Family Literacy Practices and Parental Involvement of Latin American Immigrant Mothers

Abstract

This article draws upon three years of interviews and participant observation research in the Chelsea Public Schools, to discuss the impact of the Chelsea Family Literacy Program on promoting Latin American immigrant mothers' involvement in their children's education. The authors present the voices of Latin American immigrant mothers who describe how they increased their involvement in their children's as a result of participating in Parent & Child Together (PACT) activities at their children's schools, English as a Second Language classes, and Parent Time sessions in which they shared their parenting experiences with other mothers.

Keywords:

• Parental involvement
• family literacy
• Latin American immigrant mothers

Notes

¹Parental involvement is a cornerstone of the No Child Left Behind Act (see U.S. Department of Education, 2003).

²See Delgado-Gaitan (1990); Valdes (1996).

³See Gonzalez, Moll, & Amanti, Eds. (2005).

⁴See Patricia Hill Collins's (1990) discussion about the concept of “Othermothers.”

⁵All women's names have been changed to maintain their anonymity.

⁶Also see Luttrell (1996) and Cuban and Hayes (1996).