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Examining parental involvement at the elementary-level: the Chamoru perspective

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Examining parental involvement at the elementary-level: the Chamoru perspective

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Content Running head: CHAMORU PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT 1

EXAMINING PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT AT THE ELEMENTARY-LEVEL: THE
CHAMORU PERSPECTIVE

by

Rosalind Reyes Meno Ram

A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

May 2018

Copyright 2018 Rosalind Reyes Meno Ram

CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 2
Acknowledgements
Para i manainahu-siha si Rosa Chaco Reyes yan si Juan Toves Meno; yan todos i manelo-
siha: Victor, Mary, Francisco, Johnny, Joaquin, Raymond, Andy, Frankie, Thelma, Janice, Troy
yan i familia-siha giya Guåhan daʹnkolo na si Yu’os Maase.
To my parents, my first teachers, who helped me begin this life on earth and taught me to
value family and to get along, help each other and work hard. I thank you. Mom—thank you for
helping me learn and live inafa’maolek.
To my eternal companion, Tulsi. Mahalo for being a tremendous support. This degree belongs to
the two of us and our children and their families: Trevor, Erin, and Malia, Kevin and Treana,
Nisifolo and Trysta and others to come.
To my dissertation chair, Dr. Julie D. Slayton, thank you for your guidance as I kept working and
shaping my study. You helped me to endure well and learn skills that will benefit many in the
future. To my dissertation committee members, Dr. Kathy Hayes, Dr. Tevita Kaili, and Dr. Alan
Green, daʹnkolo na si Yu’os Maase for your academic expertise, insights, and guidance.
To Kathy Feinga Pulotu for her tireless cheering on and support. Thank you.
Para Si Yu’us Tata, yan i lahena, si Jesu Kristo, yan i Espiritu Santos daʹnkolo na si Yu’os
Maase.

CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 3
Table of Contents
List of Tables 5
List of Figures 6
Abstract 7
Chapter One: Overview of the Study 8
Background of the Problem 9
Statement of the Problem 11
Purpose of the Study 12
Significance of the Study 12
Organization of the Study 13
Chapter Two: Literature Review 14
Parents’ Life Context Relative to Parental Involvement 15
Parental Role Construction and Sense of Efficacy 15
Lessons Learned 23
Social Capital 24
Lessons Learned 33
Parent-School Partnership 34
Parent as Partner 35
Lessons Learned 44
School as Partner 44
Lessons Learned 52
Indigenous and Chamoru Indigenous Epistemology 53
Conclusion 58
Conceptual Framework 59
Role Construction and Sense of Efficacy 62
Social Capital 63
Parent-and-School Partnership and Chamoru Epistemology 63
Chapter Three: Methods 67
Sample and Population 68
Participant Selection 68
Instrumentation and Data Collection 71
Data Analysis 73
Ethics 75
Credibility and Trustworthiness 76
Limitations and Delimitations 78
Conclusion 79
Chapter Four: Findings 80
Finding 1: Chamoru Parents’ Outside of School Involvement: Helping Their Children with
Academic and Non-academic Needs 82
Theme 1. Constructing the Parent’s Role to Help with the Child’s Academic Needs 83
Theme 2. Coaching the Child About School Life and Their Responsibilities 92
Theme 3. Leveraging Their Social Capital Networks to Help With the Child’s Academic
Needs 97
Theme 4. Nurturing the Child’s Non-academic Needs 101
Finding 2: Inside-School Involvement: Chamoru Parents’ Views and Experiences 106
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 4
Theme 1. Chamoru Parents’ Views and Experiences with how they Volunteer and Attend
School-based Activities, and Contact School Staff 107
Theme 2. Parents’ Perceptions and Experiences With Growing Their Social Capital
Networks 113
Conclusion 116
Chapter Five: Discussion 117
Finding 1: Chamoru Parents’ Outside of School Involvement: Helping Their Children with
Academic and Non-academic Needs 119
Finding 2: Inside-School Involvement: Chamoru Parents’ Views and Experiences 120
Implications and Recommendations 121
Implications and Recommendations for Practice 122
Implications and Recommendations for Policy 123
Implications and Recommendations for Further Research 123
Conclusion 124
References 126
Appendix A: Screening Handout 140
Appendix B: Findings, Themes, Actions, Typicality 141
Appendix C: Constructs of Initial and Updated Conceptual Model 142

CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 5
List of Tables
Table 1: Chamoru Parent Categories for Parent Involvement for the Purpose of Maximum
Variation 70
Table 2: Participant Descriptions and Profiles 70
Table 3: Biases Going Into the Field and out of the Data Analysis 77

CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 6
List of Figures
Figure 1. Conceptual framework prior to the field. 61
Figure 2. Completed conceptual framework after data analysis. 65

CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 7
ABSTRACT
In Guam, the Chamoru have weathered centuries of change in the political and educational
arenas. This study explored ways parents assisted their children at home and in school to
understand the perspectives and approaches of parents in Guam. The sample consisted of 10
Chamoru parents. The purpose of this study was to address the question of how these parents
define and enact involvement in their elementary-aged children’s academic lives. This qualitative
multi-case study included interviews, and a majority of the sample was from rural rather than
urban settings. Findings revealed parents being involved with both outside and inside of school
activities.

CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 8
CHAPTER ONE: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
Guam is situated in the Western Pacific, has been colonized by Spain, the United States,
and Japan, and continues to be under U.S. rule today (Rogers, 2011). Indigenous to Guam are the
Chamoru people (Misco & Lee, 2012). The role of educating a child in Chamoru culture is
within the family and the clan. The children of the clan attend schools based on U.S. federal
policies. Yet, despite these policies, I was reminded of President Obama in his 2009 address to a
joint session of Congress where he said,
In the end, there is no program or policy that can substitute for a mother or father who
will attend those parent/teacher conferences, or help with homework after dinner, or turn
off the TV, put away the video games, and read to their child. I speak to you not just as a
President, but as a father when I say that responsibility for our children’s education must
begin at home. (The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, 2009)
With this clear admonition to parents on the responsibility they have for their children’s
education, President Obama’s statement parallels that of Indigenous Chamoru parents and the
responsibility placed on them to ensure their children are educated.
During the 2013–14 school year, the Guam Department of Education had an enrollment
of 31,593 students, of whom 48% were Chamoru (Guam Department of Education, 2013). Yet,
there is little research on how these parents define and enact their involvement in their
elementary-aged children’s academic life. Knowing this, the question that needed to be asked is
how might these parents define and enact involvement in their elementary-aged children’s
academic life? I sought to answer this question in this dissertation. Therefore, the remainder of
this chapter includes the following components: the background of the problem, the statement of
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 9
the problem, the purpose of the study, and the significance of the study. It concludes with the
way the remainder of the dissertation was organized.
Background of the Problem
The hundreds of years of colonial rule by Spain, the United States, Japan, and then the
United States has taken a toll on the Chamoru people, making some experts describe these events
as “cultural genocide” (Rapadas, Balajadia, & Rubinstein, 2005, p. 149). During 1521, the first
contact with outsiders brought diseases that caused the death of a majority of the population,
language transformation, dismantling of the matrilineal system, and the introduction of
Christianity, which replaced the native naturalistic religion. The Japanese occupation during
World War II left many Chamoru people desperate for their life (Rogers, 2011). Diaz (2010) said
that the brutal occupation by the Japanese drove the Chamoru to their American “overseer, with
religious zeal and cultural prescriptions of gratitude and loyalty” (p. 13).
The Chamoru people today experience an overwhelming physical struggle with high
diabetes, strokes, heart disease, and decreased general health compared to others in Guam
(Rapadas et al., 2005). There are many in prisons, and they experience higher rates of suicide and
family violence than other ethnicities, and are therefore unable to take advantage of the benefits
of the modern world (Rapadas et al. 2005). Misco and Lee (2012) quoted Hattori (2011) as
saying all “forces of globalization, urbanization, popular culture and U.S. military presence have
in the last 50 years influenced Chamoru cultural transformation” (p. 24). This complicated
context thus informs education in Guam today (Misco & Lee, 2012).
Post-WWII, U.S. policies and Guam’s local government have regulated public education
(Rogers, 2011). The Guam Department of Education is a single unified school district governed
by a board and lead by a superintendent. There are 26 elementary schools within the district
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 10
(Guam Department of Education, 2013). Both educational systems and relationships between
schools and families have changed over time. In reference to Guam’s history with the U.S.
school system over a span of 20 years, two Chamoru educators offered their own observation.
The first is Aguon, former superintendent of the Guam DOE. Aguon (1979), said,
Unfortunately, during much of the island’s recent history, the school and the home did
not have a mutually beneficial relationship. The school decided what was necessary for
life and the island’s future while the home invariably acceded to the demands of the
system. (p. 91)
Secondly, John Salas (1991, as cited in Indalecio, 1999), a long-time educator said the following:
We need to provide understanding of the [Chamoru] language, culture, and history of
Guam. We need to provide the children with the necessary tools to challenge the styles of
the Chamoru students who have been greatly influenced by the American system of
education. In the past three decades, the Chamoru people have integrated their lifestyle
and cultural values to fit Western customs and technology. (p. 35)
Chamoru are not alone in this struggle. Historically, the Civilization Fund Act of 1819,
created to provide opportunities for the improvement of Native Americans through education and
assimilation, led to the enforcement of an English-only approach in Guam public schools in the
1960s and 1970s (Rogers, 2011). Another example is the Head Start and Title I programs from
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 designed to provide a place for children of
low-income families to enroll in preparation for entering elementary school (Baquedano-López,
Alexander, & Hernandez, 2013). The message sent from this legislation was that the homes from
which these minority children throughout the United States came were could not ensure their
well-being (Baquedano-López et al., 2013).
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 11
Berliner and Biddle (1995) identified such views as a deficit framing of parents from
historically marginalized groups. Two reports, A Nation at Risk (Goldberg, & Harvey, 1983) and
the Coleman Report (1966) again blamed schools and minority parents for students’ low
achievement. The question here from whom this deficit perspective comes. Baquedano-López et
al. (2013) contended that neo-deficit discourses on parents permeate current education reform
efforts and generally construct minority parents as problems. They stated, “Typical parental
involvement practices often marginalize lower-income and racial minority parents” (p. 172).
Does this imply that Chamoru parents are not involved with their children’s academics? Only
research can answer that. Herein then was the reason to study how Chamoru parents defined and
engaged involvement in their children’s academic work.
Statement of the Problem
Studies on children who received parental support during elementary school years, either
help with homework or engagement with teachers, indicated direct benefits to reading and math
achievement (Sheldon & Epstein, 2005), self-efficacy, and retention (Barnard, 2004). Closely
associated with children’s academic achievement is parents’ ability to voice concerns and enact
direct and indirect involvement (Lee & Bowen, 2006). Mckenna and Millen (2013) defined
parent voice as “the right and opportunity for parents and caregivers to express their thinking and
understandings about their children’s and families’ everyday life and educational experiences in
and out of school” (p. 12). In addition, parent voice may consist of parents’ aspirations for their
children as well as “forms of frustration, concern, or anger over isolation, exclusion, or
disrespect within the educational process” (Mckenna & Millen, 2013, p. 12).
Carreón, Drake, and Barton (2005) defined parent presence as the “traditional activities
of helping with homework, attending school-sponsored events, being a member of the parent-
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 12
teacher association or responding to notes from the school” (p. 466). Other types of involvement
are described “in more personal, informal spaces, including those spaces created by parents’
themselves” (Carreón et al., p. 466). Despite studies on minority parental presence, researchers
such as Mckenna and Millen (2013) argued that educators’ may often “misconstrue” parent
involvement. They further add these “erroneous assumptions [that] can be doubly harmful when
put in the context of working with low-income and/or minority parents… since, in many cases,
these children have fewer opportunities to prove these assumptions wrong” (McKenna & Millen,
p. 10). While much is known about parent involvement for African American parents (Hill &
Craft, 2003; Kohl et al., 2000) and Latino parents (Chrispeels & Rivero, 2001; Kohl et al., 2000;
Shannon, 1996), there have been no empirical studies on Chamoru parent involvement.
Specifically, no literature exists regarding Chamoru parents in Guam.
Purpose of the Study
This study examined parental involvement through the lens of Chamoru parents.
Specifically, this study explored how these parents constructed their roles. I looked at their role
construction and use of social capital. I looked at how their values and beliefs, or epistemology
(especially inafa’maolek—inafa is depicting coming together and faomaolek means to make
good)—poksai or nurture, and ayuda or help), translate into their definition and enactment of
involvement. Thus, the research question that guided this study was, “How do Chamoru parents
in Guam define and enact involvement in their elementary-aged children’s academic life?”
Significance of the Study
Factors contributing to parental involvement in children’s academic life are complex and
multifaceted. In an address to Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander scholars, Benham (2006)
mentioned that “context and content are key to ensuring culturally relevant and sound learning
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 13
and teaching theories and practices that can support the successful social and academic
achievement of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Island children, youth, and their families” (p. 45).
She encouraged queries of both the home and the school. Benham’s (2006) words challenged me
to research Pacific peoples like the Chamoru. She was inviting Pacific researchers to engage in
empirical queries about both home and schools. Thus, that was the reason for this study
concerning Chamoru parental involvement.
Organization of the Study
The remainder of this dissertation is comprised of four chapters. This chapter provided an
overview, background of the problem, statement of the problem, purpose of the study, and
significance of the study. Chapter Two is the literature review, which looks at parent-life context,
helps explore how other researchers define parental role construction and sense of efficacy and
explains how social capital plays into elementary-aged students’ academic achievement. The
chapter ends with a critical look at parent-life context relative to involvement in parent-school
partnership. Chamoru epistemology is explained with a focus on the three values of
inafa’maolek, poksai, and ayuda and their relation to parent involvement. Chapter Three presents
a detailed description of the research methods and procedures used in this investigation,
including the recruitment process, interviews, recording of data, and data analysis plan. Chapter
Four contains the analysis of the data including the findings and the themes. Finally, Chapter
Five contains the discussion of the summary of findings and themes and implications for
practice, policy, further research, and conclusion.

CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 14
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
Parents play an important role in a child’s learning process. Scholars and practitioners
agree that parents’ active involvement in a child’s education is one of the most important factors
to student success (Berliner & Biddle, 1995; Jeynes, 2003). According to Vygotsky (1978),
parents function as the mentors who help a child reach what he called the zone of proximal
development (ZPD). Vygotsky (1978) defined the zone of proximal development as “the
distance between the actual development level as determined by independent problem solving
and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult
guidance” (p. 86). A child reaches the zone through scaffolding, a process in which parents
extend the child’s knowledge through both sustained challenges and support (Gauvain, Fagot,
Leve, & Kavanagh, 2002; Neitzel & Stright, 2003). Both ZPD and scaffolding speak to
mechanisms parents may engage in as they construct their role in their children’s academics.
This study focused primarily on research regarding minorities and the way historically
marginalized parents experienced and approached involvement in their children’s academics.
This study did not draw on the general and vast parent involvement literature. Instead, it focused
on what minority, ethnic, and indigenous parents say about how they define and enact their
involvement in their elementary-aged children’s academic lives. To investigate this further, this
study drew on three distinct but related bodies of literature. The first section addresses the ways
in which parents’ life context influences involvement. The second section focuses on parents’
perceptions of the parent-school partnership. The last section address Chamoru epistemology as
it relates to parental involvement.

CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 15
Parents’ Life Context Relative to Parental Involvement
Vygotsky (1978) believed in experiments that “make visible processes that are ordinarily
hidden beneath the surface of habitual behavior” (pp. 11–12). Studies have revealed that the
conceptualizing of parent involvement is often approached as unidimensional, instead of
multifaceted, construct (Baker, Kessler-Sklar, Piotrkowski, & Parker, 1999; Carter &
Wojtkiewicz, 2000; Fan & Chen, 2001; Fantuzzo, Tighe, & Childs, 2000; Lopez, Rodriquez, &
Sanchez, 1995). The following studies help clarify the multifaceted construct of parental
involvement by analyzing studies on parental role construction and sense of efficacy as well as
on how social capital informs parental involvement.
Parental Role Construction and Sense of Efficacy
Parent roles and sense of efficacy can affect the extent to which students experience
conflict and challenge (Auerbach, 2001). Educators may be unaware or unappreciative of the
invisible strategies that parents from historically marginalized communities use to support their
children’s education, such as making sacrifices, so children can attend better schools or limiting
children’s chores to allow for study time (Mehan, 1996). Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler’s (1995)
model of parent involvement suggests that parents’ involvement stems from two belief systems.
One is role construction for involvement and the second is a sense of efficacy as the parents help
the child succeed in school.
To understand how parents approached being involved in their children’s academics, this
section looked at literature on parental role construction and sense of efficacy as concepts
relative to how parents define and enact their involvement. First, parental role construction was
defined as parents’ beliefs about what they are supposed to do in relation to their children’s
education and the patterns of parental behavior that follow those beliefs (Hoover-Dempsey &
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 16
Sandler, 1997; Hoover-Dempsey, Wilkins, Sandler, & O’Connor, 2004; Walker, Wilkins,
Dallaire, Sandler, & Hoover-Dempsey, 2005). Second, sense of efficacy is the parents’ beliefs in
their own abilities to act in ways that produced desired outcomes (Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2005).
Carreón et al. (2005) conducted a qualitative study that included three Latino parents in
high-poverty urban centers. The study took place in two elementary schools in a mid-sized city
in central Texas. First, the parents were invited through letters sent home with their children,
flyers posted at the schools, presentations made at parent-related events at both schools, and
direct invitations from their children’s teachers. Parents were invited to commit to four or five
conversation groups. Baby-sitting services and transportation were provided for free. Each
conversation group was organized by subtheme, such as parents’ experiences of educational
engagement within the school, home, and community or in science and math activities. The
second part to the study incorporated parents’ voices as essential tools in constructing new ways
of understanding relationships between immigrant parents and school actors. Using Latino
themes, platicamos (we talk), trabajamos (we work), and contamos (we tell), more data were
collected through group conversations recorded on audiotape, videotape, or in writing. Data were
analyzed using open, axial, and selective stages of coding followed by categorizing ideas and
making connections with the data. Carreón et al. (2005) selected the three parents’ stories from a
group of 17 immigrant parents in a 3-year research project funded by the National Science
Foundation.
Carreón et al. (2005) discovered that each of the parents approached involvement in
different ways. Based on their findings, they identified varying types of presence, what can be
equated to role construction, or how parents defined and enacted involvement. One parent, Celia,
was identified as a strategic helper. She often volunteered within the classroom and at school
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 17
activities. Another, Pablo, was a questioner. He often asked questions to find information to help
improve his children’s educational opportunities. Another parent, Isabel, was identified as a
listener. She used nontraditional formal spaces to learn how to engage with schools differently.
Carreón et al. (2005) also identified the challenges each parent encountered to inform the
complexity of parents’ involvement in their children’s education. Celia faced a language barrier
and felt disrespected in school spaces—this was in reference to the lack of school personnel who
spoke Spanish. She sensed this “invisible code of power regarding how schools operate” (p.
493). Pablo’s experience closely mirrored that of Celia. Isabel’s challenges were compounded
with having recently moved to the United States. Carreón et al. (2005) identified her challenges
as lacking in (1) personal relationships with her children’s teachers and school administrators, (2)
English proficiency, and (3) a strong social support network. Carreón et al. (2005) mentioned
that, the longer they were in the new context, the more they each gained a better sense of
educational structures and actors within the context. This did not diminish the challenges each of
these parents faced as they continued to construct (define and enact) their parental role.
Carreón et al. (2005) shed light on how parents perceive and live with actors in
educational settings while trying to understand educational structures relative to their children’s
academic lives. The next study by Drummond and Stipek (2004) provides a glimpse at how
engaging in academic activities with their children, such as reading and math, help parents
construct their roles. Drummond and Stipek (2004) used phone interviews to solicit low-income
parents’ involvement in their children’s academics. Although the study also included teachers
answering questionnaires, the results reported pertain to parents’ involvement.
Drummond and Stipek (2004) used a 4-point Likert scale for some of the questions as
well as open-ended questions. Questions focused on four domains of involvement: homework in
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 18
general, reading, math and being informed about what the child is learning. The fifth question
was about whether parents thought they should help the child learn other things related to school.
The sample consisted of 234 children, 31% from second grade and 69% from third grade. There
was close to an even mix of boys (52%) and girls (48%) who were from diverse ethnic groups
(41% Caucasian, 36% African American, 16% Latino, 2% Asian, and 1% Native American). The
children lived in three geographical areas: a rural community in the northeast, a large urban
northeastern city, and a large urban west coast city. The participants were originally recruited
through a nationally funded early-intervention program for low-income families. Both the
parents and teachers of these students took part in the study.
Of special interest to the study was the makeup of the parents of these students. These
parents lived in rural and urban areas in three states, and their children attended 103 schools.
Seventy percent of the families had an annual income below $30,000. There were only 17% who
had incomes over $30,000. Educational levels of the parents were also low: 9% had finished less
than ninth grade, 18% finished less than 12th grade, 31% finished high school but did not attend
college; and 36% had completed some college, including 2-year programs. Drummond and
Stipek (2004) reported that mostly mothers (90%) were interviewed.
Drummond and Stipek (2004) found that most parents strongly valued involvement in
their children’s learning. Answers to questions regarding reading, math, helping with homework
and knowing what their children were learning were centered on the “definitely should” (4.0)
choice on the scale. The authors commented that this was significant because, as Hoover-
Dempsey and Sandler (1997) asserted, parents’ beliefs about their involvement provided the
drive for their actual involvement practices. Drummond and Stipek’s results showed participants
strongly believed they should facilitate their children’s success in school. Drummond and Stipek
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 19
found parents of third graders in this study rated the importance of being involved lower than did
parents of second graders.
Unlike Drummond and Stipek (2004), Lopez (2001) looked at one Latino family, the
Padillas, and their approach to parental involvement. The author conducted in-depth interviews
with immediate and extended family members along with observations. There were 16
unstructured observations and 12 60- to 90-minute-long semi-structured interviews over a 6-
month period. Individual interviews were supplemented with two family interviews with
members of the immediate Padilla family. Family interviews were held when most family
members were present and lasted an hour. Ten of the individual interviews were in Spanish, and
the author later translated the answers into English. All interviews were taped and transcribed
with the consent of the family.
Lopez (2001) selected a purposeful sample of five immigrant/migrant families residing in
the Texas Rio Grande Valley based on recommendations from personnel in four school districts.
Lopez (2001) selected the Padillas, a migrant family whose children were successful in school in
both academic and non-academic areas. According to Lopez (2001), the family had a history of
academic success. All children graduated in the top 10% of their high school class, performed
exceptionally in their coursework, and consistently placed on the school’s honor roll.
Through interviews and observations, Lopez (2001) discovered how Mr. and Mrs. Padilla
used the value of work to educate their five children. There was a fundamental history of work
with the family. With this history came the opportunity for the transmission of this work value
from parents to children. Three major themes emerged: (1) work as a lesson in life, (2) work to
teach children the value of school, (3) work to learn life skills. The parents knew the harsh reality
of their working conditions as immigrants and migrant laborers in the United States. Mr. Padilla
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 20
related how, as a young child, he had to work to help support his family and returned to school at
age 14. He mentioned that, by then, he was an adult and all he knew was to work.
The Padillas wanted their children to know how to use their hands to learn skills that
could help them one day. They felt that skills they gained from manual labor would one day
benefit them. Lopez (2001) recounted that other migrant workers asked Mr. Padilla to have his
children do another round at the field. Mr. Padilla retorted that he did not bring his children to
overwork them for money. Instead, he brought his children to teach them a lesson on life. Lopez
(2001) reported Mrs. Padilla explaining that the children did give them a hand at work, so the
children could learn “little by little” (p. 429). She added that, by doing this, the children learned
the value of giving a helping hand through work.
Lopez (2001) discovered the second theme of work to teach children the value of school
through an example of working hard. The Padillas taught the children that, sometimes, things
that needed to be done were not easy, but had to be done. The third theme was one of work to
learn life skills that were developed through migratory labor. The Padillas’ thinking behind this
has much to do with the value of fracas, a failure or breakdown in their children’s education or
employment. If this were the case, the Padilla children would then have these life skills to fall
back on for employment. Lopez (2001) drew from this study how the parents instilled in their
children the value of work whether it was in school or elsewhere. They also taught their children
life skills that they could rely on in the future. The Padillas recognized their children would not
be successful in the United States if they chose to not pursue their education.
Unlike the case study by Lopez (2001), Kohl, Lengua, and McMahon (2000) developed
a Parent-Teacher-Involvement Questionnaire used to survey both teachers and parents in
separate settings. Home interviews of the primary custodial parent were conducted following the
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 21
summer of the children’s first grade. Teachers were interviewed in the spring of the children’s
first-grade year, and the questionnaires were gathered during the interviews. The 26-item parent
questionnaire assessed (a) the amount, type, and initiator of contact that occurred between
parents and teacher; (b) the quality of the relationship between parent and teacher; (c) the
parent’s involvement in the child’s school; (d) the degree of academic stimulation at home; and
(e) the parent’s satisfaction with the child’s school (p. 509). The teacher questionnaire consisted
of the following: (a) the amount, type, and initiator of contact that occurs between parents and
teachers, (b) the quality of the relationship between parent and teacher, (c) the parents’
involvement in the child’s school, and (d) the teacher’s perception of the parent’s value of
education (p. 509). Both instruments’ responses were coded on a 5-point scale ranging from 0-4.
Participants in Kohl et al.’s (2000) study were parents, children, and teachers who were
part of a larger longitudinal multisite investigation. The participants came from four areas, each
representing a cross-section of the country—Durham, North Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee;
Seattle, Washington; and Central Pennsylvania. The sample populations were a mix of low- to
middle-socioeconomic status (SES) families, African American, Caucasians, Asian, Pacific
Islanders, Latinos/Chicanos and Native Americans. The sample also varied between single and
two-parent households. Another measure included in the sample was the parents’ educational
level.
Kohl et al. (2000) found that the three risk factors of previous educational experience,
maternal depression, and single-parent status “were significantly and differentially related to
dimensions of parental involvement (PI)” (p. 518). In addition to these factors, the variables of
parental involvement in school, the teacher’s perception of the parent’s value of education, and
parental involvement at home helped inform the study. Kohl et al. used a confirmatory factor
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 22
analysis that tested their theoretical model. They also correlated risk and parent involvement
factors. A path analyses was used to examine the relations among family and demographic risk,
ethnicity, and parental involvement factors. The six dimensions used for this study were (1) the
amount of the parent’s direct contact with the teacher either in person, by phone, or by written
document, (2) parent involvement at school, (3) the level of parent involvement at home in
school and learning-related activities, (4) both parent and teacher attitudes and perceptions
related to parental involvement. This speaks to the quality of the parent-teacher relationship, (5)
the teacher’s perception of the parent’s value of education. This is a more general measure based
on the teacher’s assessment of the parent’s investment in the child’s education, and (6) the
parent’s feelings about the school in general. Kohl et al.’s parent involvement (parental
involvement) model allowed for the assessment of multiple distinct empirically related aspects of
parental involvement that, in some way, facilitated types of parental involvement that predicted
positive child outcomes.
One of Kohl et al.’s (2000) findings suggested that low parental education was
“associated with lower levels of active involvement in many domains, but not related to the
quality of the parent-teacher relationship or the parent’s endorsement of the school” (p. 518).
With this finding, Kohl et al. took into consideration how those less educated parents might have
had life and school experiences causing them to feel less able to be actively involved in their
child’s school. They might also have felt they did not have the necessary skills to help their
children. Another consideration was that they might also have felt that they should not interfere
with school authority.
Kohl et al. (2000) noted that single parents (one of the three risk factors) in the study did
not report lower levels of involvement with their children at home or endorsement of the school.
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 23
The researchers stated that the combination of limited resources and the need to focus on
priorities might have been the factors that had these parents work directly with the teacher
instead of volunteering at school activities.
In addition, Kohl et al. (2000) explored whether the pattern of associations between
family and demographic risk factors and parent involvement differed by ethnic group. They
found no overall differences relative to patterns of relations among risk and parent involvement
factors. The researchers did state this might have been the result of the small sample associated
with both ethnic groupings.
Lessons Learned
What I learned from reviewing these studies is that no two parents are alike and have
similar parental involvement values. They can be migrants, immigrants, come from different
levels of education, income, race, ethnicity, married, or single. I also learned that parents are
learning to be responsible for their children’s academic success. Some parents understand the
educational system in the United States and others do not (Carreón et al., 2005). Some can
handle being in the United States while others experience a sense of loss being in a new country
without the social capital network and resources they are accustomed to in their home countries
(Carreón et al. 2005).
The level of income does define family life and behaviors in different ways (Kohl et al.
2000). I also learned that family values such as work are transferable into many different
contexts (Lopez, 2001). The example of the single parent (labeled as a risk factor) meeting
directly with the teacher instead of volunteering (Kohl et al. 2000) showed that the factor of time
influences both role construction and sense of efficacy. These variables help to better understand
how parents’ role construction is dynamic and that their self-efficacy determines involvement.
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 24
Social Capital
In this section, the studies reviewed were relative to how social capital plays into the life
of parents as they are involved in their children’s academics. Mckenna and Millen (2013)
claimed that parent engagement fostered the notion that the cultural and social nuances of
families were a source of strength as opposed to an oppositional force in the education of
children. They also mentioned that central to the philosophy of parent engagement was the
understanding of parents as a child’s first and best teachers. Others argued that teachers’
perceptions that Latino families do not care about their children’s education often derived from
misunderstandings of these families’ actions. These differing perceptions of a parent’s role and
place in their children’s academics vary across both cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds
(Valdés, 1996). This section reviews literature on parent involvement and social capital.
Researchers in the social sciences used the concept of social capital to understand and examine
social phenomena. However, its definition remains actively debated.
Both Coleman (1988) and Bourdieu (1986) defined social capital in terms of resources it
provides. Coleman views social capital as functions of social networks that “aid individual action
by providing access to otherwise unattainable resources” (1988, p. 98). He added three main
forms: levels of trust, information channels, and norms and effective sanctions that promote the
common good. Bourdieu (1986) describes social capital in a similar way, “the sum of resources,
actual or virtual, that accrue to an individual or a group by virtue of possessing a durable network
of more or less institutionalized relationship of mutual acquaintance and recognition” (p. 248).
Both definitions indicated that social networks played a role in how parents defined and enacted
their involvement in their children’s academic life. The following studies were selected to help
better understand and examine parental involvement and social capital.
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 25
Shoji, Haskins, Rangel, and Sorensen (2014) set out to better understand the emergence
of social capital using data gathered by the Families and Schools Together (FAST) program.
FAST worked with families and schools to develop greater partnership while addressing
involvement barriers low-income, minority, and immigrant parents face. These barriers include
inflexible work schedules, transportation or childcare needs, lack of information about
opportunities, restricted access to the school building or school personnel, absence of a common
spoken language or translators, and feeling unwelcome or unwanted at the school. FAST consists
of an 8-week program of weekly multi-family group meetings called FAST nights followed by 2
years of monthly parent-led meetings. Shoji et al. focused on the FAST nights. During this
period, FAST personnel held focus groups and interviews with the parents and the school
personnel participating in the events.
Shoji et al. (2014) randomly selected two FAST schools from four treatment schools in
the winter 2009 study cycle: Mount Dana Elementary in San Antonio, Texas, and Brazos
Elementary in Phoenix, Arizona (school names have been changed). The analytic sample
includes three focus groups and one interview with high-attending parents (n=15), two focus
groups with FAST Team members (n=12), and two interviews with teachers (n=2). In total, there
were eight focus groups or interviews with 29 Spanish-speaking and English-speaking parents.
Most of the interviews were done in English. Based on background questionnaires, more than
75% of the parents in the focus group/interview sample self-identified as Hispanic/Latino, and
nearly 80% were female.
Shoji et al. (2014) shared insights from parents, teachers, and FAST program staff about
how social capital emerged in relationships among parents at the school or between parents and
school personnel through participation in the FAST program. They wrote, “Participant
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 26
descriptions clustered around four interactional [social capital] processes: (1) responsive
communication; (2) reciprocal communication; (3) shared experiences; and (4) institutional
linkage” (p. 606). Shoji et al. (2014) interpreted these as mechanisms of social capital
