Isela Russell

Graduation Semester and Year

2013

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Department

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

First Advisor

Barbara Tobolowsky

Abstract

This qualitative study explores how low-income first- and second-generation Mexican-immigrant mothers, the largest sub-group of the Latino population, support the academic success of their children who are in a low-income successful elementary school. The specific setting was Roosevelt Elementary located in North Texas. Participants were selected through purposeful sampling, with a total of 10 participants: six Mexican-descent mothers and four teachers. The intent is to provide an understanding of the mother's role in home-based and school-based involvement and why they are involved in the academic success of their children. Moreover, Bandura's theory (1989) of self-efficacy is selected to guide this study in order to understand why the mothers are involved in their child's education. Further, the mothers have a motivation and see a benefit to their involvement. Additionally, teachers' perception of the mothers' role and their role is explored. The study's findings suggest that there is a disconnect in perception of roles between school personnel and mothers. The teachers' perceived role of the mothers was to be more academically engaged at home and be physically present at school. However, the mothers were deeply involved in the education of their children, in which most of their actions took place at home. Their role of involvement focused on developing "good" people and raising their children to value education. Finally, there was no difference in role of involvement between first- and second-generation Mexican-immigrant mothers.

Disciplines

Education | Educational Leadership

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

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