 students, which is 14.4% of the total student body. Six principals from different elementary and middle schools with growing Hispanic/Latino student populations participated in this qualitative study involving in-depth, one-on-one interviews, informal observations, and artifact collection. The data analysis process involved transcribing the interview tapes verbatim, analyzing the narratives for theme categories, and identifying the common theme patterns. Critical theorists Giroux, Apple, and Freire provided the framework to examine the principals’ responses and experiences. Hegemony, patriarchy, and reciprocity are critical theory concepts used to criticize and critique the data to glean meaning and understanding of the principals’ perceptions about relationship building with Hispanic/Latino parents and families. There is a disequilibrium between what the principals say is occurring at their schools and the hidden and taken-for-granted structures that exist at their schools. Based on their actions, it seems principals perceive that in order to build relationships with Hispanic/Latino families, the school leaders need to take on a patriarchal role and explain the necessary knowledge, skills, and practices to the parents. This hegemonic behavior perpetuates the dominant group’s power and control over the non-dominant, oppressed groups. In addition, there was no indication that the principals gain an understanding of the Hispanic/Latino culture and language before attempting to help the families with parenting and schooling. The findings suggest that the principals are operating on the assumption that they know what is best for the Hispanic/Latino population without prior inquiry. There is little evidence that the principals believe they have something to learn from the Hispanic/Latino parents and families, thus, a reciprocal learning relationship is non-existent. These underlying beliefs and assumptions will hinder the principals from building a true relationship with the students, parents, and families who they serve in the school community.

Immigrant populations are growing and permanently changing the demographic profile of the United States. Diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds are manifested in the families in each community, imposing demands and challenges to agencies that provide services to them. A large population of immigrant families, especially first and second generations, experiences a process of acculturation while they are adapting to a new country. Recognizing this reality is crucial when culturally sensitive screening services are offered. Culturally sensitive assessments are not always available to families with young children, and psychometric properties of these instruments are not always thoughtfully studied. As a consequence, families might not receive reliable information about their children's skills. Psychometric examination of properties of screening tools is required to be responsive to the needs of diverse families. This study is aimed at examining the item equivalence of the Ages and Stages Questionnaires 3rd Edition (ASQ-3) for the 9, 18 and 30 month intervals and the cultural appropriateness, readability and utility of the Spanish ASQ-3 translation. Quantitative and qualitative techniques were used to determine item characteristic invariance across the English and Spanish versions and cultural appropriateness. Findings show that most of the ASQ-3 items function invariantly across language versions, indicating that these items are productive for gathering information, present an adequate hierarchy difficulty for order of items, and are properly using the response categories included on the tool. In addition, most of the values and qualities selected by parents are congruent with the content of activities included on the ASQ-3 items. Parents identified questions as useful for helping them to think more about their children's development. Accessible and sensitive instruments may facilitate parent participation in assessment, increasing the number of children correctly identified as having developmental risk regardless of ethnicity or linguistic background. Implications for practice and research are discussed, supporting cross-cultural studies on parent-completed questionnaires as an effective strategy for conducting screening and monitoring of young children's development in a context of cultural and linguistic diversity.

This descriptive study explored Latino parental involvement strategies implemented in selected Virginia school districts. Randomly selected teachers from elementary, middle, and high schools whose student population is 10% or greater Latino were surveyed. Exploratory data analysis was utilized to examine the perceptions and opinions of selected teachers on the involvement of Latino parents in selected schools. Implications of the research findings are discussed and future research topics are recommended. / Ph. D.

abstract: ABSTRACT This study investigated the effects of a family literacy program for Latino parents' language practices at home and their children's oral language skills. Specifically, the study examined the extent to which: (a) the program called Family Reading Intervention for Language and Literacy in Spanish (FRILLS) was effective at teaching low-education, low-income Latino parents three language strategies (i.e., comments, high-level questions and recasts) as measured by parent implementation, (b) parents maintained implementation of the three language strategies two weeks following the program, and (c) parent implementation of such practices positively impacted children's oral language skills as measured by number of inferences, conversational turns, number of different words, and the Mean Length of Utterance in words (MLU-w). Five Latino mothers and their Spanish-speaking preschool children participated in a multiple baseline single-subject design across participants. After stable baseline data, each mother was randomly selected to initiate the intervention. Program initiation was staggered across the five mothers. The mothers engaged in seven individual intervention sessions. Data on parent and child outcomes were collected across three experimental conditions: baseline, intervention, and follow-up. This study employed visual analysis of the data to determine the program effects on parent and child outcome variables. Results indicated that the program was effective in increasing the mothers' use of comments and high-level questions, but not recasts, when reading to their children. The program had a positive effect on the children's number of inferences, different words, and conversational turns, but not on the mean length of utterances. Findings indicate that FRILLS may be effective at extending and enriching the language environment that low-income children who are culturally and linguistically diverse experience at home. Three results with important implications for those who implement, develop, or examine family literacy programs are discussed. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Speech and Hearing Science 2015

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<p>  </p> <p>This project is at the intersections of the anthropology of care, aging and food. The research is conducted in San Francisco among aging Latinos and explores their care relationships. I examine how people define and negotiate what is considered “good” care and “good” food in a society with a prevailing “successful aging” paradigm. The project examines how care is complex and multifaceted and demonstrates how food can be used as a socio-material lens to study care. Food is a part of daily life that is laden with moral, social and political meaning which makes it ideal for studying care interactions. The research takes place in various community settings in San Francisco’s Mission District. These community settings include a local senior center and its food program, the homes of older people and other spaces of significance to the participants (e.g., grocery stores, restaurants, and other neighborhood places). Multiple ethnographic methods such as participant observation, interviews and neighborhood walks were used to collect data. By examining care relationships, I found that caregivers had differing and competing ideas of morality in everyday care and what is “good” for older adults. Studying paradoxes of care and understanding how these tensions and contradictions play out is a crucial component of understanding care as a moral enterprise. Key findings show that many people are not recognized as “caregivers” yet are providing important forms of care that sustain their families and communities. Additionally, studying “rule breaking” that seniors and others engaged in shed light on multiple interpretations of “good” aging care and food. Finally, in a neighborhood that has undergone so much transformation, many older adults saw the changes in the Mission as generally favorable, although those same shifts make the neighborhood relatively unwelcoming to seniors. This research broadens our understanding of “caregiving” by emphasizing the diverse forms of care that people provide throughout the life course.</p>

xvii, 123 p. : ill. (some col.) A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / Transition services for youth with disabilities are mandated by IDEA. Transition services are supported services that help individuals with disabilities move from special education in high school to employment, post-secondary education or vocational training in the adult world. Outcomes for youth with disabilities vary depending on culture, ethnicity, race, gender and socioeconomic status. Latino youth with disabilities experience poorer post-school outcomes than do white youth with disabilities. This study seeks to identify and describe the transition needs of youth with disabilities from Latino backgrounds who are transitioning from school to adulthood and therefore engaging in employment, post-secondary education or employment-related training. Through focus groups with Latino youth, their families, and the staff that serve them, I explored and identified the specific needs of this group with regards to receiving transition services. The findings of this study will guide the development of training for transition professionals in Oregon and will be disseminated to professionals in the field of transition across the country and around the world. / Committee in charge: Michael Bullis, Chairperson, Special Education and Clinical Sciences; Lauren Lindstrom, Member, Counseling Psychology and Human Services; Deborah Olson, Member, Special Education and Clinical Sciences; Spike Gildea, Outside Member, Linguistics

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