emergence. The first is responsive communication. Shoji et al. defined this mechanism as
communication in which the listener(s) reacted readily and with interest and enthusiasm—quite
salient in participant reflections about building relationships in the FAST program.
A parent graduate of FAST mentioned the time spent together as parents. They got to
know each other’s kids. There was evidence of sharing of challenges with children and how they
might help each other and their children. The activity known as parent time was designed to
create a respectful environment where parents felt comfortable sharing thoughts and stories. This
activity aligned with reciprocal communication, the second mechanism of social capital
emergence. The activity allowed parents to lead discussions over things such as problems the
children or parents had. The observation from the FAST staff was that this activity showed
parents listening, sharing, and helping each other solve problems together.
The third mechanism of social capital emergence was shared experiences (Shoji et al.,
2014). Shoji et al. (2014) found that the FAST parents, at first, struggled with communicating
with school officials. The presence of two teachers during the FAST nights helped build, or
bridge, those relations for both parents and school staff. One parent talked about how the
“discomfort and perhaps even feelings of intimidation toward school were reduced through the
program” (p. 608). A teacher indicated that it was important to be part of the FAST program to
help show the parents that teachers were interested in them and to provide friendly faces and
support.
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 27
The last mechanism Shoji et al. (2014) shared was institutional linkage. This was defined
as a “connection to an institution via social ties to institutional agents, or people with knowledge
of, access to, or control over institutional resources” (p. 608). A parent spoke about one of the
teachers who attended the FAST meetings as someone the parents could talk to with any of their
school-related concerns. The parents described the school partner as a go-between. Institutional
linkages also took on the form of informational channels. Once again, parents identified the
school official at the FAST meetings as their means of clarifying things. The school official also
informed them of things the parents might be concerned about. Shoji et al. (2014) found from
their study that the FAST program helped enhance a sense of connection and shared identity
among parents and school officials.
This next study takes on a different perspective on social capital. Horvat, Weininger, and
Lareau (2003) shed light on how parental networks vary across class categories. Horvat et al.
based their study on “emergent consensus (Lin, 2001; Portes, 1998), that the concept must be
taken to refer to the material and immaterial resources that individuals and families are able to
access through their social ties” (p. 323). Using an ethnographic approach, Horvat et al. used
interviews and observations on 88 third- and fourth-grade children and their families from three
different public schools. Quigley was a mid-western university town. Students attending school
were White (52%), Black (44%), Asian (3%), and Hispanic (1%), and 40% of the students at the
school were eligible for free lunch. Swan was a northeastern city which was predominantly
White, suburban, and middle-class. Students attending were White (90%), Black (8%), and
Asian (2%). The school did not offer a free lunch program. Lower Richmond was a northeastern
city, residentially stable, White working-class neighborhood, and close to Black poor area.
Students were White (54%), Black (44%), Asian (1%), and Hispanic (1%), and 64% of the
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 28
student population was eligible for the free lunch program. To select parent interviewees, Horvat
et al. grouped students from each school by race and social class. Then, every third student was
selected, and a letter was sent home explaining the study and requesting one interview each with
the mother and the father (parents were interviewed separately); 90% of the parents agreed to
participate. Despite the high percentage, there were insufficient numbers of children in key
categories such as middle-class Black children and poor White children. These were recruited
through some other means.
Horvat et al. (2003) suggested that parental networks differed dramatically by social
class. They demonstrated this through an examination of children’s participation in organized
activities, the existence of ties between parents of school peers, parental ties to professionals, and
frequency of contact with kin. The role of children’s activities in shaping parent’s network was
striking. When asked how she knew another parent, a White middle-class mother said their
children were the same age and that they also knew one another through PTA. A White middle-
class father described the relationships formed through school and other activities such as sports
and scouts. He further commented on how the children were on the same routines. This was the
same for working-class and poor families. The parents got to know other parents while waiting at
these activities. However, Horvat et al. observed substantial differences in the rates at which
children participated in these activities. Middle-class children enrolled at significantly higher
levels (average five activities) than working-class (under three activities) and poor (under two
activities) counterparts, thus implying the type of social closure spoken of by “Colemanesque
accounts of social capital is considerably common in the middle class” (p. 329). Horvat et al.
found that middle-class parents were far more likely to include professionals in their
interpersonal networks than working-class and poor parents. When asked if they had friends
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 29
within their network who were lawyers, doctors, etc. middle-class parents were more likely to
have such friends on which to call on when there is a need. However, parents of working-class
families had kinship as their primary source of network ties.
Although Horvat et al. (2003) claimed not having a quantitative summary of contact with
kin, they reported that a great deal of leisure time was devoted to informal play with cousins of
varying ages. They considered this an interesting implication: “The children were often
enmeshed in a form of intergenerational closure; however, it was not one that was generated by
school-centered networks” (p. 331). This family bond was a form of social capital and should not
be discounted. Horvat et al. addressed how parents’ social capital might affect their children’s
school experiences. This was done through the analysis of situations in which parents might feel
compelled to intervene in their children’s schooling. The example shared was how to deal with
inappropriate behavior on the part of a teacher. Middle-class parents acting as “guardian angels”
descend on the school in mass and quickly bring about change. In contrast, Horvat et al. found it
interesting that
working-class and poor respondents did recognize the impact that connections could
have...network ties had little relevance to the enhancement of schooling. Instead, the
focus was primarily to alleviate problems stemming from economic necessity:
transportation and childcare, clothing and money (p. 341).
Horvat et al. found that social class played a role in the architecture and function of networks.
Horvat et al. cited Lareau (2002) who “argued that the largest differences in organization of
children’s daily life—including familial networks and styles of interaction with institutional
representatives are across lines of class, not race” (p. 341). Horvat et al. revealed that Black and
White middle-class families “have far more in common with each other than they do with
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 30
working-class and poor families of either race” (p. 341). However, the authors noted that Black
middle-class parents expressed concern about their children experiencing racial discrimination
when they came in contact with institutions. They also took stock of the racial balance of many
of their children’s activities. Nevertheless, middle-class Black families were extremely similar to
White counterparts when it came to the number of activities children were involved in and the
use of friends who were professionals as part of their network.
Horvat et al. (2003) discovered working-class and poor parents respond to such situations
individually. Middle-class parents’ networks provide resources that customize their children’s
educational experiences. The example given was contesting a placement decision or obtaining
additional resources for a learning-disabled child. In contrast, working-class and poor parents
were considerably less likely to dispute the school’s authority.
However, the authors noted that Black middle-class parents expressed concern about their
children experiencing racial discrimination when they come in contact with institutions. They
also took stock of the racial balance of many of their children's activities. Nevertheless, middle-
class Black families were extremely similar to White counterparts when it comes to number of
activities children are involved in and the use of friends who are professionals as part of their
network.
This next study was situated in Australia amongst Aborigines. It addressed the social
capital mechanisms of bonding and bridging illustrating the social capital reach through strong
and weak relations. Thorpe, Bell‐Booth, Staton, and Thompson (2013) evaluated a government-
funded educational intervention program designed to support the transition to school and
promote engagement in education of a community of marginalized indigenous children and their
families in a remote town in Queensland, Australia over 2 years. Thorpe et al. spoke of the
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 31
children and their families as coming from a history of dislocation, some of which are
intergenerational with effects of social exclusion including “prior history of forcible removal of
children from families, loss of traditional culture, loss of traditional language, and loss of
traditional homelands” (p. 830). Thorpe et al. added other social complexities, such as
unemployment, substance misuse, conflicted family relationships and having poor educational
track records or ceasing education soon after entering secondary education, and homelessness, to
help understand the sample studied. Thorpe et al. set out to study Aborigine children and their
relationship with each other, classmates, and peers in the broader school community. They also
tried to gain the parents’ perspective as well, but the findings were not as robust as the results
garnered from the children’s experiences. Over the 2 years, the children went beyond bonding
capital to bridging capital.
The research question addressed was “whether there was change across time from
bonding (protective) to bridging (socially and educationally advancing) capital” (Thorpe et al.,
2013, p. 830). The study examined the engagement of parents in their children’s education
through interviews with parents, school staff, and support workers. Thorpe et al. (2013)
examined change across the program in “behavior, relationships, and engagement and focused on
the levels of confidence, trust, and communication between home and school” (p. 831). The
children sampled had not previously been attending school. The Communities for Children, a
government-funded program was designed to support school attendance. Materials provided
included washing facilities, food, school uniforms and transport, social support, and advocacy.
The children attended one school and were distributed across different grades and classrooms.
The Communities for Children staff worked with the parents to be involved in their children’s
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 32
academics. They offered transportation and social support to help facilitate engagement with the
school.
The sample ranged from 14 to 29 who were living in a remote town in Queensland on a
designated indigenous land with kinship groups consisting of cousins, aunts, uncles, half-
siblings, and more distant kin. The children were within the care of multiple adult relatives. The
children’s ages ranged from 4 to 12 years. A core of six children was present in the community
throughout the data collection with others leaving and entering the program on repeated
occasions. School attendance averaged 67% of full school days across the 2-year evaluation
period, 33% of days comprising the unexplained absence. Seven family members agreed to
participate in interviews: five mothers, one father, and one grandmother.
Thorpe et al. (2013) used semi-structured interviews asking the parents about aspirations
of the children’s educational attainment, acquisition of academic and social skills, social
inclusion, and communication and engagement between families and school. A total of 40
interviews from repeated visits were generated. Analysis of the data resulted in four themes:
behavioral change, relational change, attitudinal change, and ongoing sustainability of school
engagement. During the first year, the children had strong bonds with each other; the
assessments of quality of friendship showed the students within the intervention group tended to
sit together on the bus and played together, much of which stemmed from a sense of trust and
safety. During Year 2 there was greater social inclusion. The children’s social networks were no
longer restricted to members of their own community. They included classmates from outside
their community, both indigenous and non-indigenous.
Regarding social closure, a Communities for Children staff member made an observation
on behavioral change, that, during Year 1, only six children were going to school compared to
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 33
Year 2 where 24 to 26 children did. On relational change, a teacher made the observation, “At
the start it was just their close knit [friends]—play with those children from the [community]—
now they’re really spreading out” (Thorpe et al., 2013, p. 837). The teacher’s report on
attitudinal change during Year 2 was that the children were enjoying attending school. On
sustaining educational engagement, the parents reported feeling reticence about going to school
themselves. One parent said, “I would go [to school] if I go with someone from here [referring to
Communities for Children]” (p. 833). When asked why the parent did not go to the school, the
parent replied, “Shame, shame” (p. 839). The teachers view varied with some who were more
understanding than others. Thorpe et al. (2013) reported that most teachers hardly saw any
interaction with the children’s parents. The parents reported feeling alienated. Their exclusive
interaction was reactive and focused on the child’s misconduct. The Communities for Children
staff learned there is a need to balance supporting the children with responding to the parent
resistance or inability to connect with the school.
Thorpe et al. (2013) reported that the structural supports from the intervention program
created a gradual increase in connectedness to other social groups and a movement from bonding
(protective) to bridging (advancing) social capital. Key to the social connectedness was taking “a
whole community to school” (p. 840). It was clear that once the children felt secure in the school,
they were able to advance beyond and connect with others outside of their group.
Lessons Learned
The role that parents play in their elementary-aged children’s academics was complex.
This section looked at studies which addressed role construction and sense of efficacy plus social
capital to help capture the complexities of parental involvement. According to Lin (2000),
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 34
Inequality of social capital occurs when a certain group clusters at relatively
disadvantaged socioeconomic positions, and the general tendency is for individuals to
associate with those of similar group or socioeconomic. (p. 786)
An intervention program such as FAST is an example of bridge capital and acts as a
means for two parties to connect who may not otherwise connect (Shoji et al. 2014). Growing
social capital takes effort on the part of the parent, school staff, and community (Shoji et al.
2014). Participants in the FAST program simply had to be brave and ask questions of the
facilitators, staff, or the teachers to have their needs met (Shoji et al. 2014). In contrast, the
Australian Aborigines found it very difficult to make it to the school (Thorpe et al. 2013),
therefore diminishing the bridging of capital. This review revealed much about the Aborigine
children and how, over time, they demonstrated first bonding capital and then bridging capital.
The idea that income-level demonstrates social capital dynamics is unique. The variable of
number of activities children are in determines the further development of social capital (Horvat
et al. 2003). Middle-income families can engage in more bridge-capital-building than working-
class and poor families (Horvat et al. 2003). Also, family dynamics are different by level of
income. Middle-income families see their extended families fewer times when compared to
working-class and poor families (Horvat et al. 2003).
Parent-School Partnership
Parent-school partnerships are defined as collaborative, nonhierarchical relationships in
which teachers, administrators, school psychologists and parents interact to improve student
outcomes (Epstein, 2011). Partnerships should be bidirectional relationships in which families
learn from the school’s experiences with the student and schools benefit from the families’
perspectives (Epstein, 2011). According to Smith, Smith-Bonahue, and Soutullo (2014), while
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 35
all types of family engagement strategies are useful, the most promising outcomes for students
are possible when educators strive to forge true partnerships with the families and communities
they serve. The focus of this section was to engage in literature that helped to first illustrate
parents as partners with schools followed by literature exploring schools as partners with parents
in improving the educational life of children.
Parent as Partner
Culture is a system of values and beliefs which mediates between individuals and their
place in the social order by giving them various schemas for meaning. Parents’ home culture
may be at odds with the greater societal cultural norms, which leads to misunderstandings and
tensions in family-school relations (Valdés, 1996). Hoover-Dempsey et al. (2005) asserted that
“schools must respect and respond to family culture and family circumstances in order to access
the full power of parental support for student learning” (p. 116). They further advised schools to
consider circumstances relative to first and second-generation immigrant families who often
experienced limitations such as language barriers, not understanding school expectations, and
perhaps lower SES. The studies featured in the next section help to further explore what Hoover-
Dempsey et al. and others said.
García Coll, Akiba, Palacios, Bailey, Silver, DiMartino, and Chin (2002) measured
parental involvement of three immigrant groups in cities in the northeast. Undergraduate and
graduate students skilled in the languages of the immigrant groups conducted interviews with
parents of Portuguese, Dominican, and Cambodian children. There were 334 parents from New
England interviewed for the study. The sample included 99 Portuguese, 101 Dominican, and 134
Cambodian families whose children were either in the second or fifth grade. The three immigrant
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 36
groups were part of a longitudinal study looking at sizeable ethnic communities in the
northeastern cities.
According to García Coll et al. (2002), these three immigrant groups shared
commonalities. The researchers noted 85% of the mothers in their 30s were born in their
respective country of origin. Ten percent of those studied were married to an immigrant from the
same community. Some socio-demographic variables researchers noted were differences in years
of school completed, present occupation, year of immigration to the United States, and English
language comfort. The Dominicans showed a higher level of education. Portuguese parents had
occupations defined as professional according to census categories whereas as the Dominicans
and Cambodians were categorized as unskilled workers. Thus, the Portuguese parents’ earnings
were more than half as much as the other two groups. The Portuguese parents also reported
higher language comfort in speaking English in various settings compared to the other two
groups. The Cambodians had the largest number of people living within a household. The
participants were recruited in several ways, including recruitment from ethnographic observers
assigned to the schools and asked to recruit participants by distributing consent forms; another
method of recruitment was a list made available from the school districts or schools containing
place of birth. The Portuguese immigrant group was also recruited through English as a Second
Language enrollment lists obtained from school systems. For this study, recruitment was
conducted using the emergency contact information from information sheets filled out by family
members of children from the first year of the 3-year study.
The interviews lasted for an average of 2 and a half hours. The shortest interview was 45
minutes, and the longest was over 6 hours. These interviews took place in the family’s homes.
Among the Portuguese parents, 36% chose to be interviewed in their language. Among the
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 37
others, 95% of the Dominican and 91% of the Cambodian families opted to be interviewed in the
native language. In addition, García Coll et al. (2002) carried out an ethnographic study by
interviewing community, political and educational leaders. To document school outreach
activities and programs, they also interviewed teachers, administrators and counselors from the
eight schools with the highest numbers of participants.
García Coll et al. (2002) used four parent involvement dimensions to structure the
questions asked during the interview. The first was values concerning parental involvement in
children’s education. This dimension examines parents’ perceptions of their roles in children’s
formal educational pursuits. The second was school-based involvement. This dimension deals
with parents’ reports of actual contact and participation with children’s school. The third was
home-based involvement. This dimension delves into practices concerning “stringency or
flexibility of the environment and social structures put in place by the parent for the child in the
home milieu” (García Coll et al., 2002, p. 311). The fourth was provision of material resources:
