Latino/a English Language Learners:
Closing Achievement/Opportunity Gaps
to Increase College-Going Rates
Presented by Amy Cook, PhD & Rachelle Pérusse, PhD
ACA 2011, New Orleans
Overview
• Introduction and Need for Study
• Purpose
• Methodology
• Results
• Findings and Implications
• Limitations
• Next Steps
Introduction and Need for Study
• Disparities in academic persistence (e.g., Alliance for
Excellent Education, 2009)
• Growing number of Latino/a students (U.S. Census
Bureau, 2008)
• Limited research addressing best practices for
counselors and psychologists to close achievement
and opportunity gaps for ELLs (Albers, Hoffman &
Lundahl, 2009)
Introduction and Need for Study
• Barriers to academic achievement
▫ Limited academic resources (Flores, 2007; HolcombMcCoy, 2007)
▫ Acculturation issues (e.g., Villalba, Akos, Keeter, &
Ames, 2007; MacDonald, 2004)
▫ Assessment standards (Lazarin, 2006; Olivos &
Quintana de Valladolid, 2005)
Purpose of Study: Research Questions
• Identify school counselor interventions associated
with academic achievement and college access
among Latino/a ELLs
1. What types of interventions do school counselors
implement with and on behalf of Latino/a ELLs?
2. Which types of school counselor interventions are
associated with promoting academic achievement and
college access among Latino/a ELLs?
3. How do resources within schools play a role in closing the
achievement and opportunity gaps among Latino/a ELLs?
Methodology
• Step One: Case Study Analysis (see Cook, under review)
• Three urban middle school/high school counselors
interviewed
• BPS (both Spanish-speaking; one Latina); Brookline
Public Schools (Caucasian, non Spanish-speaking)
• School Data Analysis: BPS schools under restructure:
Brookline high achieving school
Methodology-Case Study Analysis
• Counselors discussed ways to address barriers to academic
achievement:
▫ Need to use creativity in response to limited resources
▫ Address college financing and undocumented immigrants
▫ Assist students/families during transition to new
school/culture
▫ Increase knowledge of Latino/a culture and language
• Counselor recommendations drawn from interviews, school
counselor and teacher educator literature used to develop
survey
Methodology
• Step two: Survey study (post-pilot)
• Randomly* selected list of 1000 school counselors provided by
Data Market Retrieval
• Population
• Public high school level school counselors in Northeast
• Worked in urban high schools located in school districts with Latino/a
students comprising at least 10% of total school population
• Procedure
• Two mailings with post card reminder
• Four $50 American Express gift cards
• Response Rate
• 26.6% (243 returned; 12 not completed; 87 undeliverable)
• Returned surveys proportionate
Methodology-Survey Study
• Survey Instrument:
• 5-point Likert-scale questions measured frequency of selfreported interventions with and on behalf of Latino/a ELLs
(27 items)
• Demographic questions
• Content validation conducted
• Survey piloted to ascertain factor structure and relability of
scales
Survey
•
•
Piloted survey and final survey resulted in 2 factorstructure, using MAP (minimum average partial) and
parallel analysis procedures
Final survey reliability analysis:
▫
College and Career Planning with Students (CCPS scale)
Cronbach’s alpha = .892 (7 items)
95% CI = [.869, .912]
▫
Consultation with School and Community Stakeholders
(CSCS scale)
Cronbach’s alpha = .853 (7 items)
95% CI = [.822, .880]
Results: Student Demographic Data
Variable
N
Mean %
50 or less
41
38.0%
English language learners 51 to 150
19
17.6%
Greater than 151
59
54.6%
Change in Latino/a ELL
Decreased
7
6.7%
student enrollment
No change
40
38.1%
Increased 100 or less
44
32.4%
Increased >100
24
22.9%
Number of Latino/a
Results: School Counselor Demographics
Variable
N
Mean %
School counselor fluent
Yes
40
24.7%
in Spanish
No
122
75.3%
Race/ethnicity
White/Caucasian
85
63.4%
Hispanic/Latino/a
34
25.4%
African
9
6.7%
Asian
3
2.2%
Biracial
3
2.2%
American/Black
Results: School Counselor Demographics
Years of experience
Professional membership
Five years or less
78
38.2%
6 to 10
47
23.0%
11 to 20
53
26.0%
20+
23
11.3%
None
66
27.7%
1 membership
74
31.1%
2 memberships
56
23.5%
3 memberships
28
11.8%
4 or more
14
5.9%
memberships
Results: Achievement Data
Variables
N
Mean Percent
SD
Received high school
129
79.1%
25.4%
Dropout rate
65
11.7%
12.5%
4-year college acceptance
108
39.3%
28.5%
2-year college acceptance
109
35.9%
21.3%
Vocational/technical school
88
9.5%
11.3%
diploma
acceptance
Research Question One Results
•
What types of interventions do school counselors implement
with and on behalf of Latino/a ELLs?
