ABSTRACT
Scholars have proposed that immigrant optimism explains why some immigrant students outperform their United States-born peers academically. Yet, immigrant optimism has not been directly measured. This study aims to test the immigrant optimism hypothesis by operationalizing it using the Children's Hope Scale. Using structural equation modeling, the author examined the associations between hope, immigrant generation, citizenship status, and academic outcomes among a sample of 2,369 Latino 14- to 17-year-old students. Though no difference by immigrant generation was found, undocumented students were more hopeful than their documented peers. This finding suggests that the documentation status has an indirect relative effect on academic outcomes via hope. This article reexamines the immigrant optimism as a resource that could be fostered among Latino youth, regardless of immigrant status.
Subject(s)
Emigrants and Immigrants/psychology , Hispanic or Latino , Hope/physiology , Optimism , Students , Adolescent , Educational Status , Emigrants and Immigrants/education , Emigrants and Immigrants/statistics & numerical data , Female , Hispanic or Latino/education , Hispanic or Latino/psychology , Hispanic or Latino/statistics & numerical data , Humans , Latent Class Analysis , Male , Optimism/psychology , Students/psychology , Students/statistics & numerical data , United States/epidemiology , Universities/statistics & numerical dataABSTRACT
Parents' attitudes about their children's schools matter. Their views can shape their children's attitudes about school, affect their levels of family-school engagement, and influence their residential and school enrollment decisions. In this article, we describe the development of a survey scale to assess parent perceptions of the climate of their child's school. Our comprehensive scale development process incorporated feedback from academics and potential respondents from the outset of the design process to enhance scale quality. We conducted 3 studies with national samples of parents (n = 385; n = 253; n = 266) to gather evidence of scale score reliability and valid score inferences based on convergent and discriminant validity. Through confirmatory factor analysis, we identified a theoretically grounded factor structure that fit the data well but found no evidence that parental response patterns distinguish between academic and social elements of school climate. Furthermore, we found that parents of younger children, on average, had a more positive perception of the school's climate than did parents of older children. We conclude by discussing how researchers and Pre-K-12 schools and districts can use the scale to aid school improvement efforts.
Subject(s)
Attitude , Parents , Perception , Schools , Social Environment , Adolescent , Child , Child, Preschool , Factor Analysis, Statistical , Female , Focus Groups , Humans , Male , Organizational Culture , Psychometrics , Reproducibility of Results , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
Objetivo: ejecución y análisis de una intervención educativa con la finalidad incrementar conocimientos y hábitos saludables en escolares. Métodos: diseño cuasi experimental. Se trabajó con el total de alumnos inscritos de una escuela pública de nivel primaria de Hermosillo, Sonora. Se diseñaron y realizaron cinco módulos basados en la propuesta pedagógica del constructivismo: alimentación e higiene, autoestima, tabaquismo y adicciones, cultura por la paz y cuidado del medio ambiente. Las actividades se realizaron en sesiones semanales de una hora con cada grupo. Se aplicó una medición pre y pos intervención para ver cambios en los conocimientos. Resultados: los escolares incrementaron conocimientos en los diversos ejes temáticos, mejoraron su autoestima y algunas prácticas relacionadas con la alimentación y su entorno. Conclusión: es necesaria la continuidad de este tipo de acciones escolares para incidir de manera integral en las fases tempranas del desarrollo cognitivo del escolar y buscar contextualizar los componentes social, cultural y económico incorporando la participación de padres y maestros para garantizar la sustentabilidad.
Objective: analysis and execution of an educative intervention with the purpose to promote, develop, and improve knowledge and healthy habits in students. Methods: a cuasi experimental design. This study included all the students registered in an elementary public school from Hermosillo, Sonora. Five modules were designed according to principles of constructivism: meals and hygiene, self esteem, smoking habits and addictions, culture for peace, environment care, and they were applied. The activities were carried out by a health promoter in an hour- session weekly per each group. An evaluation was given pre and post intervention in order to measure any changes in knowledge. Results: scholars' knowledge increased about these different topics, their self esteem increased, and some practices related to meals and their environment improved. Conclusion: it is necessary to continue this kind of practice in order for achieving an integral effect on the early cognitive development stages of students and for contextualizing the social, cultural, and economic components incorporating the participation of teachers and parents in order to guarantee the sustainability.
