1. School Context: Achievement Outcomes & Family School Relationships
H607: Ethnicity, Context, and Family Dynamics

2. Syllabus Change… For Wednesday…
November 4: Peer interactions at school
Underwood, M. K., Mayeux, L. & Galperin, M. (2006). Peer relations during middle childhood: Gender, emotions, and aggression. In L Balter & C. S. Tamis-LaMonda (Eds.), Child psychology: A handbook of contemporary issues (2nd. Ed.) (pp ). New York: Psychology Press. (iPac)
Asher, S. R. & Paquette, J. A. (2003). Loneliness and peer relations in childhood. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 12 (3), (DOI:  / )
Brown, B. B. & Klute, C. (2006). Friendships, cliques, and crowds. In G. R. Adams & M. D. Berzonsky (Eds.), Blackwell Handbook of Adolescence (pp ). Malden, MA: Blackwell. (iPac)
Hill, N. E. (2012). Parent-child and child-peer close relationships: Understanding parental influences on peer relations from a cultural context. In L. Campbell & T. J. Loving (Eds.). Interdisciplinary research on close relationships (pp ) . Washington, DC: APA

3. The Plan… Teacher Perceptions & Gaps in Achievement
Family School Engagement
Conceptualizations and Goals
SES, Ethnicity and Parental Involvement & Achievement
Family-School Partnerships: Iatrogenic Effects??

4. WHY??
Stereotypes
Stereotype Threat
“Acting White”
Model Minorities
Differences in school quality across SES and ethnicity
Summer Setback
It’s not the schools’ fault! (read…it’s the family’s fault)
Teacher Perceptions
Family Dynamics

5. Teacher Perceptions Impact student beliefs & work habits
For African American children, teachers often overrate behavior problems and underrate positive or prosocial behaviors
Even in the interpretation of behaviors
Race of teacher doesn’t matter
Ethnic differences in agreement…
Teachers and Euro-American parents agree more than teachers and African American parents
…differential agreement has implications for referrals to services, parent-teacher collaborations, and future success.

6. Ethnic Mean Differences for Teachers and Mothers
ADHD Symptoms
Prosocial Behavior * * * *
Kindergarten
4th Grade
Kindergarten
4th Grade
Hill, N. E. & Bromell, L. (2006). Ethnic and SES differences in the corroboration of teachers’ and parents’ reports of child behavior
across elementary school. Paper presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development. Boston, MA.

7. Correlations across Reporters Ethnic Differences
Kindergarten
Teacher Mothers
ADHD Prosocial ADHD Prosocial
T-ADHD *** .29* -.19
T-Prosocial -.45* * .27†
M-ADHD .52*** ***
M-Prosocial -.51*** ***
__________________________________________________________________
4th Grade
T-ADHD ***
T-Prosocial -.52** * .33†
M-ADHD .54*** ***
M-Prosocial -.35* † 1
___________________________________________________________________
nb: Blacks above the diagonal; Whites below the diagonal

8. Teacher Perceptions: Asians & Latinos
Differential expectations
hold the highest expectations for Asians
hold lowest expectations for Latinos
Differential interactions
More positive interactions (e.g., encouragement; positive referrals) for Whites & Asians
More negative interactions for Latinos and African-Americans
Teachers’ favoritism/bias related to achievement outcomes
Tennenbaum & Ruck (2007)

9. WHY??
Stereotypes
Stereotype Threat
“Acting White”
Model Minorities
Differences in school quality across SES and ethnicity
Summer Setback
It’s not the schools’ fault! (read…it’s the family’s fault)
Teacher Perceptions
Family Dynamics

10. What is parental involvement in school?
“parents’ work with schools and with their children to benefit their children’s educational outcomes and future success.” (Hill et al., 2004)
“the participation of parents in regular, two-way and meaningful communication involving student academic learning and other school activities.” (NCLB; 107th Congress, 2002, section, 910-1, para 3)