Mean Scores of Scales
Scale
N
CCPS
221
No. of Items
7
Mean
SD_____
*4.08
.866
CSCS
221
7
*2.70
.964
___________________________________________
*Mean difference of 1.34 significant at p < .001 (t = 23.632; df = 220).
Research Question One Results
•
What types of interventions do school counselors implement
with and on behalf of Latino/a ELLs?
▫ Significant mean difference found on CSCS for Spanish fluency
Independent Samples t-tests for Fluency in Spanish
Scale
Mean difference t-score df
Sig. level (2-tailed)
CCPS
.220
>.05
1.281
152
CSCS
.461
2.675 155
.008
___________________________________________
Research Question One Results
•
What types of interventions do school counselors implement with
and on behalf of Latino/a ELLs?
▫ Significant difference between Latino/a and Caucasian school counselors
on CSCS scale
Bonferroni Post-hoc Comparisons of CSCS Scale by Race/Ethnicity
Race/Ethnicity
Mean score
df
95% CI____
Hispanic/Latino/a
2.96*
3, 120
[2.65, 3.28]
Caucasian/white
2.33*
3, 120
[2.13, 2.52]
_____________________________________________________
*Mean score difference on CSCS scale of .630 is significant (p = .003).
Note: Mean differences for CCPS scale across racial/ethnic groups not significant
Research Question One Results
•
What types of interventions do school counselors implement with
and on behalf of Latino/a ELLs?
▫ Significant mean differences on both scales for professional membership
Bonferroni Post-hoc Comparisons for Professional Membership on CCPS
Paired Comparisons
Mean difference
Sig. level (2-tailed)
No membership with 4 or more
memberships
.950
.002
_____________________________________________________________________
Bonferroni Post-hoc Comparisons for Professional Membership on CSCS
Paired Comparisons
Mean difference
Sig. level (2-tailed)
No membership with 4 or more
memberships
1.07
.001
1 membership with 4 or more
memberships
.990
.004
_____________________________________________________________________
Research Question One Results
•
What types of interventions do school counselors implement with
and on behalf of Latino/a ELLs?
▫ No significant mean differences on scales taking into account years of
experience
One-way ANOVAs of CCPS and CSCS Scales on School Counselor
Years of Experience
Scale
F-score
df
Sig. level (2-tailed)
CCPS
2.660
4, 192
.050*
CSCS
1.743
4, 192
>.05
_____________________________________________
*Bonferroni post-hoc comparisons of mean differences across the 4
groups on the CCPS scale were not significant at p < .0125.
Note: Neither scale correlated with reported achievement data
Research Question Two Results
• Which types of school counselor interventions are associated with
promoting academic achievement and college access among
Latino/a ELLs?
▫ CCPS scale low positive correlation with reported plans to
attend 4-year college (r = .204; p = .038; n = 104)
▫ Neither scale correlated with dropout and graduation rates (p
> .05)
▫ CCPS and CSCS together did not predict dropout and
graduation rates (F(2, 57) = 2.195; p > .05 and (F(2, 115) =
1.158; p > .05, respectively)
Research Question Two Results
• Which types of school counselor interventions are
associated with promoting academic achievement and
college access among Latino/a ELLs?
