Teachers, School Climate Key to Latino Immigrants' Academic Success

Teachers and schools that value diversity have a big impact on the academic experiences of Latino immigrant children living in predominantly white communities, according to researchers at the University of Kentucky.

Their findings appears in a special section of the September/October 2012 issue of Child Development on children from immigrant families.

Researchers observed more than 200 third and fourth graders, primarily first- and second-generation immigrants from Mexico, in 19 U.S. elementary schools.

They live in a community that is 81 percent European American and 14 percent African American, with a rapidly growing Latino population. Children were questioned about their attitudes about their ethnicity, their experiences with discrimination by peers and teachers, and their attitudes about school. The study also collected the students' grades. Teachers completed a questionnaire on their attitudes about diversity, and the school climate was examined for multiculturalism and ethnic composition.

Researchers found that children who had a teacher who valued diversity felt more positively about their ethnicity than children who had a teacher who felt uncomfortable with diversity.

Lead researcher Chrstia Spears said the finding is important because feeling positively about their ethnicity was associated with children valuing school more, enjoying school more, feeling like they belonged at school more, and getting better grades.

Teachers who valued diversity also seemed to establish classroom norms that discouraged peers from teasing others because of their ethnicity.

"Although schools can't change their ethnic composition to make immigrant children feel less of a minority, they can show that they support multiculturalism, they can help teachers see the value of diversity, and they can help their students feel positively about their ethnic group," Brown said.

The researchers found that regions with previously small immigrant populations are now seeing rapid demographic changes - newly arriving children are entering school systems that have been, until recently, almost entirely European American and African American.

"These children face unique challenges to their educational success, challenges that can in part be overcome through supportive teachers and schools," Brown said.