Parent-Liaison as Organic Leaders:
An Ecological Analysis of Organic Social Networks in
Developing School-Family Partnerships and
Transition to College
Dr. Ruben Viramontez-Anguiano and Dr. Robert Reyes
Center for Intercultural Teaching & Learning
Acknowledgements
• Introductions
• Student Research Fellows
• Daniel Moya, Charlotte Barnett, Sara Alvarez & Daisy
Gaspar
• Introduction of CITL
• Understanding of the Context
Geographical Point of Reference
Midwest Region of the United States
East North Central Region (Great Lakes States)
Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin
Hispanic Population Age Distribution in the
Great Lakes States 2008 ACS 1-year Estimates
N=Total Hispanic Population
Educational Attainment of Hispanics in Great
Lakes States 2008 ACS 1-year Estimates
N=Total Hispanic Population 25 and over
School Enrollment of Hispanics in Great Lakes
States 2008 ACS 1-year Estimates
N=Total Hispanic Population Enrolled in School
Indiana, Elkhart County and
Goshen demographic data
2010 U.S. Census
Indiana Hispanic population 2010
Indiana’s Hispanic pop.: 389,707
• More than doubled to 6% of state pop.
• Increased by 81.7% since 2000 *
• Accounted for 43% of Indiana’s total population
growth since 2000.
• Indiana’s white population grew by 2.78%, Asian
grew by 73.3% and the black population grew by
16%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
Hispanics in Indiana by county — 2010
TOP COUNTIES:
Lake
ELKHART
Clinton
Cass
Noble
Marion
Porter
Marshall
Tippecanoe
St. Joseph
Kosciusko
Allen
82,663 — 16.6%
27,886 — 14.1%
4,395 — 13.2%
4,897 — 12.5%
4,567 — 9.6%
84,466 — 9.3 %
13,933 — 8.5%
3,971 — 8.4%
12,947 — 7.4%
19,395 — 7.2%
5,634 — 7.2%
23,093 — 6.4%
Elkhart County and Goshen
U.S. Census 2000-2010
ELKHART COUNTY
197,559
2000-2010 increase:
14,766
2000-2010 percent increase
8.1%
GOSHEN
2000-2010 increase:
31,719
2,336
White
Minorities
Hispanics
21,140
10,579
8,903
% Minorities
% Hispanics
33.3%
28.0%
Age Distribution, Elkhart County 2009
Source: 2009 ACS 1-year Estimates
School Snapshot:
Minority Student Population 1990-2010
Minority Students as % of Total Student Body
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
Indiana State Average
Goshen Community Schools
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
Source: Indiana Accountability System for Academic Progress (ASAP)
School Snapshot:
Limited English Student Population 1991-2008
40.00%
35.00%
30.00%
25.00%
Limited English Students as % of Student
Body Indiana
20.00%
Limited English Students as % of Student
Body Goshen Community Schools
15.00%
10.00%
5.00%
0.00%
Source: Indiana Accountability System for Academic Progress (ASAP)
Objectives and Research Questions of
The Study
• The objective of the research study was to understand
the role that school parent liaisons play among Latino
families and schools in Northeastern Indiana.
Specifically, exploring how that impacts the road to
higher education.
Research Questions
• How do social networks impact the role of school
parent liaisons within Latino family and school
partnerships?
• How do school parent liaisons serve as organic leaders
throughout the pipeline to higher education?
Intersecting Theoretical Perspectives
• Key Concepts or Definitions – Ecological
Model/Family Systems
Latino family systems
Organic Leaders
Servant Leadership (Latino-centric Focus)
• Social Capital Model
Social Networks and Social Production
Social Capital Theory
• Means to understand how resources are acquired
through social relationships and networks and
how these relationships can be fostered or
developed to support academic achievement
• Three components of Social Capital: Possessors of
social capital, sources of social capital, resources
themselves (Portes, 1998)
• Students have differential access to resources,
norms, values, attitudes and behaviors necessary
for school success through their social
relationships
Nature of Social Relationships
Strong /Weak Ties
• Strong ties include relationships with family members
or people with which an individual has frequent
interactions in multiple settings
• Weak ties include relationships with people who one
encounters less frequently and typically in a very
limited number of settings. These ties can be with
teachers, counselors, social workers or other
institutional agents
Respondents
• The sample consisted of 7 school parent
liaisons. Respondents age ranged from 23- 62
(with most in their 20’s-30’s) years old, all the
parent liaisons were females, 6 respondents
were Latinas and 1 European Americans, years
experience ranged from 3-17 years and
education ranged from 2 years of college to a
bachelors degree. There were 5 Latinas of
Mexican background, 1 Puerto Rican and 1
Columbian. All the liaisons were bilingual.
