A leader's role in developing a campus plan of action for parental involvement in a predominantly Hispanic English language learner, high economically disadvantaged urban school

The purpose of this single site case study was to explore the shared experiences and behaviors of parents of academically successful Hispanic English language learners in a predominantly non-white, economically disadvantaged urban school to provide insight for current and aspiring campus leaders as they develop plans to address perceived deficiencies in student achievement and college readiness of ELL's. The specific intent of this study was to identify non-traditional forms of parental involvement from parents of English language learners to guide campus leaders in developing more culturally relevant parental involvement programs at the campus level based on models of success outside traditional frameworks of parental involvement. The data from this study revealed parent participants' alignment with five of the six categories presented in Epstein's traditional frameworks for parental involvement. The categories that emerged included parenting, communicating, volunteering, learning at home and decision making. Another key finding from the study were the themes of parental involvement that emerged from the data analysis that were not present in Epstein's traditional framework for parental involvement. Though not evident in Epstein's framework, the themes in this category were significant to the respondents' beliefs of effective parental involvement. The emergent themes that were categorized as non-traditional forms of parental involvement were support for the teacher, spirituality and development of a network of support from campus faculty and staff. If these nontraditional forms of parental involvement were not acknowledged, the participants of the study would not seem involved based on traditional metrics used to evaluate parental involvement.