11. Parents’ Goals Across Ethnicity
To be understood by school personnel and teachers;
For their children to be known and valued;
For teachers to see their children’s talents
For teachers to give their children the benefit of the doubt when they make mistakes.
Latino parents described their main goals for involvement were to improve academic outcomes.
African Americans were determined that their child would be successful, and staying involved was the only way to ensure it. They wanted to ensure that their children are behaving and understand the consequences of their schoolwork . They want to make sure their youth are treated fairly and stay out of trouble.
Euro-Americans describe their main goals “setting their kids up for success.” They talked about working ‘behind the scenes’ so that their children were scaffolded to make good decisions and have successful experiences

12. SES & Parental Involvement Across Middle and High school
7th grade parental involvement
8th grade school behavior
9th grade grades/test scores
11th grade aspirations

13. College educated parents
Grade 8
School Behavior
Problems
Ethnicity
-.33
-.49
-.31
-.27
Grade 11
Aspirations
Grade 6
School Achievement
Using the same model, we tested the fit across SES groups by dividing the sample between those with a college degree and those who did not.
The model with the factor loadings constrained to be equal significantly reduced the fit of the model.
.81
Grade 9
School Achievement
.67
Grade 7
Parent-Academic Involvement
Total N=463, Δχ2(26)=62.57, p < .0001; unconstrained model: CFI = .98, RMSEA = .06
Hill, N. E., Castellino, D. R., Lansford, J. E., Nowlin, P., Dodge, K. A., Bates, J. & Petit, G. (2004). Parent-Academic Involvement as Related to School Behavior, Achievement, and Aspirations: Demographic Variations across Adolescence. Child Development, 75(4),

14. Parents without College Degree
Grade 8
School Behavior
Problems
-.28
Ethnicity
-.33
-.47
-.43
Grade 11
Aspirations
Grade 6
School Achievement
.43
-.20
.38
Grade 9
School Achievement
.55
Grade 7
Parent-Academic Involvement
Total N=463, Δχ2(26)=62.57, p < .0001
Hill, N. E., Castellino, D. R., Lansford, J. E., Nowlin, P., Dodge, K. A., Bates, J. & Petit, G. (2004). Parent-Academic Involvement as Related to School Behavior, Achievement, and Aspirations: Demographic Variations across Adolescence. Child Development, 75(4),

15. Conclusions
Parental involvement for college educated parents was more effective in enhancing school behavior, achievement, and aspirations
For parents without a college degree, involvement instilled goals for upward mobility, but not the preparation
Ethnicity mattered more when parents did not have a college degree

16. Can Parents & Schools work together
Can Parents & Schools work together? What is the problem with “partnership” language in parental involvement policies?
How does it undermine the vary parents we wish to reach???

17. Existing Literature
Parental Involvement among Latinos (Hill & Torres, 2010)
It’s more than just translation—its relational
Some types of involvement unrecognized (and unvalidated)
Parental trust often interpreted as lack of interest
Parental involvement among African Americans (Hill, 2011)
Long legacy of discrimination--separate but “unequal” undermines trust
Biases against youth & parents about the valuing education

18. The problem with “partnership” language
What is a partnership??
It implies tacit and implicit agreement and alignment of home and school cultures
Parents have or adopt the school’s value system about good parenting and being a good student
Disagreement about “good” parenting undermines the common ground on which a partnership can be based.
It assumes s a high level of trust between families and school personnel.
a history of discrimination within the schools & current known biases experienced at school make trust and true collaborations difficult—if not impossible
Partnerships imply equal roles, expertise, and decision making power…
Undermines teachers’ authority, training & expertise
Decisions are made and someone is “disempowered”

19. Partnerships privilege those who fit “seamlessly” into school culture
and marginalizes those who do not.

20. The parental involvement pressure!
It is often seen as a policy solution for achievement
Ceci & Papierno’s “‘haves’ gain more” is alive and well.
What should policy and practice look like?
How will we know we have succeeded?