education…. Sometimes kids don’t always know that they’re undocumented, in middle school they are starting to figure it out, but they don’t really understand—it’s a hard thing to comprehend . . . . [But some kids] are worried about being called by immigration—they are sometimes not allowed to answer the door and stuff in case it’s a raid. They are living in fear. In many instances, the negative perception of minority students by teachers is related to poorer performance as many parents feel embarrassment or shyness about their educational level or linguistic abilities and their lack of understanding about the school policies and activities (Cotton & Wikelund, 1989). The lack of a translator for example in Parent Teacher Association (PTA) meetings makes parents feel unwelcome (NWLC & MAIDEF, 2009). This limits the parental involvement in their child’s education. METHODOLOGY In this study, the dependent variable is student academic performance, which was measured by a survey and a household chart using questions that inquire about grades and recognitions that the children of the participants have received. The independent variables are parental involvement and Latin American families. The survey and chart also measured parental involvement using questions in the form of a Likert Scale. These questions required information about the parent’s participation in school activities and their assistance with educational tasks at home. The independent variable Latin American families was operationalized by asking information related
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