Description
Latinos make up the largest immigrant population in the United States. As such, schools are become increasingly diverse, thereby demonstrating the need for effective, culturally proficient leadership. Principals are looked upon to instill school culture and increase parent involvement, which may be associated with student achievement. Still, Latino parent involvement has historically lagged behind its White counterparts, falling behind as early as middle school. As principals lead efforts to increase parent involvement, especially with Latino parents, examining parent-principal trust can potentially provide benefits to educational leaders in multicultural settings. The purpose of this study was to investigate what factors contributed to principal cultural proficiency from the Latino parent perspective. A phenomenological approach was used and employed 20 parent interviews and a focus group in a middle school in California. Data were analyzed through transcriptions and deductively coded to examine patterns and construct themes. Findings from the study demonstrated that Latino parents at this school desired more communication and interaction with their school principal, that their trust of the principal was directly related to the principal’s care of the students demonstrated through direct actions, and that a significant lack of Latino culture was represented at this school, which could be improved by the principal. Lastly, the study showed that in order for Latino parents in this school to feel valued, they needed to make a proactive effort to get involved in school activities.
