College Knowledge: The Educational Views and Experiences of Mexican Immigrant Mothers in the Midwest
Medina, Annel Denise
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/79985
Description
Title
College Knowledge: The Educational Views and Experiences of Mexican Immigrant Mothers in the Midwest
Author(s)
Medina, Annel Denise
Issue Date
2007
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Wanda S. Pillow
Department of Study
Educational Policy Studies
Discipline
Educational Policy Studies
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Hispanic American Studies
Language
eng
Abstract
"My dissertation project, ""College Knowledge: The Experiences of Mexican Mothers and Educational Success in the Midwest"", is grounded in the idea that Mexican parents (regardless of citizenship status) take part in a critical role in U.S. schooling today. While Mexican parents hold high aspirations for their children to attend college, many do not have access to the necessary cultural and social capital to attain college admissions. Research also suggests parental involvement plays a key role in promoting a student's college attendance (Lareau, 1988; Gandara, 1995; 2002). However there is a growing need to hold discussions between parent involvement advocates and pre-college preparation for Mexican children. Despite school rhetoric of parent involvement, Mexican parents are ""kept out"" of schools through negative treatment, insensitive bureaucratic requirements, and ways in which school-conceived parent involvement programs disregard Latino/a knowledge (Villenas, 1999; 2001). Through an ethnographic research design, the dissertation study sought to understand the following questions: How are parents using their cultural background and prior educational experiences in Mexico/Latin America to understand the U.S. educational system? And most importantly, how do they access pre-college information? Finally, what are barriers to access to pre college information? Research findings show that Latino/a participants embrace aspirations and persistence for their children to attain a college degree. They seek additional school resources to bridge the gap between the lack of access to college knowledge, community school partnerships, and Latino/a academic achievement in Prairieview, Illinois. Research implications challenge educators to engage Mexican parents in improved school-community partnerships that focus on reciprocal research relationships. Further work needs to expand the nature of community school partnerships and their programmatic goals to work with working class ethnic communities in campus towns from a cultural strengths perspective."
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