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September 26, 2008

Study: Parental involvement and immigrant students' education

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[Transcript]

ATLANTA—Latinos are one of the fastest growing demographics in the United States, and children of Latino immigrants are entering school in record numbers.  But high dropout rates among Latino students are causing concern among educators and policy makers.

Gabriel Kuperminc, a Georgia State psychology professor, recently studied the effects of parental involvement in these students’ education — which generally affects grades and other factors in achievement. In a study of metro Atlanta students, he found that involvement had a stronger affect on high school students’ grades and other factors than for those of middle schoolers.

KUPERMINC: That was something that really surprised me, because we know that the trend is for less parental involvement. Over time, by the time they’re in high school, parents are involved less. And so I figured that with parents there would be more of an expectation for it, and parents would be more involved with their kids in middle school, and that there would be some link there. What we found was the exact opposite of that. (length: 0:36)

The difference might be explained due to students who've already dropped out of school. Those remaining in high school might be doing better in the first place due to more parental involvement.

KUPERMINC: By the time you're sampling high school kids, you're getting an increasingly select sample. And it might be that the ones whose parents have been involved all along are still involved, and we’re getting that as kind of a byproduct in our sample. Another possibility related to that is that if they've made it that far — if they’ve gotten through 10th, 11th grade, the chances that they'll graduate high school and maybe go on to some education beyond are higher anyway. (length: 0.34)

More research is needed to fully explore the topic, but it's an important one as America's demographic mix is changing, and Latino students will grow to become workers. And in order for the United States to remain competitive in the global economy, Kuperminc says that all children, regardless of heritage, must excel.

KUPERMINC: There's a way of looking at it that it’s a tremendous strength and tremendous opportunity for our country, too, because we're part of a global economy, and you know, having well trained, highly educated Latino and Asian and every other group who have the language skills and the familiarity with cultures of other places can only be an advantage to us. (length: 0:27)

For Georgia State RadioLine, this is Jeremy Craig.