Hmong parent involvement through shared reading

As an educator witnessing students not complete their school work or parents communicating with the school, the lack of parental support is a frequent occurrence each school year. Students' academic success does not solely rely on students, but also on their parents and those within the student's environment. There have been numerous parental involvement studies on diverse populations but there has not been one specifically on English Language Learners (ELLs) Hmong parents. Since the Hmong has grown significantly within the last 40 years; a problem that Hmong still face is a lack of support for those not achieving academic success because they are "lumped" together with other Asian ethnic groups, which often hides their academic struggle. As indicated by Hing (2012) over one-third of all Hmong, Cambodian, and Laotian Americans over the age of twenty-five do not have a high school diploma. Almost 70% of Indian and over 50% of Chinese, Pakistani, and Korean-Americans over the age of twenty-five have a bachelor's degree, while Cambodian, Hmong, and Laotian-Americans who have bachelor's degrees average around 13% (Hing, 2011). This is a critical issue because Hmong students are not receiving the resources and the help needed to attain academic success within the educational system. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of parent involvement workshops and training on Hmong-speaking parents' participation in their child's education at home. A series of 9 workshops focused on various forms of reading comprehension instruction implemented through shared reading provided in English and/or Hmong. The methods used by Hmong parents during reading to help their child were examined as well as if access to reading strategies in their primary language impacted the support they provided their children in reading. Communication between the home and school were also examined to see if there was an increase in communication after participating in the workshops. Pre-and post qualitative data came from the 4 parent participants of second grade students that consisted of parent survey and interviews. This data was analyzed to help understand the developmental growth of the parents. Also the 4 second grade students whose parents were participants in this study were interviewed to help document what parents were doing different at home. The results of qualitative data collected indicate an increase in parental involvement after participation in the training and workshops. Before the workshops, 1 out of 4 parent participants was helping their child at home and on reading. However after the study, all 4 parent participants were engaging and talking more with their child at home on homework and reading. The Hmong parents' definition of "help" changed. Before the workshops, parents' deifined "help" as being able to decode. If the parents could not read, then they could not help. Now parents described helping their child by talking and questioning what their child was reading, which ultimately will help their child's literacy development.