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. 2020;52(Pt A):38-48.
doi: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2018.08.007. Epub 2018 Oct 2.

What Do Parents Want From Preschool? Perspectives of Low-Income Latino/a Immigrant Families

Arya Ansari  1 , Lilla Pivnick  2 , Elizabeth Gershoff  2 , Robert Crosnoe  2 , Diana Orozco-Lapray  2
Affiliations

What Do Parents Want From Preschool? Perspectives of Low-Income Latino/a Immigrant Families

Arya Ansari et al. Early Child Res Q. 2020.

Abstract

With a qualitative approach drawing from four focus groups, this study explored what aspects of preschool are valued most by 30 low-income Latino/a immigrant parents with children enrolled in a state-funded preschool program in Texas. Beyond the push and pull factors of necessity, convenience, and supply, parents reported valuing the responsiveness of schools to families' needs and concerns, the provision of a safe and developmentally appropriate environment, the role of preschool in both care and education, the incorporation of parents within the school, and the school's capacity for developing parents' human and navigational capital. Even though parents saw great value in preschool preparing their children for school and helping themselves as parents, there was also fear and mistrust in neighborhood schools that was rooted in discrimination and long-term educational inequality.

Keywords: children of Latino/a immigrant parents; focus groups; preschool.

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References

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