“this dimension investigates whether parents invested efforts into creating an environment that
would optimize the child’s experience with homework” (García Coll et al., 2002, p. 311). García
Coll et al. framed this “so that the investment of efforts rather than monetary investment was
stressed” (García Coll et al., 2002, p. 311). In addition to these four dimensions, they asked
respondents about comfort with the English language when, for example, talking to strangers
over the phone about school matters and/or speaking with people at the child’s school.
The other area García Coll et al. (2002) investigated was routine cultural practices. The
parents were asked if they participated in six specific activities: “(1) eating ethnic food; (2)
watching television and video programs; (3) reading books, magazines and other printed
materials, (4) listening to music, (5) going to religious establishments, and (6) singing songs and
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 38
playing games” (García Coll et al., 2002, p. 312). Participants were asked how many times they
engaged in these cultural practices in a week. Each of the dimensions was computed by taking
the average of the responses to two or three dichotomous questions. García Coll et al. (2002)
stated, “this stimulates an interval scale of measurement rather than categorical or ordinal, based
on which a variety of statistical procedures may be performed” (p. 311). A MANOVA was
performed to address group differences in the four subscales: beliefs regarding parental
involvement, school-based parental involvement, home-based parental involvement, and
provision of material resources towards education and the total involvement scores. Overall, the
Cambodian group showed a significant difference based on lower overall scores when compared
to the Portuguese and Dominican groups. These findings were consistent with the ethnographic
data where the Cambodian community described their beliefs toward and manner of involvement
with their children’s education. On home-based rules, school-based involvement, and material
resources—the Cambodians scored consistently lower than the Portuguese and Dominicans. The
Portuguese scored higher in the provision of material resources followed by the Dominicans then
the Cambodians. Of the three immigrant groups, the Portuguese were also the first to arrive in
the United States.
García Coll et al. (2002) used a multiple regression analysis to assess the role of
immigrant group status in conjunction with other variables in explaining the group differences
observed in parental involvement: immigrant group, year of immigration, routine cultural
practices, language comfort, household size, and income. Also included were child gender,
birthplace and age group. The results from the ethnographic interviews were of particular interest
for this study. The authors discovered and identified obstacles to parental involvement through
interviews with both education and community leaders from all three communities. They cited
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 39
“language barriers, lack of parental education, unfamiliarity of U.S. educational system, and the
parental need to work long hours as deterrents to greater parental involvement in schooling”
(García Coll et al., 2002, p. 317).
The Cambodian language, Khmer, was unrelated to English, which made it more difficult
for adolescents coming to the U.S. to become fluent in English. García Coll et al. (2002) also
cited the cultural differences in terms of school systems and parental involvement for
Cambodians to be particularly sharp: “Consultants reported that in Cambodia, parents gave their
children to the teachers, who were highly respected and granted great authority over pupils”
(García Coll et al., 2002, p. 317). In other words, parents held teachers in great esteem and
assumed they were the best to guide the child’s academic and moral development. Parental
involvement would be seen as inappropriate and disrespectful amongst Cambodians. Community
leaders also stated that the lack of newspapers or media in Khmer limited communication within
the community to flyers/posters at grocery stores.
Additional insight came from adults who fled Cambodia and experienced effects such as
post-traumatic stress syndrome, depression, and mutual suspicion that further distanced adults in
both school and community activities. English as a Second Language programs were also
challenging for Portuguese and Cambodian speakers. Most instructors did not know either
language. Schools with a heavy concentration of Cambodian children often lacked staff who
spoke Khmer.
With reference to the dimension of provision of materials, García Coll et al. (2002) cited
that the Portuguese and Dominican groups had an advantage in that their groups were much
more established within the United States as compared to the recent arrival of the Cambodians,
further complicating language comfort. Dominicans reaped the benefits of the already
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 40
established Spanish-speaking communities. One of the implications García Coll et al. made was
the idea that combining instruction in English as a Second Language along with cultural
knowledge about schools in the United States would contribute to higher levels of parent
involvement in some cultural groups. They added the training and recruiting of bilingual and
bicultural personnel at all levels of the school system could be beneficial.
The next study looks at Samoan families and how the practice of reading in their homes
is closely aligned with family cultural practices. Valentine (2014) used a case study approach to
integrate a socio-cultural perspective, and the practices of Pasifika research methodology were
used to allow for literacy to be seen as social practice where peoples’ views, values and
experiences are used to enhance understandings of the role social and cultural factors play within
education. Data were collected through Talanoa, a traditional Pasifika term known as a talking
methodology with individual interview sessions with five Samoan-born parent participants. Two
Talanoa sessions were held with each parent. The parent participants’ eldest children were then
interviewed in pairs. Participants’ voices were used to gain insights into cultural perceptions of
reading practices within school and home contexts. The parent participants’ knowledge of school
reading practices was also sought. The research data was analyzed using Rogoff’s (1995) three
planes of analysis which explores “the nature of learning and how social interactions are
embedded within cultural communities…allowing individuals to construct meaning with each
other” (p. 9). Rogoff’s framework was used to interpret the key themes as they related to the
connections and/or disconnections between home and school reading practices.
The research findings indicated that strong cultural reading values and practices were in
place for parent participants. The practices employed had been formed from their own
experiences and memories of learning to read as children in Samoa. These reading practices were
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 41
based on the cultural values and actions that had been previously identified in literature on
Samoan literacy (Duranti, Ochs & Ta’ase 2004; McNaughton, Amitanai-Toloa, & Wolfgramm-
Foliaki, 2009). As parents, these participants continued to use these reading strategies and
practices with their own children in New Zealand. Another key finding was that the parent
participants’ knowledge of school reading practices in New Zealand was limited. This finding in
combination with the cultural home reading practices being employed had strong implications
for home and school connections between Samoan communities and primary schools in New
Zealand.
This next study looks at migrant families and the use of cultural values as a source of
educating the children. Trevino (2004) used a case study to examine the nature of parent
involvement in five Mexican-origin, migrant families with children who were highly successful
students. Three types of data collection methods were used: (1) semi-structured individual
interviews, (2) field observations, and (3) field notes. Over 100 hours of taped personal
interviews, telephone interviews, and home visits were conducted. Participants could converse in
English or Spanish during these interviews. Customs of respeto, cortesia, and hospitalidad were
observed during the data gathering. Trevino mentioned studies on migrant students and, in
particular, the role of parents in their education were based on disadvantage, deficit, and at-risk
theories of academic failure.
Trevino’s (2004) findings were reported in two categories: what these parents believed
and what they did. Trevino reported the following findings on what these parents believed.
Parents envisioned superior achievement for their children. They also considered themselves
their children’s first teachers and recognized that they needed to provide academic support when
the children were out of school. They expected both boys and girls to graduate from high school
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 42
and college with honors. Trevino noted that graduating from college was not the original vision
until educators told the parents that their children had the educational profile to succeed in
college.
The respondents made it clear to their children, in word and action, that education was
the top priority for the whole family. The author mentioned these parents did not expect their
children to waste time in school—extracurricular activities were secondary to academic
achievement. The parents’ motto was “no A, no play” (Trevino, 2004, p. 9). The parents were
also “self-sufficient, proactive luchistas (strivers) and expected their children to be the same.
They did not expect anything to be given to them on a platón de plata (silver platter)” (Trevino,
2004, p. 9). The parent model helped the children “develop a mind-set that they were just as
bright as their mainstream classmates” (Trevino, 2004, p. 9).
In addition, the children understood that their teachers and administrators were “segundos
padres (second parents)” (Trevino, 2004, p. 10). The parents expected their children to be
respectful and cooperative but also competitive high achievers. As part of their efforts in rearing
these high achieving students, the parents prided themselves in their children’s accomplishments
and taught the children about the assets that had helped them whether it was their older siblings
or mental and physical toughness developed from persevering through various family hardships
and struggles.
In addition, three of the five families professed to be devout Christians and followed a
moral standard along with giving credit to God for helping them overcome hardships. The
parents did view corporal punishment as an ineffective form of discipline. Trevino’s case study
is one of several ethnographic studies that illustrate and inform the research. However, schools
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 43
and teachers in many other communities may not be able to expect the forms of involvement
these five immigrant families demonstrated as typical.
This next study on school and parent partnership took place in Guam. Watt (1988)
conducted a quantitative study in three public and three private schools from three communities
(rural and urban) to address eight research questions. The purpose of the study was to examine
parent attitude toward schools and the extent of the involvement with schools. Also, the study
examined the parents’ choice of either private or public school for their children and investigated
possible differences. The sample included parents from the diverse population of Guam,
Chamoru, Filipino, Caucasian, and Asian. A total of 102 parents of third to fifth graders
participated in the study.
Watt (1988) gave parents a survey that included 18 statements of general ideas about
parent involvement, 24 parent involvement activities, and 18 family background characteristics.
The responses were compared using chi-square as the statistical analysis of choice. Watt reported
these findings among others: (1) a significantly higher percentage of public school parents
agreed that their children should have more homework, and (2) in their role as learner or teacher
of their own children, both public and private school parents reported similar involvement—they
are active in their role as teacher of their children but inactive as role of learner.
There was a significant difference between public and private school parents. A
significantly larger percentage of parents whose children attend private schools reported
attending open house or special programs. They also were more likely to help with bake sales
and raffles and go with classes on field trips. However, both groups did report seldom or never
helping the teacher with instructional activities. Watt (1988) did report a significant difference in
responses between public and private schools in Community C, the urban and industrial tourist
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 44
center. Significantly fewer parents from the public school agreed that they felt at ease when they
visited the school. At the same time, fewer of the same parents accompanied the children on
school field trips. The demographics of Community C showed more parents whose children
attended private schools as being in the higher income bracket in contrast with public school
parents who were in lower income brackets.
Watt (1988) found that Chamoru parents were proportionately more likely to help their
children more if they knew what to do as compared to proportionately fewer Caucasian parents.
More than 90% of Filipino parents said they would help their children if they had more time
compared to 60% of the Chamoru parents and 50% of the Caucasian and Asian parents.
Lessons Learned
The history and background of parents is essential information to better understanding
why they may do the things they do (García Coll et al., 2002; Trevino, 2004; Valentine, 2014).
Culture plays a significant role in why parents do what they do. For example, the Cambodian
participants viewed the teacher as the second parent (García Coll et al., 2002). Also, parents may
struggle with very legitimate issue, such as the Cambodians and the post-traumatic stress
disorder from the civil wars they were in (García Coll et al., 2002). Each group had similar
struggles, such as language barrier and not understanding the U.S. system of education (García
Coll et al., 2002; Trevino, 2004; Valentine, 2014). Parents struggle with knowing how school
systems work (García Coll et al., 2002; Trevino, 2004; Valentine, 2014; Watt, 1988), and parents
have high aspirations for their children (Trevino, 2004).
School as Partner
Research on parent involvement often focuses on individual barriers, specifically on
barriers that prevent minority parental involvement in school rather than challenges within the
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 45
school system. However, there is evidence that lack of school capabilities and resources is
related to the lack of minority parents’ participation in school (Kim, 2009). This evidence
includes language barriers, less education, low SES, differences in child rearing, physically
demanding jobs, lack of social networks, and uncomfortable feelings toward schools based on
previous negative school experiences (Kim, 2009).
Using the multidimensional conceptualization and motivational model, Grolnick and
Slowiaczek’s (1994) sample consisted 302 11- to 14-year-old children from four schools in a
predominantly middle-class, largely Caucasian school district. The parents of the children came
from varying educational levels. Grolnick and Slowiaczek discovered parents who went to
school and engaged in school activities were modeling the importance of school and a way to
handle school-related issues. This parent behavior illustrated to children the importance of school
and that outcomes to issues can be dealt with. The cognitive activities are seen to bring school
and home closer, helping the child to feel better about handling and controlling such activities.
The parents’ personal involvement spurs the children to further push parents to become actively
involved in school.
This next study is quantitative in nature. It looked at Pacific Islanders as parents in New
Zealand. Mutch and Collins (2012) had different sample sizes for each of the four data gathering
strategies used. The first data gathering technique had a sample of 4000 parents plus school
personnel (no number was mentioned). The second sampling involving the questionnaires had a
sample size of 500. The sample for the third strategy using discussion groups involved 235
parents from Maori, Pacific, special needs, refugee, migrant, remote, and/or transient families.
The sample for the final strategy (looking at schools that were engaging with communities
successfully) was made up of eight schools out of 52.
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 46
Mutch and Collins (2012) data gathering and analysis led to six factors that were crucial
to effective engagement between schools and parents, whanau (Maori for family), and
communities. They were leadership, relationships, school culture, partnerships, community
networks, and communication. The study also mentioned the benefits to parents, whanau, and
communities of well-developed partnerships:
being well informed about the child’s learning and about the curriculum, assessment, and
teaching programs, having shared expectations for learning and achievement,
strengthening relationships with their children and changing their conversations about
learning at home, enjoying and celebrating their children’s talents and skills, feeling that
they were making a valuable contribution to their children’s learning and to the school,
being more confident about coming into the school and approaching the child’s teacher,
having opportunities to meet other parents and talking together in a trusting and safe
environment, receiving support in their role as parents, families, and whanau, and having
a sense of pride and achievement in their child. (Mutch & Collins, 2012, p. 183)
Where partnerships needed strengthening, parents suggested that schools could start by
improving the timeliness and regularity of feedback and information, especially in
relation to children’s progress and achievement; providing more opportunities for
participation and involvement; Supporting and promoting the culture of students through
dance, music, sports, and language programs and activities; Providing information about
how to become involved in the school; Offering sufficient time for
interviews/conferences; Reporting on children’s progress in language that can be easily
understood; Being open and listening to parents’ views; Finding ways for parents,
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 47
families, and whanau to lead activities and events, especially for other parents and their
children; and having high expectations for all children. (Mutch & Collins, 2012, p. 184)
The next study looks at Southeast Asian community members, which includes parents.
Collignon, Men, and Tan (2001) used focus groups to gather data on Cambodian, Laotian,
Hmong, and Vietnamese immigrant families who are members with community-based
organizations in New England. There were 60 Southeast Asian community members that
identified barriers to participating in the U.S. school system that their families confront. The
authors discovered three themes:
(a) insufficient knowledge of the educational system in the United States among
Southeast Asian community members; (b) a lack of attention to issues of language
proficiency and cultural competency in service provision to members of the Southeast
Asian communities; (c) low expectations of the Southeast Asian community members.
(Collignon et al., 2001, p. 35)
This is a descriptive study whose findings demonstrate the “cultural chasm” that occurred
between parents and schools.
Collignon et al. (2001) also found that Southeast Asian community members were uneasy
about how others perceived their non-involvement in schools; they held an overriding concern
that others would perceive them as not caring or having interest in their children’s education.
Also, there appeared to be a need for Southeast Asian parents to have translation and interpreter
services at the schools daily. The parents were concerned about the absence of Southeast Asians
among school positions. And the parents were not familiar with parent involvement or
expectations of families. Collignon et al. quoted a community member in an informal interview
as saying, “What kind of involvement do teachers expect? There is confusion. Am I supposed to
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 48
be a teacher, an advisor, a mentor, a coach, or a role model? I do not want to ask what
‘involvement’ means at a meeting and ‘lose face’” (p. 36). These findings informed this study in
a several ways. One has to do with the possibility that parents themselves do not know what
parent involvement means relative to their children’s educational life. The other speaks to the
parent holding back on a question within a larger group of parents due to the fear of losing face.
The next study looked at parent involvement in Hawaii. Iding, Cholymay, and Kaneshiro
(2007) interviewed Chuukese students and parents about experiences with Hawaii schools. The
authors interviewed nine students (5 females, 4 males) and four parents (3 females, 1 male). The
students’ ages ranged from 11 to 17 years, with lengths of time in the United States from 1.5
months to 7 years. Parents’ lengths of time in the United States ranged from 1 to 10 years. The
interviews were transcribed and then the authors coded the data independently and shared the
general themes that emerged. After agreeing on the coding scheme, one of the authors coded the
remaining transcripts.
The first major theme that emerged was comparisons of educational experiences in
Hawaii and Chuuk. One parent described how, in Chuuk, parents did not want their children to
go to school; instead, they wanted them to stay home and help with house work. During their
generation, the parents wanted their children to attend school. Another parent described the
schools in Chuuk as having only the students and the teachers and having limited resources.
Hawaii’s schools offered more resources, an opportunity to learn English, and had new social
experiences. The second major theme was Chuukese parental roles, Iding et al. (2007)
discovered that Chuukese parents traditionally encouraged their children through stories both in
Chuuk and Hawaii. “luuluu aaw, kiikii aaw, means to feed your children food but also feed your
children words” (p. 11). Alice, a Chuukese graduate student in Hawaii mentioned that, on the
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 49
very first day of school, she and her husband learned what the school was offering to their
children. She talked to the office people and asked questions about enrollment. Iding et al.
