Why have I been successful in school?

If my end goal is to help the Latino youth population do better in academics, what was done for my own success?

I started out my education very behind and handicapped. In my elementary years I was observed to have a minor case of dyslexia, a brain disorder that restricts communication between the right and left hemispheres of the brain. I struggled significantly with the ability to correctly read and write.  It was only after eight years of private tutoring that I managed to sufficiently overcome my learning disability.  I remember in first and second grade my teacher staying after class to work with me one on one as I read five to ten page books.  Teachers teamed up with my parents to help mi overcome my dyslexia and improve my reading.  In middle school I worked hard because my grades meant very much to my parents and their encouragement, rewards as well as discipline motivated my success.  I can’t remember a time when my parents were not eagerly involved in my academics. Also contributing to my motivation was the fact that both my parents complete degrees at Brigham Young University and exemplify the importance of an advanced education.

So why is it that according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, only 14% of Latino fourth graders are reading at a proficient reading level in English or Spanish? Why would only 64% of Hispanic teenagers complete high school?  What is going wrong? 

The answer seems obvious; it must be parental involvement, which is the reason why I managed to succeed.  But I don’t think the school system can put all the blame on the parents.  It seems that cultural differences play a huge part in their involvement.  From the research I’ve done, the Latino education system is not set up so that teachers and parents work as co-partners in their student’s education. That is a very American style system.  Our parent-teacher relationship is very foreign to their culture. With the language barrier on top of that, one might begin to understand the missing puzzle piece in what to our culture is a working system. 

I not going to monolog on about what has been researched in parent-teacher communications with Hispanic parents, but I do realize parental involvement will be essential to all programs seeking to aid Latino students.  If my research leads me to design or improve such programs, it might be beneficial to investigate in Mexico their natural parental involvement so that it can be instigated more effectually in these programs.  This is only an Idea, because I’m in the process of simplifying the variables of my research and not adding more, this does seem like an important one as I consider the focus of my research.