Support Parents to Improve Student Learning: Efforts Are Building to Translate Traditionally Strong Family Relationships among Latinos into Stronger Performance at School

is 6 p.m. on a crisp winter night, and 30 parents are seated at long folding tables covered in bright blocks of blue and yellow construction paper inside the cafeteria at Lorenzo De Zavala Elementary School in West Dallas, Texas. Soft Christmas music plays on the sound system as the group waits for the ceremony to begin. Hurried parents rush through side doors and apologize for being late. Has it started, they ask? Many carry containers of food--homemade tamales, tortillas, and rice. They place their covered dishes and crockpots on tables pressed against the back wall of the cafeteria and quickly take their seats with the other parents. The atmosphere is eager and tense as parents--some in suits and church dresses, others in work clothes--tap their feet, look at the clock, and speak softly to each other in Spanish while a singer croons about a holly jolly Christmas in English. Ten minutes later, the graduation ceremony begins with a train of children walking in a disjointed single-file line past their now smiling parents to the center of the cafeteria. They are excited, fighting over who gets to sit where, and waving at their parents seated nearby. The children were asked to gather in a separate room away from their parents. This night is about mom and dad, but also about the children. Soon the little ones begin cheering and clapping as their parents step forward to receive certificates of completion. Tonight's graduation ceremony is one of dozens hosted by The Concilio, a Dallas-based nonprofit focused on helping Hispanic parents improve the education and health of their families. Tonight is about recognizing parents who completed a nineweek course focused on ways they can better navigate the school system and be more actively involved in their child's education. For parent graduate Mary Ann Martinez, the program has helped her become a better mother. I'm here because of my daughter, Lauren, she tells the audience. Like so many Hispanic parents, she wants to see her child succeed in school, but Martinez, a Mexican-American born in the United States who speaks better English than Spanish and attended public schools in America, admits she was not involved in her daughter's education except to argue with teachers. That has changed thanks to the program. It has really taught me and my daughter to have a better relationship, she said. Martinez and Hispanic parents like her are a key part of efforts to close the achievement gap and this program, like so many others around the nation, is aimed and getting Hispanic parents more involved with their child's school and ultimately more invested in their child's education. Parent involvement is the key to improving school culture, said De Zavala principal Lisa Miramontes. When The Concilio approached her about partnering with the school, she readily agreed. Many parents at the school were not attending activities, and some would not come inside. Since the parent program began, test scores are improving, parentteacher relationships are better, and previously uninvolved parents, including Martinez, are now volunteering and joining the PTA. Challenges for schools, parents As American schools adjust to the influx of Hispanic students, many from economically disadvantaged homes, schools and outside groups are increasingly faced with teaching not just the student but the parent as well because, as research shows, how well a child performs in school is based in large part on family and outside influence. Hispanic parents tend to feel most comfortable in small, group-based, bilingual programs. The new engagement model has forced school administrators and leaders to become more proactive in reaching out to parents, yet school programs are often designed to address middle-class Hispanic parents, not low-income parents or those with little education. As a result, Hispanic parents, especially non-English-speaking parents, feel alienated and don't participate. …