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News
March 31, 2009
For immediate release
Hsiu-Zu Ho, Sukkyung You, and Julie T. Nguyen from UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School publish chapter on Asian American parental involvement
Professor Hsiu-Zu Ho, Assistant Researcher Sukkyung You, and Ph.D. student Julie T. Nguyen from UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School have published the chapter “The Process of Asian American Parental Involvement and Its Relationship to Students’ Academic Achievement” in the new volume New Perspectives on Asian American Parents, Students, and Teacher Recruitment (information Age Publishing). The book, edited by Clara C. Park of California State University, Northridge, Russell Endo of University of Colorado, and Xue Lan Rong of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill is the fifth volume in a series sponsored by the Special Interest Group - Research on the Education of Asian and Pacific Americans (SIG - REAPA) of the American Educational Research Association and National Association for Asian and Pacific American Education.
This series blends the work of well established Asian American scholars with the voices of emerging researchers and examines in close detail important issues in Asian American education, parental involvement, and teacher recruitment. Scholars and educational practitioners will find this book to be an invaluable and enlightening resource. This series explores and examines the patterns of Asian parents’ involvement in the education of their children, as well as the direct and indirect effects on children’s academic achievement; Asian American children’s literacy development and learning strategies; Asian American teachers’ motivation to enter teaching profession, and strategies to recruit and retain them; the “model minority stereotype” of Asian American students and their socio-emotional development; campus climate and perceived racism toward Asian American college students.
Ho, You, and Nguyen’s chapter examines the direct and indirect effects of parental involvement on student academic achievement using a nationally representative sample of Asian American high school students from National Educational Statistics Education Longitudinal Study (ELS). Using state-of-the art structural equation modeling, results show that among various parental involvement factors (including Parents’ Monitoring; Parent/Child Communication; Parents’ Educational Expectations; and Parent/child Participation in Activities), students’ perception of their parents’ educational expectations has the strongest direct effect on their child’s academic achievement. In terms of indirect (or mediating) effects, parents’ communication with their child about school topics, current events, and personal issue was the strongest mediator. Specifically, the two dimensions of parental involvement – Monitoring and Parent/Child Participation – are key in increasing Communication, indicating that Asian American parents who monitor and participate in the daily activities of their children also communicate more with their children by discussing academic and personal issues which, in turn, enhance student academic achievement. Recognizing the diversity within Asian Americans, Ph.D. candidate Julie Nguyen is currently investigating the effects of parental involvement on student academic achievement within various subgroups of Asian American families for her dissertation.
[Hsiu-Zu Ho, Sukkyung You, and Julie T. Nguyen are available for interviews; contact George Yatchisin at 805 893 5789]
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