The Participation of Language Minority Families in Formal School Activities

This dissertation analyzes data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 to examine schools' provision of opportunities for, facilitation of, and actual level of family participation in formal school activities. In doing so, it places a specific focus on the involvement of language minority (LM) families and synthesizes research on both the individual-level and school-level factors that influence involvement. The analyses, informed by social exchange theory and the concepts of cultural and linguistic capital, test an overall hypothesis that the home-school relationship will be stronger when the costs of being in the relationship for both parents and school personnel are lower. In particular, LM families are expected to be less involved than other families because they lack linguistic capital, or the ability to speak the dominant language and to use it appropriately, given the context in which social interaction takes place (Bourdieu 1991). The analyses show that the opportunities schools offer families to be involved vary by school characteristics such as size, resources, and sector. However, while opportunities positively predict families' participation in school activities, variation in opportunities does not explain differences in involvement by various child, family, and household characteristics. The families who are most involved are those with the greatest resources, including linguistic capital. Overall, the findings from this research generally support the contention, generated from exchange theory, that parents and school personnel, who stand to benefit from parents' involvement, will form relationships with one another when it is easier for them to do. Schools can make participation easier for language minority parents, thereby increasing their levels of involvement. The study concludes with a discussion of several practices schools should consider adopting in order to increase language minority parent participation in formal school activities.