dr. ronald e. mcnair acknowledgements - University of St. Thomas

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UST McNair Scholars Program Research Journal American Indian Students were 2 to 5 times as likely to drop out of school as their White peers over the last five years. The result also shows White students exceeding the overall national average of graduation rates by nearly 6 points; in contrast, Minnesota students of color and American Indian students average 10 to 17 points below the national average for graduation rates (Minnesota Minority Education Partnership, 2009). This is further evidence of what previous studies have stated about Asian American students fitting into the model minority ideal. Too often, Asian-American students have been stereotyped as the “model minority” in which they performed academically better than other ethnic groups (Lee, 1994; Um, 2000). This stereotype claims Asian Americans are not educationally disadvantaged and do not need any academic assistance (Ngo & Lee, 2007). Hmong, as a refugee population, presents an important view on the problems and challenges facing many groups within this conception of Asian as the model minority (Xiong, 2008). Hmong is one of the newest Southeast Asian groups of people within this conception, considering they have only been in the United States for approximately thirty-six years. Therefore, it is imperative to understand all Asians do not have similar values and cultural background, nor do they share the same educational and economic opportunity in the United States (Hamilton- Merritt, 1993). PARENTS’ AND TEACHERS’ COMMUNICATION Historically, researchers have found that there has been a lack of communication between school teachers and South East Asian parents (Blakely, 1983). These parents received notices of their children’s grades, opportunities for students to join sports, and invitations to open houses, but the majority were illiterate and did not understand these school communications (Blakely, 1983). The study showed how refugees in Cascade, Oregon exhibited similar characteristics of other minorities immigrating to this country. These refugees’ families were willing to start a new life and saw formal education as a critical component to surviving in the United States (Blakely, 1983). Much research has been conducted on the importance of teachers, parents, and other school professionals’ ways of collaboration and communication to better assist Hmong students in school. Thao (2003) found both parents and 74 teachers wanted a well-balanced relationship to better engage their students at home and school. Parents and teachers expressed how they want to be able to understand one another and communicate about the academic needs of Hmong students. Both Hmong parents and teachers want to maintain trust, exchange resources, as well as share ideas (Thao, 2003). Furthermore, Thao (2003) found that providing a level of parentteacher conferences would give parents encouragement, role models, and technical tools to support Hmong students both at school and home. The study also suggested for parents, teachers, and adminis - trators to get together to talk about their different expectations, home and school, and talk about resources that exist in the student’s home (Thao, 2003). HOME AND SCHOOL FACTORS Many studies have been done on the types of school and home environments needed to better assist Hmong students to achieve academic success. Thao (2003) found the school environment needs to be a comfortable place and not isolate the Hmong students and their culture. The school environment must allow Hmong students to explore the American culture without placing academic pressure on the students (Thao, 2003). However, the home environment must consist of loving and supportive parents in order to motivate Hmong students to succeed in school. Berger (1995) found students who come from different cultures bring unique languages, ideas, feelings, strengths, and weaknesses of their homes into their school life. It is important that educators provide a supportive and nonthreatening environment to lesson academic anxiety for Hmong students (Thao, 2003). Moreover, Thao (2003) revealed in her study that teaching of the Hmong culture and history within the school would be beneficial to Hmong students so they can identify with their culture and understand its values. Hmong children need to be in classrooms where they have the opportunity to learn how to balance cultural differences among their home, school, and community (Shade et al., 1997). In addition, it is important Hmong students have a study space along with parents’ expectations in their home environment (Thao, 2003). At present, Xiong (2008) found Hmong children are growing up in economically and educationally disad - vantaged families. Hmong students are among the poorest
Mai-Eng Lee Social Work Teachers’ Perception towards Hmong Students citizens living in Minnesota and many of them are concentrated in poor neighborhoods without adequate resources to provide a strong education basis for these young children (Xiong, 2008). The study identifies several factors, most of which have to do with the low educational histories and employment status that can be attributed to the poverty of the Hmong population. As a consequence, Hmong children grow up in low-income households, in homes with lower market values and with parents and adults who are either unemployed or in low-paying, lowskilled occupations (Xiong, 2008). Furthermore, the linguistic isolation of Hmong parents may also explain some of the reasons why Hmong children have lower test scores in school. This study showed Hmong students scored the lowest, followed by Hispanic and African Immigrant students, after taking the Peabody Vocabulary Test (Xiong, 2008). More specifically, 82 percent of the Hmong students scored below the national average compared to only 17 percent of Caucasian students (Xiong, 2008). This means Hmong families are still struggling with language and poverty after more than thirty years of living in the United States, and this has a direct affect on their children. SUMMARY OF LITERATURE REVIEW It is evident that Hmong high school students are a growing population in the State of Minnesota. Educators must understand the history and culture of the people in order to better understand the needs of Hmong students. Acculturation also plays a role in how well Hmong students can academically succeed in school. As a result of these studies, it is critical that school professionals are aware of students’ languages spoken at home and their culture so they can begin to bridge this academic barrier and better communicate with culturally diverse parents. Many studies have found different factors that influenced students to achieve academic success; however, these studies did not provide in-depth perspectives about the kinds of communication between parents and teachers and the way these interactions have empowered Hmong students to gain confidence in their academic skills, both at home and school. Therefore, it is crucial to explore parent and teacher communication strategies in order to assist and empower Hmong students to achieve their academic potential both at home and school. The current study provides an indepth understanding of teachers’ perspectives about the needed academic support to empower Hmong to excel in school. This study seeks to answer these following questions: (1) What kind of school and home environment would support Hmong students to achieve academic success? (2) What kinds of communications do parents, teachers, and other school professionals need to engage in to assist Hmong children to achieve their full academic potential in school? (3) What type of school and home activities are most useful in helping Hmong students succeed in school? METHODOLOGY Through qualitative research, the primary researcher looked in-depth at teachers’ perspectives of what activities, school-home learning environment, and type of parentteacher communication is needed to help Hmong students achieve academic success. According to Grinnell and Unrau (2011), the qualitative research approach involves looking at meaning, experience, emotions, richness, and depth to better understand the interpretative perspective. This research study was approved from the University of Saint Thomas Institutional Review Board. RECRUITMENT The study focuses on teachers’ perspectives of Hmong students’ academic achievements. The targeted population was teachers who had experience educating Hmong students throughout their teaching career in Minnesota. These teachers were targeted with a snow ball sampling approach (Grinnell & Unrau, 2011, p. 237), where the primary researcher contacted teachers throughout the Twin Cities area as potential participants and afterwards asked them to identify teachers. The researcher followed-up with the names provided and invited these individuals to participate in the study. This target population has a greater sense of understanding the language and cultural barriers within the Hmong community. These teachers engaged with the researcher to talk about Hmong students’ behavior and academic learning due to direct experience with them in the classroom. 75
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DR. RONALD E. MCNAIR Ronald E. McNa
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ABSTRACT The purpose of the present
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Oluwademilade Adediran Psychology M
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ABSTRACT Early childhood education
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Kesha Berg Public Policy Enhancing
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