ENCOURAGING SCHOOL-ACHIEVEMENT IN MEXICAN-AMERICAN CHILDREN

Parents of 33 high-achieving and 49 low-achieving Mexican American fou rth- and fifth-grade children completed questionnaires on beliefs and values related to education and childrearing. On questions about the v alue of education in general the importance of a high school diploma f or enabling their children to get good jobs, the amount of education t hey expect their children to attain, whether or not parents should hel p children with homework, and the frequency at which they helped their children with schoolwork, parents of high and low achievers did not d iffer Parents of high achievers were more likely to be upset with grad es of Cs and Ds, were more likely to feel that there were many things they could do to help their children do well in school, and modeled re ading skills more frequently than parents of low achievers. Results ar e discussed from two theoretical perspectives-cultural/ecological theo ry and primary cultural discontinuities theory.