A Community Cultural Wealth Approach to Latina/Latino Parent Involvement: The Promise of Family Literacy.

Building on Freire's (1970) emancipatory learning theory and Yosso's (2005) community cultural wealth (CCW) approach, this article examines parents' participation in a family literacy project. Specifically, we focus on 10 Latina mothers and explore their interactions and relationships as a type of meaningful parental involvement. The research questions were: How does a family literacy project in which participants study literacy strategies through reading and discussing culturally relevant texts facilitate Latina/Latino parental involvement? What types of CCW do participants develop as a result of their interactions and family literacy practices? Data sources include questionnaires, interviews, field notes, and parents' reflective journals. Study participants developed aspirational capital, social capital, and familial capital during the course of the project. Elizabeth: I need to read about ADD [Attention Deficit Disorder]. I want to help my son to focus on reading and schoolwork for longer periods of time. Ana: You can come to the school library and do some research on the Internet. The librarian can help, or you can talk to the parent specialist. I can come with you the first time. Elizabeth: Yes, please. Give me your phone number. This conversation between Elizabeth and Ana (pseudonyms) illustrates one of the many potent interactions that took place during a family literacy project implemented at an elementary school in central Texas. In this article we show how 10 Latina mothers developed literacy skills and gained confidence in their ability to support the educational success of their children. They developed aspirational capital, social capital, and familial capital by participating in the project, interacting with other parents, and building relationships with their families and the school. Building on Freire's (1970) emancipatory learning theory and using Yosso's (2005) community cultural wealth (CCW) approach as our theoretical lens, we examined the role of parent interactions and relationships with special emphasis on practices that facilitated effective parental involvement in children's literacy development. Two research questions guided our study: How does a family literacy project in which participants study literacy strategies through reading and discussing culturally relevant texts facilitate Latina/Latino parental involvement? What types of CCW do participants develop as a result of their interactions and family literacy practices? PARENT INVOLVEMENT As Olivos (2006) explains, "The term parent involvement' has far too ofren been diluted in the professional literature Clarena Larrotta is an assistant professor in adult education at the Texas State University-San Marcos College of Education. Erica K. Yamamura is an assistant professor in student development administration at the Seattle University College of Education. 74 Adult Basic Education and Literacy Journal • Volume 5. Number 2, Summer 2011 Cultural Wealth Approach and in practice to a laundry list of activities that the experts' feel good parents 'do' to blindly support the schools' agendas" (p. 13). Traditionally, parental involvement has included participating in Parent Teacher Association (PTA*) meetings, attending back-to-school night, and volunteering in the classroom. These are usually one-way forms of communication in which the school transmits information or makes specific requests of the parents to volunteer their time and/or donate money. These forms of involvement make multiple assumptions—for example, that parents understand the U.S. educational system and can volunteer time and resources. They cater to middle-class, two-parent families and usually require parents to be fluent in English. Furthermore, schools consider visible presence at school as the only legitimate form of parental involvement (Scribner, Young, & Pedroza, 1999). Parent involvement should be meaningful to all and should be designed with diverse families in mind—for instance low-income families, those led by single parents, and families for whom English is not the native language. Parental involvement practices should engage parents by investigating their needs as community members and identifying their resources and talents. Then all kinds of parents would be able to volunteer and employ their strengths. Meaningful parental involvement might boost social capital by providing parents with insider information about the school and about larger educational processes (Domina, 2005; McNeal, 1999). If all parents are not adequately engaged, especially low-income and minority parents who are less likely to be involved, disparities in information and access to resources are likely to be maintained. As the Latina/Latino school-aged population increases, we must examine ways to effectively involve Latina/Latino parents in schools. Engaging parents in literacy practices that benefit both adults and children is one type of meaningful parental involvement (Flouri SC Buchanan, 2004; Larrotta & Gainer, 2009). PARENT LITERACY INVOLVEMENT Parent literacy involvement practices often include reading bedtime stories, buying educational toys, and implementing shared reading techniques (Daniel-White, 2002; Zarate, 2007). Parental involvement in children's literacy practices is a more powerful force for academic achievement than family social class, family size, or level of parent education (Flouri ôC Buchanan, 2004). For example. in shared reading activities, children learn language by interacting with their parents and the stories (Lonigan, 2004; Zevenbergen & Whitehurst, 2003). This, in turn, provides extra opportunities for parents to share cultural and familial knowledge. Research also shows that children's verbal participation and linguistic skills (grammatical complexity and vocabulary knowledge) further develop and increase during shared reading activities (Cotton & Reed Wikelund, 1989; Jiménez, Filippini, 6C Gerber, 2006). However, we cannot just assume that such parent literacy activities will take place. Schools need to pay attention to this issue and help create opportunities for them. On the other hand, schools also need to be aware that in many Latina/Latino families, parent literacy practices also include the oral tradition, consejos (advice), and the value of hard work (Delgado-Gaitán, 1994; Farr, 2003; Lopez, 2001; Valencia oí Black, 2002). Such cultural knowing can help teachers understand the rich cultural traditions such families bring to the literacy development of their children. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK We situate this study in a conceptual framework that views parental involvement and parent literacy involvement as shaped by Freire's (1970) emancipatory learning theory and Yosso's (2005) CCW approach. This framework informs our beliefs that: 1. Parental involvement requires parents' active and meaningful participation in their children's education at all levels. 2. Parents are their children's primary teachers. Literacy educators can provide parents with strategies and tools to help them fill this role. 3. Parental involvement in children's literacy development goes beyond traditional practices such as reading bedtime stories, buying educational toys, and implementing shared reading. Parental literacy involvement also includes oral tradition (e.g., storytelling, music, poetry, riddles, and jokes), consejos (advice or life lessons) and proverbs, funds of knowledge (e.g., talents, strategies, skills, practices, and bodies of knowledge essential to household function and well-being), and literacy practices embedded in daily activities such as preparing recipes and practicing religion with children. Adult Basic Education and Literacy Journal • Volume 5, Number 2, Summer 2011 75 Larrotta and Yamamura Freire's Emancipatory Learning Tbeory Freire's (1970) emancipatory learning theory describes development of "critical consciousness" or what he calls concientiçao. In other words, instructors and students work together to develop understanding and knowledge about the nature and root causes of unsatisfactory circumstances in order to develop real strategies to change them. Critical consciousness aims to encourage learners to become actively engaged in identify^ing problems, asking questions, analyzing, and developing strategies for transformation. The teacher's role is that of an equal partner who engages in dialogue with learners in the spirit of democratic inquiry and solidarity. Through the process of developing critical consciousness, marginalized or excluded groups (the "oppressed") can learn to identify, interpret, criticize, and finally transform the world and "transcend their reality. " More importantly, for critical consciousness to emerge, we need to recognize assets within the community. Rather than focusing on what communities lack in comparison to European-American middleand higher-income communities, these assetsbased approaches seek to illuminate strengths that facilitate academic and social success in diverse communities. Yosso's Community Cultural Wealtb Yosso's (2005) CCW approach identifies six components that reside within diverse communities in general and Latina/Latino communities in particular. Specifically, Yosso characterizes six types of CCW that are culturally validating strengths: aspirational capital, familial capital, social capital, linguistic capital, resistant capital, and navigational capital. To have aspirational capital is to have high expectations, to stay focused on one's goals and remain resilient regardless of perceived barriers and real hardships. Familial capital and social capital refer to the knowledge and understanding that are nurtured and passed on through relationships with networks of family and friends, respectively. Linguistic capital highlights the skills and tools developed through communication experiences in more than one language. Resistant capital includes the values, knowledge, and tools used to nurture oppositio