Abstract
Statement of the Problem The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors that impact the participation of Latino parents in their school site’s English Language Advisory Committee (ELAC). Even though Latino, especially ELL, parents have tried through different school venues for decades to be included in the education of their children, there is still the unfortunate perception from many educators that Latino parents do not value nor prioritize education. All literature compiled in the study verify that Latino parents want and are enthusiastic to be included in the education of their children. Latino parents that have entered the education field have encountered many institutionalized, economic, social, and racial barriers that have prevented them from being active school parent participants. The Latino parents that are able to enter the institution do not only empower themselves, but “seek to transform parent involvement with the goal of making education a democratic and reflective action” (Olivos, p. 112, 2010). Sources of Data Personal observations, one-on-one interviews, a focus group meeting, and multiple recordings were conducted in an effort to find the specific factors that affect Latino parental involvement in ELAC. There were five (one father and four mothers) that were randomly selected of which all self-identified themselves as English language learners (ELL), Latino, active ELAC parent, and had at least one elementary (K – 6th) child at the school site. Conclusions The results of the study confirm that Latino parents are and continue to be interested in the education of their children. All participating parents agreed ELAC served as an important bridge which influenced parent participation in American Schools in spite of the cultural and gender differences. Their participation in ELAC made them aware of the differences in their approach to schooling in México in stark contrast to expectations to U.S. schools. The conformism (conformismo) that is brought by many Latino parents prevents them from fully participating in school related events and meetings. Moreover, they see upholding the traditional views of their home country education could potentially be detrimental to their children’s U.S. education. Furthermore, involvement in ELAC provide an environment for parents to become self-aware to the degree in which they themselves could start critiquing the varying levels of these differences they see among other Latino parents, as they lament over such low parent involvement. The decrease in parent involvement beyond second and third grade may be tied to premature autonomy parents present indirectly to their children. Finally they articulated, even with encouragement from school staff, the difficulty in crossing over to other parent school groups. They described feeling invisible and unheard.