Documenting immigrant Latino families’ diverse cultural practices, values and beliefs as strengths and resources rather than as barriers to education is critical for creating educational settings which foster success rather than failure. Research in Pennsylvania and rural New York documents how Latino immigrant families in recent areas of migration and settlement make sense of what it means to raise children in a new environment. It examines how parents negotiate both change and tradition in a context where they are marked by their immigrant, non-English speaking and often non-citizen status. While Latino families assert their beliefs about raising children as well as negotiate change and tradition in a new setting in complex ways, educators in institutions such as schools, public health, social service agencies and adult education programs also develop their own views about who Latino parents are, what their family education is like and what their needs are. For example, Latino parents centered moral values, respect, religiosity, loyalty and responsibility in their family education, while well-meaning educators framed Latino family life as a liability. While parents strongly asserted the primacy of their role in the education of their children, educators spoke of the need for parenting classes for Latina mothers. This research then is located at the intersection of families and formal educational settings to ask how schools, adult English as a Second Language classes or public health programs can create educational spaces of instruction which build on the premise of Latino family strengths – that is from the orientation of what Latino immigrant families have, rather than what they don’t have.

Latino youth and particularly immigrant Latinos lag behind in school achievement in comparison to their non-Latino peers. The problem has too often been presumed to be located in the families, focusing on what families lack culturally in comparison to white mainstream Americans. Schools and family educational programs often begin from the premise of "deficiency" and structure their instruction and curriculum accordingly. Yet like all human beings, Latino families have a rich repository of knowledge and effective cultural practices from which parents guide their children into adulthood. While there are many barriers to school success that have to do with race, language and socio-economic--including political--factors, we need information about how families assert their beliefs and values about family education,what they believe about health and the environment, how they use literacy in their everyday lives, and how they voice their needs.

Research involving interviews, life histories, and observations in family and educational settings in a small town captured the complex ways in which parents talked about what it means to raise children in a new environment, what traditions they have chosen to assert and what practices or beliefs they feel they needed to change. At the same time, this research captured the voices of the teachers, adult educators, and social service providers who gave their views on Latino family life. The purpose was to bring these two often disparate views together in order to foster change in relationships between host community members and the newly arrived Latinos, and in the delivery of educational programs. From these interviews, public presentations were made which brought together many Latino and non-Latino town residents. A newspaper series called "Building Bridges" featured Latino parents` stories. In this sense, this research and ensuing scholarship has contributed to critical cross-cultural conversations important to communities undergoing drastic demographic change. Target audiences have been local but also national since the results of this study have been presented in workshops for educators and nationwide at conferences in the field of education. Other researchers have departed from the findings of this work concerning education in new Latino diaspora communities. This research and scholarship is also important to teacher education programs which prepare teachers for working with diverse families. Currently I am extending the above questions in two new communities - one in exurban Pennsylvania and the other in rural New York.

Research documenting Latino families` strengths and cultural resources has been critical in the movement for educational equity. While it is difficult to point to a specific policy change, this scholarship contributes to a body of knowlege that collectively will impact the terms of the conversation about minority school achievement. It will help frame the questions about how we may create educational programs where children do not have to leave their culture on the school doorstep.

Enhance educational opportunities and education for Latino families

Currently applying for a Russell Sage grant and will apply for a Hatch grant in November. My work is ethnographic and involves vulnerable populations. It takes time to build relationships and support before even beginning funding applications.