Hispanic Parents’ Involvement and Teachers’ Empowerment as Pathways to Hispanic English Learners’ Academic Performance

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between Hispanic English learners’ learning, their parents’ involvement, and their teachers’ empowerment through professional knowledge. It is believed that Hispanic parents’ involvement in their children’s school activities is more influential to academic performance and educational attitudes than is teacher empowerment alone. A total of 339 Hispanic English learners, 339 parents, and 40 teachers participated in this study. Structural equation modelling was used. The analysis produced an empirical model with a nonsignificant value of χ2 (53.11). Due to the nonsignificant difference of the p value, the empirical model was found to be a good fit. These results revealed that Hispanic parents’ involvement has a positive impact on their children’s academic performance, and that teachers’ empowerment has a negative impact when primarily focused on professional knowledge attainment only.