Narrowing the academic achievement gap among high school Latino students through parental involvement

The low academic achievement among Latino students in many inner city high schools leads to higher failure, dropout, and absenteeism rates, as well as lower standardized test scores and graduation rates. The purpose of this study was to explore whether Latino parental attitudes toward and perceptions, level of, and form of involvement may be linked to this low student achievement. The theoretical framework for this study was Epstein’s parental involvement model. The research questions investigated the relationship between Latino parental attitudes toward and perceptions, level of, and form of involvement and student academic achievement. Fifty-eight parents participated in a parent survey for this mixed methods study. Ten parents were interviewed to obtain the qualitative data. Based on Pearson’s product-moment correlation, the survey data revealed that there were no statistically significant relationships between Latino student academic achievement and parental attitudes toward and perceptions, level of, and form of involvement. Parent interview data identified parent work schedules, the inability to communicate in English, and parents’ lack of education as potential barriers to their involvement. Parent recommendations to overcome these barriers included adjusting school office hours, providing bilingual school personnel, and offering parenting classes that may make high schools more accessible for Latino parents and, by extension, may challenge school personnel to better understand and address the needs of their students' parents in an attempt to promote educational equity