Factors Inhibiting Hispanic Parents’ School Involvement

Abstract

Factors inhibiting Hispanic parental involvement in non-metropolitan area schools were studied. With the mandates of No Child Left Behind intensifying the need to improve the academic achievement of all at-risk groups of students in American schools, and with the relatively new phenomenon of large numbers of Hispanics settling in non-metropolitan areas, findings of this qualitative study of fifteen Hispanic parents should be highly useful to educators working with Hispanic youth. Primary factors inhibiting Hispanic parental involvement were the following: the failure of the school to send correspondence, school calendar, lunch menus or newsletters written in Spanish; the inability of the parents to speak and understand English in personal communication with the school, and the reluctance of the parents to question authority or to advocate for the rights of their children.