Research Design
Larger ethnography of Latino families, schools and
communities:
Ethnography of 7 schools
Semi-structured interviews of school
parent liaisons and other school personnel
Observation of school liaisons and Latino
families
Grounded theory and active participation
Protocol and Data Analysis
The interview protocol was based on the first
author’s 15 years of experience of working
with Latino families and communities.
The data analysis process consisted of mining
the data for themes based on three
overarching social network categories.
Immediate Context
• The school parent liaisons were part of an
ecological context that consisted of Latino
families and their communities, schools and
its personnel, and the larger community.
These sub-contexts consisted of informal and
formal social networks.
Preliminary Findings
• Delineation of categories:
– Relationship of liaisons and families
– Relationship of liaison and schools
– Relationship of liaison and the community
• Emerging themes:
– Relationship of liaisons and families
• Liaisons as social agents
– Basic needs
– Emotional coping & support (i.e., sources of hope)
– Vehicle for FLE
• Vehicle for college access (educational pipeline)
– Relationship of liaisons and schools
• Perception of school culture
– Relationship of liaison and the community
• Liaisons as organic leaders
• Link to the Mennonite community
• Support on immigration issues
Emerging Themes: Intersection of School, Community,
and Family with Parent Liaisons
Relationship of Parent
Liaison and the
Community
• Liaisons as Organic
Leaders
• Links to the Mennonite
Community
• Support on
Immigration Issues
Community
Parent Liaison
Schools
Relationship of
Parent Liaison
and Schools
• Perception of
School Culture
Families
Relationship of
Parent Liaison and
Families
• Liaisons as social
agents
• Vehicle for
College Access
Defining FLE
• Family life education focuses on healthy family
functioning within a family systems
perspective and provides a primarily
preventive approach.
• Family life education professionals consider
societal issues including economics,
education, work-family issues, parenting,
sexuality, gender and more within the context
of the family.
Findings (cont.)
– Relationship of liaisons and families
• Liaisons as social agents
– Basic Needs
We opened an emergency food pantry in the school to accommodate the
families who have lost their jobs. (PL 1)
I spend a lot of my of time helping families with their families needs
including medicaid, employment , parenting and other things. (PL2)
For Christmas, I delivered gifts to families who may not be able to give
their children anything this year. On the same day I was on the phone all
morning with a family listing to her talk about the reality of abuse in her
family.
– Emotional coping & support (i.e., sources of hope)
For one family I participated in the birthing process of their children
because the mother had no one else to be with her (PL1)
Findings (cont.)
• Social agents
-Vehicle for FLE and Sources of Hope
www.ncfr.org/cfle-certification/certification
As the population grew, it was pretty segregated at that time. Latino students sort
of stayed with themselves, such a cultural difference. It is still fairly new, mid 90s.
The kids here were used to speak in English and seeing people who looked like
them. Most of the kids at that time came from Mexico. So there was a language
barrier, cultural barrier. In the lunch room you see the Spanish speaking students
and the American students. I have seen that change a lot. Kids don't seem to
notice that anymore. Here at the elementary school is normal to have kids
speaking Spanish in the classroom. We are starting to have the second generation
(PL 3)
Findings (cont.)
• Social agents
-Vehicle for FLE and sources of hope
And so the mom said what have I done to my child because neither this
country wants her and now she doesn’t fit in my country.
Last year I enrolled in a parenting program hosted in the community and
let the parents know that I would also be in the parenting classes. I
wanted the parents to see that I was open to working with them and that I
saw them as my equal (PL2).
Findings (cont.)
• Vehicle for college access (educational
pipeline)
Past students, like one student who went on to college. At the beginning
he was really afraid to move on. Now he is ready to graduate and that
feels good. He used to talk to me about being afraid. But he is almost
done. My reason for coming to work is especially to help Latinas, females.
Because of the high drop out rate, the high pregnancy rate. I was hoping
to make a difference in their lives. We lose a lot of girls to that. (PL 6)
It was clear across all the school from K-12 that the school parent liaisons
were working to progress the students. They often worked together as a
team to ensure that student progressed across the pipeline.
Findings
• Social agents
– Vehicle of FLE and acculturative stress
It was clear that the majority of the families were
dealing with different stressors that impacted their
lives. A key stressor was the reality of immigration
and how it was impacting their children’s education.