▫ Correlation matrix of individual items from CCPS and CSCS
scale vis-à-vis achievement data
• Item 5 (Provide Latino/a ELL students the opportunity to
participate in SAT preparation programs) low positive
correlation with going on to receive a high school diploma (r =
.187; p = .035)
• Item 9 (Collaborate with teachers to highlight Latino/a ELL
student achievements through school-wide newsletters, bulletin
boards, announcements, etc.) moderate positive correlation with
receiving a high school diploma (r = .472; p = .009)
Research Question Two Results
• Which types of school counselor interventions are
associated with promoting academic achievement and
college access among Latino/a ELLs?
▫ Correlation matrix of individual items from CCPS and CSCS
scale vis-à-vis achievement data
• Item 12 (Encourage Latino/a ELL students interested in going to
college to take a college course while attending high school)
moderate positive correlation with receiving a high school
diploma (r = .403; p = .027)
• Item 14 (Collaborate with teachers to run classroom guidance
lessons for Latino/a ELL students that focus on academic
achievement) low positive correlation with plans to attend a 4year college (r = .234; p = .015)
Research Question Two Results
• Which types of school counselor interventions are associated with
promoting academic achievement and college access among
Latino/a ELLs?
▫ Correlation matrix of individual items from CCPS and CSCS scale
vis-à-vis achievement data
• Item 18 (Organize workshops for Latino/a ELL parents/guardians
to discuss future career and educational opportunities for students)
moderate positive correlation with receiving a high school diploma
and plans to attend a 4-year college (r = .384; p = .036 and r = .482;
p = .007, respectively)
• Item 20 (Encourage Latino/a parents/guardians representative of
various professions to come speak to Latino/a students) moderate
positive correlation with plans to attend a 2-year college (r = .425; p
= .021)
Research Question Three Results
• How do resources within schools play a role in closing the
achievement and opportunity gaps among Latino/a ELLs?
▫ Significant percent mean differences found for resources
variable
Independent Samples T-tests for Resources and Achievement Data
Achievement data
%Mean diff
N
t-score Sig. level
HS Diploma
14.9%
78
2.584
.012
Dropout rate
8.5%
61
2.721
.008
College acceptance
1.8%
67
.347
> .05
_______________________________________________
Research Question Three Results
• How do resources within schools play a role in closing
the achievement and opportunity gaps among
Latino/a ELLs?
▫ School counselor to student ratio not correlated to
achievement data
▫ No significant mean differences found for bilingual
education variable and achievement data
Research Question Three Results
• How do resources within schools play a role in closing
the achievement and opportunity gaps among
Latino/a ELLs?
▫ Common resources school counselors reported:
 ESL classes; Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) classes;
bilingual counselors and teachers; materials printed and
distributed in Spanish; financial aid workshops in Spanish;
ELL department; tutoring and after school programs;
mentoring programs; orientation programs; Latino club and
activities; and community partnerships
Findings and Implications
• Findings support literature and making unique
contribution
▫ Need for school counselors to take a leadership role
(ASCA, 2005; Education Trust, n.d.)
▫ Collaborate with multiple school and community
stakeholders to promote academic success
 Including students, teachers, parents, and community
members (e.g., Militello, Carey, Dimmitt, & Schweid, 2008)
Findings and Implications
• Findings support literature
▫ Importance of adequate resources (Flores, 2007)
▫ Need for Latino/a educators and counselors (Lopez,
2011; MacDonald, 2004)
▫ Staying abreast with changes in field (College Board,
2007)
▫ Ongoing multicultural competency with Latinos/as
(Eckenrod-Green & Culbreth, 2008)
Findings and Implications
• Adds to literature:
▫ Incorporates outcomes-based data to promote
academic achievement
▫ Identifies interventions school counselors engage in
on behalf of Latino/a ELLs
▫ Identifies specific activities moderately correlated
with closing achievement gap
Limitations
• Low response rate
• Inability to generalize findings
• Item interpretation
• Potential for variability across participants
• Confounding variables not accounted for, such as
•
•
•
•
SES
High-achieving schools
Length of stay in U.S.
Parent education
• Self-reported data
• Propensity for socially-desirable responses
Recommendations for Future Research
• Conduct research with all school and
community stakeholders to promote academic
achievement
• Interview Latino/a school counselors to learn
more about their work with Latino/a ELLs
• Implement outcomes-based interventions in
schools
• Examine and integrate equity-focused school
counselor interventions across all grade levels