Latina mothers’ engagement in children’s math learning in the early school years: Conceptions of math and socialization practices (original) (raw)

LATINO FAMILIES INVOLVEMENT IN THEIR CHILDREN'S MATHEMATICS EDUCATION

Proceedings of the …, 2007

This study is grounded on a sociocultural perspective and focuses on the role of Latino families in their children's mathematical learning. Through parents' voices we explore possible ways of inclusion that may allow for Latino families to overcome social and educational exclusion. Latino mothers explain strategies to counteract this exclusion using resources they find in their communities.

Support and Guidance from Families, Friends, and Teachers in Latino Early Adolescents' Math Pathways

Journal of Early Adolescence, 2008

This longitudinal study linked concepts of familism and social capital to investigate emotional support and educational guidance from parents, siblings, friends, and teachers in predicting Latino early adolescents' math grades during their transition from elementary school to junior high. Thirty-one Latino youth were interviewed twice and their school transcripts analyzed. Youth reported that parents and siblings provided the most support and guidance across these years, followed by friends, and to a lesser extent, teachers, who primarily helped with homework. However, only families' support, guidance, and income predicted math grades. Implications for research, policy, and practice highlight immigrant Latino families with modest schooling as resources and how Latino youth draw resources from families, friends, and schools.

Making Math Count More for Young Latino Children

Children’s ability in mathematics, which builds on what young children have learned in their early years, is critical to their success in school, and to their future economic success. One in four U.S. kindergarteners today is Latino.a,3 In California and New Mexico, Latino children are already in the majority.4 How this group fares in school, and how well prepared they are for the needs of an economy that is increasingly technology-based, will have far-reaching implications for our country. For that reason alone, notwithstanding concerns about equity, their math skills deserve a special focus. Achievement gaps (in math as well as in reading) between Latino children and their white counterparts emerge early in life, and can have negative effects that extend over the school years and beyond.5 For this report, we reviewed existing research and conducted an original analysis of data from a large, nationally representative sample of Latino kindergartners, with the aim of understanding what factors are associated with math achievement prior to and during the kindergarten year.

Parental engagement as a ‘boundary practice’ in a classroom community of practice : implications for Latina/o students’ mathematical learning

2007

INTRODUCTION The education of Latino students is a growing concern in urban schools in the United States. This group is the largest and fastest growing minority group in the country. Almost fifteen percent of all students are Hispanic or Latino (U.S. Census, 2005). In addition, twenty percent of the children in K-12 schools are immigrant children (Paik & Walberg, 2007) and twelve percent of the total population speak Spanish in their home (U. S. Census, 2005). The Latino population, united by the historical legacy of Spanish, comprises a diverse set of people with dissimilar history, social class, place of birth (US or foreign-born) generation (e.g., firstor second-generation), location (e.g., urban or rural), language preference and fluency, political affiliation, and years of schooling, among other diverse characteristics. Each of these factors influences their experiences and learning in school. Despite this diversity within the Latino population, the educational rhetoric often d...

Mathematical problem solving among Latina/o kindergartners: An analysis of opportunities to learn

"This study explores opportunities to learn mathematics problem solving for Latina/o students in 3 kindergarten classrooms in the southwest. Mixed methods were used to examine teaching practices that engaged Latina/o students in problem solving and supported their learning. Findings indicate that although students in all 3 classrooms showed growth on pre-/postassessment measures, students in Ms. Arenas’s classroom outperformed students in the 2 other classrooms. More time spent on problem solving; exposure to a broader range of problems involving multiplication, division, and multiple steps; and consistent access to students’ native language, Spanish, distinguished Ms. Arenas’s class."

Preface to “Immigrant Parents’ Perspectives on Their Children’s Mathematics Education”

Advances in Mathematics Education, 2012

This paper draws on two research studies with similar theoretical backgrounds, in two different settings, Barcelona (Spain) and Tucson (USA). From a sociocultural perspective, the analysis of mathematics education in multilingual and multiethnic classrooms requires us to consider contexts, such as the family context, that have an influence on these classrooms and its participants. We focus on immigrant parents' perspectives on their children's mathematics education and we primarily discuss two topics: (1) their experiences with the teaching of mathematics, and (2) the role of language (native language and second language). The two topics are explored with reference to the immigrant students' or their parents' former educational systems (the "before") and their current educational systems (the "now"). Parents and schools understand educational systems, classroom cultures and students' attainment differently, as influenced by their sociocultural histories and contexts.