Other stressors including generational realities,
parenting and economic factors also had an impact on
students road to higher education.
Findings (cont.)
– Relationship of liaisons and schools
• Perception of school culture
I think there needs to be a central person who helps coordinate how we are
going to integrate this people in the community. A position that really focuses
on integration, also including training of the school staff of understanding the
Latino community, and then the focus on helping families understand each
other. There is so much cultural miscommunication and perceptions that
there needs to be an understanding. In my opinion, it has to be someone who
purposely can look at this things and brings those pieces together and then
train the people at the schools who are the parent liaisons on how to do this
things because right now is very scattered. (PL 3)
Its also how the parent liaison position is viewed. Its different. In some
schools its just the translator and the one who kind of helps them out a
little bit. There also needs to be some value in the expertise of those who
work within the Latino community, they need to have that, and they need
to be looked at. (PL 4)
Findings (cont.)
– Relationship of liaisons and the community
• Liaisons as organic leaders
Liaisons were seen as leaders in the community through their services to the families. It was not
uncommon to hear Latino community members share their respect for the liaisons. The majority
of the liaisons did not have formal training in leaders rather, servant leadership was truly
organic that had developed through social production among the different social networks in
Northeastern, Indiana.
• Link to the Mennonite community
The Mennonite culture is very globally minded, so there is always this push of being aware of
what’s going on in the world. Be aware of other people, taking care of people. So I think when
immigrants came they saw them not as illegals, more as people, people in need. People that
they could reach out to and help. They didn't see them as foreigners. Not so much of that
attitude. (PL 4)
Mennonites traditionally have the basic belief, when you look at it that we are citizens of
heaven first, and not loyal to any country, and the Anabaptist and the pacifist, and setting
disputes nonviolently, and so they hold those traditions high and those values high, so it
doesn't matter how you came into my community, a Mennonite will traditionally welcome you
and value you as a person (PL3).
Findings (cont.)
-Relationship of liaisons and the community
• Support on immigration issues
The families are worried about how the new immigration laws that they recently passed
in Indiana are going to change their lives…Precisely this morning a mom told me «I can’t
even drive or do anthing else because they will give the authority to the police of ...» I
told her, «dont’t worry until it happens»...but legally there is not much I can do [for her].
That affects the students psychologically because they listen when their parents talk,
«that we are going to leave, immigration is coming, and all of that...» then when the
student arrives here [school] they don’t know if when they go back home they will find
their parents. Two year ago, many families left to Mexico, they went back, because of
the economic situation. (PL3).
Conclusions and Recommendations
• The need for closing the educational and cultural gap between Latino
families and school will become more apparent. School parent liaisons will
be the bridge of this relationship.
• With Latinos making up almost half the population the intercultural
realities of Latinos and European Americans at all levels of leadership will
have to be a reality.
• Latino communities will need to continue to be involved in the education
of all Latino children in the region.
• The continued success of the organic school parent liaison will also need
to be a focal point in the Latino community as parent continue to
participate in their children education at home and in the school.
• The model of families and school with school parent liaisons that this
district has developed is unique in Indiana and the Great Lakes region and
could be duplicated in other districts.
One could learn from the organic(s) who are their for nuestras familias.
Conclusions and Recommendations
• From a Social Capital perspective Parent Liaisons
serve as a critical link in providing social support
for families and a vital source of information
about families to school officials.
• They have strong network ties with families.
• They serve as social agents in informal ways.
These are added responsibilities on top of
everything else.
• That shows a certain level of vulnerability in the
strength of the network .
Conclusions and Recommendations
• Provide opportunities for school parent liaisons to continue
their education and earn licensure to create more equality
with other school personnel.
• Provide training for other school personnel to learn how to
better work with Latino families and their children.
• Encourage more partnerships between the schools and the
Latino community.
• Create programs that continue to encourage parental
involvement of Latino parents
• Create more programs that promote the strengths of the
Latino culture and their value in education
Conclusions and Recommendations
• Develop a longitudinal study that explores the educational
pipeline to higher education of Latino families in
Northeastern Indiana.
• Explore how immigration policies impact the educational
success of Latino families and their children in Northeastern
Indiana.
• Continue to explore how organic leaders in the schools and
community impact the educational success of Latino children
• Explore how the Mennonite church can continue to have an
influence on Latino families within a school context.
• Explore how Christian colleges can be part of the partnership
between Latino families, schools and communities.