pointed out that the interconnectedness Alice showed in this case may have had to do with the
fact that she was an educator with a higher educational level. Still, Iding et al. observed that
parents with less cultural capital (money, education, and English fluency) might have a
perspective very different than Alice’s.
The third theme was barriers to adjustment to Hawaii schools in the form of language
issues, peer pressure, teachers’ prejudice/negative expectations, ethnic conflicts and bullying.
Iding et al. (2007) learned that language was an issue for both student and the parents. One
parent felt her spoken language was inadequate. A parent talked about the persistent bullying of
her son and how the teachers would rather listen to the Hawaiian/Samoan boys since they spoke
fluent English. The last theme Iding et al. addressed was suggestions from Chuukese students
and parents on ways schools can build bridges. Parents called teachers and involved church
groups. Micronesian groups viewed churches in Hawaii as central social structure and provided a
translator at parent-teacher meetings. The students mentioned other ideas relative to school, but
these were not mentioned in this review.
The last study is qualitative in nature and is also in Hawaii. Kaomea (2012) focused on
the stories of two Native Hawaiian families with pre-school-aged children. The families were
also part of a larger sample of 16 Native Hawaiian families who were participating in a 2-year
case study aimed at helping educators to better appreciate the unique and diverse strengths,
needs, and challenges of Native Hawaiian families.
Using counter story analysis, Kaomea (2012) made the following recommendations to
schools that serve indigenous families in Hawaii and internationally. The first was to appreciate
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 50
within-group variation and various measures of success. In other words, schools should
“anticipate a variety of socio-economic backgrounds and living situations and accordingly, vary
in strengths, challenges, and aspirations they bring to their role as parents” (Kaomea, 2012, p.
10). The second was to replace pity with admiration. Kaomea (2012) spoke of Noe’s
McGyvering techniques to ensure her son Keoni received a good education. These were admired
traits and capacity and were not to be pitied. The third was to broaden the notion of parent
involvement to include extended family. The example given was that of Noe and how she turned
to her extended family for help. Kaomea encouraged teachers to look not just to the mother and
father for support but to include the extended family, such as grandparents, aunties, uncles, older
siblings, or cousins, all who share responsibility for childcare in many traditional indigenous
extended families in encouraging school participation.
Another recommendation was to be prepared to fill in the missing extended family
members. The example Kaomea (2012) shared was Renee’s story of how nuclear families were
far from extended family and, thus, developed and turned to a surrogate family network to fill the
gaps to provide support. The author also recommended providing opportunities for parents to
reconnect with traditional parenting practices and connect with one another. Kaomea referenced
Renee’s observation of the need for parents to not only benefit from parent workshops by parent
experts but to couple the experience with parent talk story sessions which would build parenting
networks. She also encouraged schools to perhaps facilitate other types of indigenous parenting
workshops that reconnect indigenous people to traditional parenting practices while building
trust and support for one another.
In addition, Kaomea (2012) recommended aiming to support and strengthen indigenous
families, not to replace them. Kaomea referred to Renee’s story to make the case that the
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 51
important function of the preschool teacher who was willing to take on the role of surrogate
mother, “warm and loving, yet strict and demanding, and deserving respect” (Kaomea, 2012, p.
12) furthering the goal to strengthen, support, and extend indigenous families but not replace
them.
Having reviewed parent involvement in Hawaii, the next study used Epstein’s parent
involvement model for the theoretical basis of analysis. Daniel (2015) investigated family-school
partnerships using home-based, school-based, and community-based involvement as measures
provided within the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) data with four variations:
gender, Australia Torres Strait Islanders (ATSI), culturally and linguistically diverse, and family
SES. Daniel used data from the LSAC to analyze changes in patterns of parent involvement in
the contemporary Australian context over three waves or life stages of the cohort of children who
were part of the study. Daniel drew data from the LSAC K-Cohort in Year 2 (average age was 6
years, 9 months) and Year 3 (average age is 8 years, 9 months) who had completed the parent
involvement measures in both waves (N=2296).
The nominated primary parent provided the data (96.5% were the child’s biological
mother). Daniel (2015) noted the research sample of a parent representing families of the
children was similar in gender composition 51.8% male (n=1189) and 48.2% female (n=1107).
Daniel (2015) looked specifically at families who identified as ATSI, families who identified as
culturally and linguistically diverse, and families from lower SES backgrounds. Paired samples
t-tests were conducted to analyze overall changes in home-based, school-based and community-
based parent involvement between Year 1 and Year 3. Daniel used a repeated measures ANOVA
to analyze demographic patterns in the experiences of families based on the child’s gender,
ATSI, CALD and socioeconomic backgrounds at and between Year 1 and Year 3. Daniel then
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 52
applied a Bonferroni adjustment to p < 0.001 for significance to all tests. Effect sizes were
calculated using Cohen’s d.
The findings specific to ATSI were the following. First, families from ATSI backgrounds
indicated involvement in home-based activities did not change significantly between Year 1 and
Year 3. Second, involvement in school-based activities also remained similar in Year 1 and Year
3. Daniel (2015) noted that this involvement was lower than other families in Year 1. Third,
ATSI involvement in community-based activities increased between Year 1 and Year 3. He
noted this was the only rise in involvement in the study. The analysis on CALD showed a drop in
parent involvement between Year 1 and Year 3 in all variations the greatest of which was school-
based parent involvement showing a significant decline. Those families from lower
socioeconomic backgrounds showed a reduction in both school-based parental involvement and
community-based parent involvement from Year 1 to Year 3, both of which were significant
based on Daniel’s analysis. The reduction in parent involvement in school-based activities from
low SES families is of great interest to this study.
Lessons Learned
Parent-school partnership requires bridging social capital (Collignon et al. 2001; Daniel,
2015; Grolnick & Slowiaczek, 1994; Iding et al. 2007; Kaomea, 2012; Mutch & Collins, 2012)
For example, Noe in Kaomea’s (2012) study started off bridging capital when a teacher
encouraged her to keep her son coming and to do everything possible so that he could. Noe then
had to get help from her family and extended family which demonstrated bonding capital. The
variety of studies with ethnic groups showed just how challenging it can be for a school to
understand cultural values (Collignon et al., 2001; Daniel, 2015; Iding et al. 2007; Kaomea,
2012; Mutch & Collins, 2012). Yet, the studies each demonstrated why it is important for
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 53
schools to learn the cultural nuances associated with the students that attend their schools. I
learned to value listening to the parents’ voice their needs whether it be translators, community
newspapers in their language, or understanding the U.S. education system. (Collignon et al.,
2001; Daniel, 2015; Iding et al., 2007; Kaomea, 2012; Mutch & Collins, 2012).
Indigenous and Chamoru Indigenous Epistemology
This next section presents information on indigenous and Chamoru epistemology.
It begins with a brief review of indigenous epistemology.
Indigenous knowledge is passed down to the next generation orally from generation to
generation (Warren, 1992). The work of Gegeo and Watson-Gegeo (2001) described the
Kwara’ae Genealogy Project and how the Solomon Island villagers engaged in documenting
indigenous epistemology:
By indigenous epistemology, we mean a cultural group’s ways of thinking and of
creating, reformulating, and theorizing about knowledge via traditional discourses and
media of communication, anchoring truth of the discourse in culture. (Gegeo & Watson-
Gegeo, 2001, p. 67).
Clan groups in the Solomon Islands experienced outside researchers using Anglo-European
epistemology, which then turned into “narrations or expositions along lines constrained by the
outsiders’ epistemological assumptions” (p. 67). Discussions among those being studied lead to
the realization of “daukō or dangling and not rooted in our indigenous cultural knowledge. It was
an inaccurate and incomplete representation of Kwara’ae” (p. 67).
Gegeo and Watson-Gegeo (2001) described the Kwara’ae Genealogy Project as kin-
based which entailed the involvement of 15 kin units and the documentation of 20 hours per kin
group village meetings all communicated in Kwara’ae. The documentation of these meetings in
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 54
their own language was to benefit the rising generation, their children, who spend a large amount
of time in school. They wanted their voices to be put out in the public domain. The authors
described how, in Kwara’ae epistemology, the use of genealogy is seen primarily as fuli or
source of knowledge and “gives knowledge its bibi or weight” (Gegeo & Watson-Gegeo, 2001,
p. 68). The researchers described Kwara’ae epistemological approaches to the genealogy
framework used for the kin project such as Fa’amamana’anga which means “what is the
evidence that supports the truth of your claim?” (Gegeo & Watson-Gegeo, 2001, p. 74). Gegeo
and Watson-Gegeo mentioned the Kwara’ae Genealogy Project is not unique, and other such
projects exist in other areas of the world. What is important about this study is the courage it
gives to people such as myself to forge on and conduct studies using Anglo-European
scholarship to open “spaces for historically silenced Pacific epistemologies and cultural
knowledge” (Gegeo & Watson-Gegeo, 2001, p. 80).
Indigenous knowledge if not recorded and preserved would be lost and inaccessible to
other indigenous systems (Ngulube, 2002). The renowned Tongan poet, Thaman (2008), in her
own way, records her indigenous knowledge. In an essay, she explored the Tongan term of vaa.
She described the term as being the basis to Tongan social interaction and considered to be the
“most resilient aspect of Tongan culture” (Thaman, 2008, p. 179). She said, “Vaa requires
constant protection…as is the notion of Tau hi vaha’a…to look after or protect the spaces
between two or more persons or groups who are related to each other in some way” (Thaman,
2008, p.179). She explained how vaa in modern Tongan society is relative to the space and
context in which relationships exist and play out. She spoke to how relationships among people
or groups entail mutual respect and responsibilities for keeping vaa intact. This concept of
relationships from indigenous lens was good to understand, especially for this study. Thaman
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 55
(2008) pointed out that many modern-day Tongans have developed strong “individualizing
tendencies” as a result of Western-based education (p. 180). This information was useful for this
study since Chamorus also face the same issues being that the education system in place is
Western-based.
There is very little written in the way of Chamoru epistemology in academia, except for a
smattering of journal articles about Guam but not necessarily about the Chamoru culture.
Chamoru are the indigenous people of the Mariana Islands in the Western Pacific (Rogers,
2011). Portuguese explorer, Ferdinand Magellan discovered Guam in the 1500s. Guam, or
Guåhan as Chamoru linguists refer to it, has been colonized by Spain, the United States, Japan,
and again by the United States. Each colonizer had an impact on the language and culture and
ruled the Chamoru for over 450 years (Baza, 2015).
The cultural renaissance in the Pacific in the 1970s left an impressionable mark on the
Chamoru people, which has influenced the revitalization of the existing language and brought
back the symbolic arts of the culture, such as song, dance and chants (Rabon, 2001). Local
government policies and educational regulations also helped in the revitalization effort as
Chamoru language requirements are found in school systems (Office of the Governor of Guam,
2011). Thus, a re-vitalization of kustumbre Chamoru (Chamoru custom or way of doing things)
exists today. Westernization and globalization also influence kustumbre Chamoru (Rapadas et
al., 2005). This study focused on how Chamoru parents defined and enacted involvement in
their children’s academic life. Since Chamoru parents were the focus of this study, the need to
understand Chamoru values and beliefs passed on through oral tradition was necessary. It was
very difficult to take what has been voiced and lived for hundreds of years and put it in written
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 56
form because there was a risk that readers would misinterpret it. This was a risk worth taking
because through this process knowledge is preserved and perpetuated for years to come.
I want to first acknowledge my Chamoru ancestors for gifting me with great manaina or
parents who passed on these kustumbre from their own parents. I am nothing without them.
Chamoru parents have long since been the means through which knowledge is passed on. The
parents considered what they believed counted as what their children should know and be able to
do when considering how they thought about and enacted involvement in their children’s
academic life. This contributed to the child’s Chamoru identity. I first reviewed a study and then
addressed the three Chamoru values which was used to understand Chamoru parents and how
they defined and enacted involvement in the academic life of their elementary-aged children.
San Nicolas-Rocca and Parrish (2013) used an online survey which had a total of 128
Chamoru respondents: 49 males and 79 females. Of those interviewed, the ages ranged between
21 to 69. For their methodology, they conducted 15 semi-structured interviews (eight males and
seven females) plus an online survey of 128 participants. The survey was developed after the
interviews were done. From the interviews, San Nicolas-Rocca and Parrish’s study showed
Chamoru share Chamoru cultural knowledge to their children, siblings, cousins, friends, and
others. All participants indicated that Chamoru cultural knowledge should be passed onto the
younger generation. The cultural knowledge most desired to be passed on is language, way of
life (respect for elders and nature) and food/recipes. Chamoru rely on the oral transfer of
knowledge to learn about and share their culture. Thus, in the remainder of this section I offer the
Chamoru principles and values that I use to orientate myself in this world and seek to discover if
the same Chamoru principles and values are cultivated by other Chamoru parents.
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 57
This section addresses Chamoru ways of knowing or kustumbre Chamoru. Three
traditional core principles and values of inafa’maolek, poksai, and ayuda (Baza, 2015;
Cunningham, 1992; Hattori, 2001; San Nicolas-Rocca & Parrish, 2013) were explained with
parent involvement in mind. These three kustumbre Chamoru principles and values have been
passed down from generation to generation through oral traditions (Baza, 2015; Cunningham,
1992; Hattori, 2001; San Nicolas-Rocca & Parrish, 2013). Now, each was explained and related
to parental involvement.
Inafa’maolek is a core cultural principle in kustumbre Chamoru (Cunningham, 1992;
Hattori, 2001). It means interdependence within the kinship group (Cunningham, 1992; Hattori,
2001). The famous legend of Sirena exemplified the opposite behavior of inafa’maolek. Sirena’s
mother asked her to do certain chores. She did not do them, but, instead, went swimming. The
legend said that her mother prayed that Sirena would be turned into a mermaid for her
disobedience. For ancient Chamoru there was no such thing as an individual who was free to act
as he or she pleased (Cunningham, 1992; Hattori, 2001). Inafa’maolek instilled reciprocity. In
other words, a person was obligated to others and they were all obligated to each other as part of
a network of mutual responsibility. It was a continuous process where actions required actions
(Cunningham, 1992; Hattori, 2001).
Poksai literally means nurture in Chamoru (Baza, 2015). In kustumbre Chamoru,
mapoksai takes on the same concept as hanai in Hawaiian (Monnig, 2008), which meant taking
in and raising or adopting a child. Baza (2015) explained this kinship phenomenon as “growing
up in alternative family structure” (p. ii). This aligned to how I often heard my mother saying,
“Bai hu poksai ham yo todos yo fan dankalu. Siempre un ayuda yu” which is translated as aid, “I
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 58
will raise you children, so you can be a help to me.” Both instances related to raising the
children, so they can be a help.
Ayuda is another value of kustumbre Chamoru, which means assistance or help
(Cunningham, 1992). The value of ayuda informed me to look for ways Chamoru parents
defined and enacted helping their child and the child’s school. This could come in the form of
helping the child with homework or needed resources for school. Finally, in her essay on
culturally sustaining leadership, Hattori (2016), a native of Guåhan highlighted elements of
“Chamoru culture that form the foundation of culturally responsive leadership praxis within the
context of American educational institutions” (p. 1). She explained how leadership was rooted in
Påˊå taotao tåno. The term Påˊå taotao tåno she described as
stem(ming) from direct lived experiences in our spaces and promotes an ethos of
harmonious, interdependent, mutually beneficial relationships among people, land,
animals, and spirits…In Chamoru worldview, the universe and the Chamoru people were
the products of selfless acts of divine siblings, Puntan and Fuʹuna. (Hattori, 2016, p. 3).
The creation story of Guåhan and the selfless act of both siblings “speaks of connection,
generative selflessness, sibling harmony, and the relational nature of the universe. It was the
foundation of our identity and ways of being, and informed our ways of knowing” (Hattori,
2016, p. 3).
Conclusion
The inclusion of Chamoru epistemology or kustumbre Chamoru was a needed element
when preparing to study Chamoru parents. The Chamoru principles and values selected should
not be seen as comprehensive. During the field research, other Chamoru values surfaced which
were not identified in this literature review.
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 59
Conceptual Framework
A conceptual framework was developed after analyzing various theories, concepts,
definitions from a review of the literature (Merriam, 2009). The conceptual framework
functioned as the researcher’s understanding of the phenomena that she planned to study and, as
Maxwell (2013) said, was “a tentative theory” (p. 39). The conceptual framework informed the
study design, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data. The conceptual framework
provided the overall guide for this study. Using the literature above, a conceptual framework was
built on the following bodies of literature: (1) role construction and a sense of efficacy, (2) social
capital, (3) parent-and-school partnership, and (4) Chamoru epistemology, specifically Chamoru
principle and values of inafa’maolek or interdependence, poksai or to nurture, and ayuda or to
help out.
The literature clarified how parents defined and enacted involvement in their children’s
academics. Very little was known about parental involvement among Chamoru parents on Guam.
Therefore, the purpose of this study was to discover and understand how these parents defined
and enacted their involvement in their children’s academics. The concept of parent-life context
involved examining parent role construction and sense of efficacy. The literature on parent-life
context addressed the mechanism of parent role construction as well as sense of efficacy and
social capital. These studies looked at how parents of children who are immigrants, migrants,
and/or minorities strive to take care of their children’s education all the while using resources
and networks to fulfill needs.
It is believed that parental involvement varied depending on parents’ aspirations/goals for
their children along with resources, networks, and level of education. The literature was clear in
that no two parents/families are alike.
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 60
Social capital was included in this study and was seen as playing an integral part in the
life of Chamoru parents. Also included were the Chamoru principle and values of inafa’maolek
within the family and the clan, the value of nurturing the children or poksai, and the belief that
by helping the child or modeling the value of ayuda, the child would in turn do likewise. These
are all included within the construct of social capital, the idea of using resources and networks
within the parent’s social network. The mechanisms of bonding (protective) networks and
bridging (social advancing) networks were potential types to discover as parental involvement
was examined. The conceptual framework also informed the researcher’s ability to look for the
presence of inafa’maolek, poksai, and ayuda. How did Chamoru values manifest themselves in
parent-child relationships and parent-school partnership? These relationships may further clarify
definitions and enactment of parental involvement unique to Chamoru. Other Chamoru ways of
knowing may manifest themselves that were not in the literature examined.
The parents’ descriptions of their relationship to the school, whether they saw the school
as a partner, was pivotal to this study. The literature illustrated that parents were different. Their
circumstances were different, and all of this affects the child and their academics. The conceptual
framework helped to recognize that the parents’ relationship with the school was through the
child attending the school. Figure 1 presents the conceptual framework of this study prior to
entering the field. It is followed by an explanation of each of its component parts.
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 61

