Talk to María! She is the best person to ask and will be happy to help.” This phrase is common at St. Anthony’s, where the bustling halls are filled with life from 7:30 AM to 3:30 PM. An immigrant from Central America, María enrolled her children at St. Anthony’s, seeking the best educational opportunity for them. Not long after, María soon became engaged in various aspects of the life of the school, volunteering in the main office, serving as a resource for teachers and helping other parents navigate the school community. Her dedication and the fact that she is fluent in English and Spanish have enriched the life of the school. She is a persona puente – a bridge person (Ospino & Wyttenbach, 2022)—whose presence strengthens and transforms the school culture.
Parents are the “primary and principal educators” of their children, as affirmed by the Second Vatican Council (Gravissimum Educationis, n. 3). Catholic schools are excellent spaces for them to continue to exercise this vocation. The work begins at home but extends to many other areas of life, including school and parish. Catholic schools are well-positioned to invite parents to live their vocation as educators in the faith and help others do likewise by creating spaces for parental engagement. Anguiano, Thomas and Proehl (2020) from Saint Mary’s College suggest that there are four clear markers of how Catholic schools move from principle to practice in the area of family engagement:
Providing “healing spaces” that support families no matter the challenges they face;
Mirroring and manifesting a sense of family that cultivates trusting relationships and community;
Pursuing and adhering to shared values across home and school, and establishing expectations for all constituencies downstream of those values; and
Building networks with and among families that result in positive outcomes for children (including communication, availability, motivation, perseverance and integrity)
As we can observe, to speak of parents as the “primary and principal educators” of their children is not limited to just teaching them values or particular convictions or witnessing good behavior. It also involves creating spaces, developing structures and establishing networks for their children to thrive.
The Boston College Roche Center for Catholic Education has analyzed the growing enrollment trends in Catholic schools during the years that followed the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis reveals that Hispanic students accounted for nearly 50 percent of the enrollment growth in Catholic schools nationwide from 2020 to 2022—a staggering statistic considering that Hispanic students still only account for less than 20 percent of the total Catholic school population. The growing Hispanic student population in Catholic schools prompts the question of how these schools are prepared to welcome Hispanic parents, create opportunities for them to become engaged, in light of their experiences and gifts, and learn from these families. What does parental involvement in Catholic schools mean as these institutions become increasingly Hispanic?
The Catholic school as a community guided by the principles of the gospel must be a space where the encounter and exchange of cultural traditions, histories, perspectives, values and ways of relating to God and others are de facto opportunities to embrace God’s diverse creation. This applies to how we welcome the engagement of parents and families whose journeys are not necessarily similar to those of parents and families that traditionally have sent their children to our schools. The temptation to “flatten” what we as educators see as the “right” kinds of parental engagement undoubtedly exists. However, the styles and patterns of parental engagement vary in light of our particular cultural legacies.
What is necessary for our Catholic schools to recognize and affirm the potential of Hispanic parental engagement?
It is interesting to observe that Catholic schools and other schools of choice often boast higher levels of parental involvement (Goldring & Phillips, 2008). Yet, Hispanic families in these same schools often experience significant setbacks and barriers with regard to parental engagement. Research on Hispanic parental engagement in Catholic schools during the last 15 years highlights many challenges for these families, including but not limited to the following: not feeling welcomed within their school communities, a lack of opportunities to engage through a variety of channels and a mismatch in perception of parental involvement between parents and staff. The problem, researchers observe, is not a lack of desire from Hispanic parents to serve in the schools or a mismatch in values. As a matter of fact, Hispanic families often create opportunities to affirm language and culture while embracing the fullness of the Catholic school’s demands and aspirations. But those opportunities are not always welcomed by teachers and staff (Joseph, Velez, & Antrop-Gonzalez, 2017).
How do we discover, embrace, affirm and share the gifts and contributions of Hispanic parents within our Catholic schools? Research projects in the worlds of public and charter schools (e.g., Ishimaru, 2019; Goodall & Montgomery, 2023) invite us to move beyond the simple assumption that parents and families are to participate in our school structures as they currently are. There seems to be a need for school structures and practices that welcome Hispanic parents by honoring who they are as well as the gifts and contributions they share with the school community. Our own research on Hispanic families in duallanguage Catholic schools, where Hispanic students and families are usually the majority, reveals invitational gaps in opportunities for parent leadership roles and co-creation of academic, spiritual and cultural formative experiences. Ironically, this happens while it is known that Hispanic families outpace their non-Hispanic counterparts in particular areas of parental engagement (i.e., volunteering in classrooms and school experiences) and overall school satisfaction (Hamman-Ortiz, Reyes, & Sada, 2024).
All families in our Catholic schools find themselves navigating the burdens of fulfilling multiple commitments and obligations within and outside of the school. Not surprisingly, even the most comprehensive school policies around compulsory parent participation and engagement are no silver bullet to address the parent engagement gap. Hispanic parents also experience a cultural burden associated with being Hispanic, sometimes immigrants and the reality that the schools where their children are being educated have low or misplaced expectations about their parental engagement. How might we heal these invitational gaps so we can support parents to live their vocation as the primary educators of their children? What distinct knowledge and skills do Catholic school leaders and educators need to truly engage all parents and families? What is necessary for our Catholic schools to recognize and affirm the potential of Hispanic parental engagement?
Today, María is not only a parent but a staff member at St. Anthony’s School. Our research on cultivating Hispanic parent engagement has led us to listen to hundreds of parents like her and learn from their wisdom. Not all of them join the staff or the faculty of our Catholic schools. Yet, they are all a treasure to be embraced.
Anne-Marie Grejdusis an instructional leadership coach for the Roche Center for Catholic Education, Boston College.funkan@bc.edu
Hoffsman Ospino, Ph.D.is professor of Hispanic ministry and religious education Chair for the Department of Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry, Boston College.hosffman.ospino.2@bc.edu
John Reyes, Ed.D.is director of research, program evaluation and innovation for the Roche Center for Catholic Education, Boston College.reyesef@bc.edu
Melodie Wyttenbach, Ph.D.is the executive director of the Roche Center for Catholic Education and a faculty member for the Lynch School of Education and Human Development, Boston College.wyttenba@bc.edu