HMONG AMERICAN CHILDREN’S PERCEPTIONS OF PARENTS’ INVOLVEMENT IN THEIR EDUCATION

One in five children in K-12 education is an immigrant or a child of immigrants-one of the fastest growing populations in the United States. However, research shows that many children of immigrants tend to struggle in the K-12 education system, including the children of Hmong immigrant parents. Research has often highlighted parent involvement behaviors as key predictors of students’ academic outcomes, but it is unknown whether this finding extends to the children of Hmong immigrant parents. Using a sample of N = 423 Hmong elementary students from Hmong-focused charter schools, the present study seeks to understand the ways in which various parent involvement behaviors relate to these students’ perceived academic abilities in reading and math. The present study also investigates whether or not Hmong students’ English proficiency moderates these relationships. Findings from regression analyses indicate that English proficiency is the strongest predictor of immigrant students’ perceived math and reading abilities. Parent educational involvement at school also significantly predicts immigrant students’ perceived abilities in both content areas. Parent communication about the importance of education significantly predicts Hmong students’ perceived abilities in math but not reading. Parent educational involvement at home was not a significant predictor of outcomes. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.