The effects of a parental involvement program on self concepts and school attitudes of Mexican-American first grade children

Purpose of the Study: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a structured parental involvement program on the self concept and school attitude of first-grade Mexican-American children. It was also the investigator's intention to determine if only the children whose parents participated were affected, or if the presence of Mexican-American mothers in the school had a global effect on the other children. Procedure: Both the experimental (Saenz) and control (Salazar) elementary schools are in Alice, Texas, with each school population approximating 500 scholastics. The student populations in both schools are 99% Mexican-American and 1% black. The children come from homes where Spanish is the dominant language. The children were tested on the School Sentiment Index (30 questions) and Self Appraisal Index (4O questions) pre and posttest instruments published by the Instructional Objectives Exchange in Los Angeles, California. The test was administered orally in English and in Spanish dialect used in that area. The pre-test was administered before the social meetings. One social meeting was held at the experimental school and one social meeting at the control school. At the experimental school six weekly, structured one-hour training sessions were held in the afternoons. They were conducted in English by the investigator and in Spanish by a teacher aide. [...]