Figure 1. Conceptual framework prior to the field.
For this study and prior to entering the field, parental involvement was based on four
dimensions: role construction and sense of efficacy, social capital, the dynamics of parent-and-
school partnership and Chamoru epistemology. First, the dimension of role construction and
sense of efficacy, combined, informed the parents’ beliefs and behavior in the way they defined
and enacted involvement. Stressful and challenging situations directly influenced sense of
efficacy. Depending on the outcome of those trying moments, parents’ sense of efficacy may be
high or low. Social capital was integral to parents’ role construction and sense of efficacy. When
the need for resources came up, these parents asked within their clan first. This stemmed from
the principles and values of interdependence, nurturing, and helping one another. This was also
seen as forms of social capital. This conceptual framework focused on how parents viewed this
relationship as one that shaped their perspective of parental involvement.

CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 62
Role Construction and Sense of Efficacy
Drawing on Carreón Drake et al. (2005), I assert that parents with high self-efficacy in
relation to their ability to support their children academically (e.g., in specific subject areas) or to
navigate the educational environment (e.g., advocate for their children), constructed their roles in
such a way as to indicate that they are actively involved in their children’s homework, and they
go to school when their children are experiencing challenges. On the other hand, when they had
low self-efficacy, they defined their roles in other terms.
A parent may not have high self-efficacy or construct his/her role in relation to formal
interaction with the school environment. Drawing on Lopez (2001), I argue that Chamoru
parents, as a marginalized group, were likely to already be involved in their children’s lives
although in ways not considered traditional. They may be more concerned that their children
learn the value of work in any context. There was an understanding from the Padillas that the
value of work transfers into any context (Lopez, 2001). The green two-way arrow between
parent and child illustrates the constant transfer of values from parent to child. All three values of
inafa’maolek, poksai, and ayuda require individuals to work in order to live the value.
Relative to the parent-level of education, I argue that parent education level played a role
in the way parents constructed their roles. For example, drawing on Kohl et al. (2000), I argue
that parents’ lack of good experiences in the school system influenced their view of their
responsibilities in relation to their children’s school success. Again, the purple two-way solid
line spoke to a relationship of mutual respect, reciprocal understanding, and active support
between the parents/families and the school. The purple two-way dashed line demonstrates
relationships where parents struggle with trust, respect, and low sense of efficacy or confidence
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 63
dealing with the child’s school, as was the case of the Cambodian parents in García Coll’s (2002)
study.
Social Capital
Social capital aligned with role construction and sense of efficacy. The literature
demonstrated the ways in which role construction and sense of efficacy were intertwined with
social capital. The parents’ sense of efficacy developed, and parents became brave in asking the
teacher questions about the school and their child’s academic needs. The literature clarified
again the struggle parents have in their relationship with schools (Shoji et al., 2014; Thorpe et al.,
2013). The purple two-way line was symbolic of a parent’s perception as to whether they have a
working relationship with the school (solid line) or not (the dashed line).
Parent-and-School Partnership and Chamoru Epistemology
In the conceptual framework, the upside-down triangle depicted the Chamoru parent.
Each side of the triangle was made up of two-way arrows depicting the relatedness of
interdependence, nurture, and helping out. Each corner of the triangle symbolizes the presence
within this strong bond of social capital. This was aligned with Grolnick and Slowiaczek’s
(1994) prediction that context and social support do make a difference in the parent’s
involvement. The way in which this study informed the proposed conceptual framework again
invariably relied on the relationship the parent had with the school and the school’s openness to
assisting the parent in helping the child succeed. However, for the Chamoru parent, there was
also a social network that comes with being part of a clan which acted as a support network. The
social capital of bridging was also present but not visible. This, in Chamoru epistemology, was a
very intuitive act of interdependence that often goes unnoticed but was a great strength. These
moments of extending beyond the clan network again happened intuitively and no thought was
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 64
given other than the understanding that a need was there. Is it a perfect system? Absolutely not.
The fact of the matter was that it existed, inafa’maolek was a very powerful Chamoru principle,
and was the source by which this happened.
The parent’s world orientation was often one that schools did not see or completely
understand (Lopez, 2001). The way in which this informed the conceptual framework prior to the
field goes back to the dashed purple double arrow lines connecting the school with the parent-
child relationship. Valentine (2014) helped me understand why it was important to ask questions
about the parent’s world orientation when it comes to topics such as reading and see if there was
evidence of both social and cultural implications in the Chamoru parent’s response that can
better inform schools.
Although Kaomea’s (2012) study was with preschoolers it was included in the literature
review because it captured the essence of clan interdependence. An important example was the
case study of Noe. She was trying to make sure her child was able to attend pre-school but faced
many challenges. She had to reach out to the extended clan to have her needs met. This
interdependence was an intuitive part of Pacific culture that often goes unnoticed. The inclusion
of the Chamoru value of inafa’maolek was this same principle of interdependence. I assert that
the messages from parents of working and enduring through struggles until things do work out
and help does come was in fact evidence of the value of not only interdependence but the value
of ayuda or to help out. Figure 2 was the completed conceptual framework which was the result
of the data analysis.

CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 65

Figure 2. Completed conceptual framework after data analysis.
During the data analysis, parent involvement and the way they assisted their child(ren)
fell into two distinct groups of parental involvement activities: outside-school activities and
inside-school activities. Parent role construction and sense of efficacy plus their use of social
capital were constructs found in outside- and inside-school involvement and are reflected in the
completed conceptual framework. Also during the analysis, I used the constructs from the initial
conceptual framework of the Chamoru principles and values of inafa'maolek, ayuda, and poksai
to identify whether the parents identified their ways as being either Chamoru or Western. What
emerged from the analysis was that these parents often overlapped their ways of thinking and
approach with both Chamoru and Western ways
1
. The two large arrows around the outside- and

1
This stratification between Western and Chamoru is messier than it looks in my dissertation. These categories are
not as easy to distinguish. I have imposed these constructs. The fact is culture is more dynamic and it is harder to put
these in clear boundaries around the Chamoru and Western ways as if they are completely discreet. It is hard to
crystalize what is separately Chamoru epistemology for a variety of reasons including the history, the language as
examples of being the product of multiple occupations and subjugations. I cannot clearly tease apart what is exactly
Chamoru and what is a product of all the histories.
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 66
inside-school involvement then depicted the life context of Chamorro parents in Guam and the
constant overlapping of Chamoru and Western ways of thinking.
The solid and dash two-way arrows signified involvement of the parents when it came to
the school and the involvement of the parents with the child(ren). The solid arrow depicted
moments when the parents were supportive and involved. The dashed arrows depicted moments
when parents struggled to be present for the child at home or school. The data showed that eight
parents worked outside of the home, making it very difficult to always be there to help the child
and/or be in the school for activities or meetings. The other instance the parents may not be
present had to do with clan obligations. The data revealed this should to not be an overwhelming
reason, since many the parents often informed or asked permission from the clan that they were
going to assist the child first at school and then help the clan after.
Prior to entering the field, the construct of parent-school partnership was part of the
conceptual framework. During the data analysis, this construct was not manifested in the data as
was hoped for. As I reflected on why this was the case, I attributed my inexperience as an
interviewer and not knowing how to ask the questions that would elicit partnership types of
involvement. The other cause maybe due to my not including, as part of the research design, the
questioning of school officials. Thus, the complete conceptual framework does not include
parent-school partnership as a construct. As a result, the complete conceptual framework reflects
what emerged from the data during the analysis.

CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 67
CHAPTER THREE: METHODS
In the previous chapter, studies were examined addressing parent-life context,
specifically role construction and sense of efficacy. In addition, studies on social capital relative
to parental involvement were reviewed. The parent-school partnership literature was also
reviewed for insight into the parents’ perspectives and how they viewed their partnership with
the school. Lastly, Chamoru epistemology or kustumbre Chamoru was also reviewed along with
the values and beliefs of inafa’maolek, poksai, and ayuda, as these were indicated as important
values to look for when seeking insight into parents’ definition and enactment of involvement in
their children’s academic lives. Also in the previous chapter, a conceptual framework for this
study prior to the field and later updated based on the data analysis was included, which
incorporates the same concepts mentioned.
Qualitative case studies help frame the search for meaning and understanding (Merriam,
2009). This chapter describes the qualitative approach, data collection, and methods used to
answer the research question, “How do Chamoru parents in Guam define and enact involvement
in their elementary-aged children’s academic lives?” I chose to conduct a multi-case-study
approach, which is an in-depth description and analysis of a bounded system (Merriam, 2009),
because it aligns with the research question of examining parents’ definitions and ways of
enacting involvement in their children’s academic lives. I examined parent involvement through
the lens of a Chamoru woman who had been away from Guam for the past 30 years with
intermittent visits every 2 to 3 years during that time. As a Chamoru parent of three children, I
have kept alive the Chamoru values and language my parents taught me.
This study sought to understand what parent involvement looked like and what shaped
their thinking about what counted as involvement in their child’s academic lives, particularly at
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 68
the elementary school-level. The conceptual framework, prior to going into the field, illustrated
how Chamoru parents’ perspectives are built on the following: parental role construction and
sense of efficacy, presence and use of social capital, and partnership with schools. The updated
conceptual framework illustrates parent involvement outside and inside school, which
encompasses role construction, sense of efficacy, forms and use of social capital networking. The
data analysis revealed the absence of forms of parent-school partnership. Thus, this construct
was not included in the updated conceptual framework.
The purpose for studying this issue stemmed from my interest in understanding how
Chamoru parents defined and enacted involvement in their children’s academic lives. Such an
understanding can better inform educators and policymakers who educate Chamoru children and
help them associate better with their parents.
Sample and Population
This study sought to understand Chamoru parents’ involvement in their elementary-aged
children’s academic lives. This study used a purposeful sample (Maxwell, 2013) of Chamoru
parents of elementary-aged children on Guam.
Participant Selection
Prior to entering the field, I reached out to an in-country associate who was a clan
member and who helped me find participants. I shared with her the parent profiles I had hoped to
interview several weeks before arriving into Guam. I explained that it was important that they be
Chamoru parents of elementary-aged children. I also explained that they needed to be from a mix
of urban and rural areas. Also, I explained to her the desire to have a sample that was
purposefully chosen. In addition to a mix of urban and rural settings, I also wanted parents whose
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 69
children attended public and private schools. I followed up by sending her the screening handout
which contained the criteria through email (Appendix A).
In Guam, I met with the in-country associate and received the contact information of a
dozen parents who fit the profiles. The screening handout was very useful in the process of
coordinating pre-field and in-field efforts and in the final screening. I called each parent and
asked the questions on the screening handout. Once I determined they met the criteria, I asked if
they would be willing to participate in my study and be interviewed. I set up an appointment for
each parent who was willing to be interviewed. Although I contacted additional parents from
urban areas who met the criteria, they declined to be interviewed due to varying reasons such as
being busy with work and school at the local university. I was grateful for the 10 who agreed to
participate. Most of these parents came from rural settings. There were nine whose children
attended public schools. I spoke to one parent whose child attended a private school. Also, I
appreciated how the associate found a mix of both mothers and fathers. In total, I had seven
parents from category 1, two parents from category 2, one parent from category 3 and none from
category 4. This uneven distribution did not work in my favor. I could not make inferences
towards urban or rural experiences because of overrepresentation of rural parents. Another
limitation was the sample of parents whose children attended private schools. One parent fit
category 3 and none fit category 4. The sample was limited because of the underrepresentation of
parents in categories 3 and 4.

CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 70
Table 1
Chamoru Parent Categories for Parent Involvement for the Purpose of Maximum Variation

Table 2
Participant Descriptions and Profiles
Name and description of Parent
Child attends rural or urban school;
public/private
Category
Antonia, mother of a 7-year-old, stay-at-home
mom
Southeast Guam; Rural school; public Category 1
Mary, mother of a 10-year-old; worked full time
outside the home
Southeast Guam; Rural school; public Category 1
Francisco, father of 10-year-old girl;
unemployed
Southeast Guam; Rural school; public Category 1
Carmen, Mother of 10-year-old; worked full
time outside the home
Southeast Guam; Rural school; public Category 1
Teresita, Mother of a 6-year-old; stay-at-home
mom
Central Guam; Rural school; public Category 1
Jose, father of 6-year-old; worked two jobs Southwest Guam; Rural school; public Category 1
Juan, father of a 6- and 7-year-old, unemployed,
between jobs
Southwest Guam; Rural school; public Category 1
Josephine, mother of a 7- and 12-year-old, one
of whom has special needs, worked full time
outside the home
Central Guam; Urban-DODEA federal
school
Category 2
Katalina, mother a 5- and 11-year-old, one of
whom has a learning disability, worked full time
outside the home
Central Guam; Urban—public school Category 2
Maria, mother a10-year-old; worked full time
outside the home
Central Guam; Urban-private Category 3
Parent category 1 Parent category 2 Parent category 3 Parent category 4
• Chamoru parent.
• Child attends a
public school.
• Lives in rural
community.
• Nominated by a
parent or in-country
associate.
• Has an elementary-
aged child.
• Available for two
formal interviews at
home.
• Chamoru parent.
• Child attends a
public school.
• Lives in urban
community.
• Nominated by a
parent or in-country
associate.
• Has an elementary-
aged child.
• Available for two
formal interviews
home.
• Chamoru parent.
• Child attends a private
school.
• Lives in urban
community.
• Nominated by a parent
or in-country associate.
• Has an elementary-
aged child.
• Available for two
formal interviews
home.
• Chamoru parent.
• Child attends a private
school.
• Lives in rural
community.
• Nominated by a parent
or in-country associate.
• Has an elementary-
aged child.
• Available for two
formal interviews
home.
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 71

Instrumentation and Data Collection
Given that the purpose of the study was to analyze Chamoru parent involvement, the
concepts from the conceptual framework were used to understand their perspectives. The
conceptual framework included an effort to understand what shaped participants’ involvement in
their elementary-aged children’s academic lives by including how they approach role
construction and sense of efficacy, the resources and networks used in the form of social capital,
and the infusion of Chamoru epistemology, specifically, inafa’maolek, poksai, and ayuda. The
role of the researcher in this case study was to search for meaning and understanding by
collecting and analyzing data (Merriam, 2009).
Interviews were used because they were the only way to gain the insight needed for this
study. This is consistent with Merriam (2009), who offered that interviews are the best way to
access behaviors, feelings, and how individuals see the world around them. I used the “talk
story” approach as well as the linear-ness of semi-structured interviewing to help parents feel
comfortable in sharing their experiences with me and at the same time to be true to the purpose
of the interview, which was to capture the rich experiences of the parents. The talk story
approach was helpful. It helped to talk a bit about what their day was like and what was going on
in Guam. One of the approaches used to establish some connection with the interviewee was to
identify who your parents are and your Chamorro clan name. Much of this happened prior to the
actual recording of the interview. This technique during the talk story portion helped the
interviewee feel important and that their perspective was valued.
The language options given each interviewee were Chamoru and English. All 10 parents
were interviewed for this study chose to be interviewed in English. Given that the research
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 72
question focused on how Chamoru parents defined and enacted involvement in their elementary-
aged children’s academic lives, a semi-structured interview protocol was used. A semi-structured
open-ended interview (Patton, 2002) was the best approach under the circumstances because, as
the researcher, I wanted to make sure that each parent interviewed got “the same stimuli—in the
same order” (p. 344). At the same time, this allowed me to strike a balance between the
consistency of questioning while affording the latitude to pursue different conversations with the
participants. Prior to engaging in formal data collection, I piloted my interview protocol with
members of my own family who live in Guam and other community members. This process gave
me insight into the quality of questions asked and the kind of information those questions would
elicit. I did this knowing that the researcher must ask good questions that will reveal
interviewees’ experiences, opinions, feelings, and knowledge (Merriam, 2009).
I asked questions that helped participants focus on personal experiences that shaped their
decision to be involved in their children’s academic lives. The interviewees provided their
perceptions in an area of study or interest about which the researcher did not have much
information (Merriam, 2009). Interview questions were structured around parents’ experiences
with role construction and sense of efficacy, parents’ access to resources and networks
demonstrating social capital, and examples of inafa’maolek, poksai and ayuda present as part of
their involvement in their elementary-aged children’s academic lives.
Over the 10-day period of data collection, I initially expected to conduct two separate
interviews with each parent. I was conducting data collection in late November, and nine of the
10 parents could not commit to a second interview due to their work schedules and the
Thanksgiving holiday. Instead, they opted to be interviewed for almost 2 hours each in one
sitting. There was one parent who did have me come back and interview her for over an hour.
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 73
The interview, which typically lasted for more than 90 minutes, included getting familiarized
with the parents’ personal background, experiences growing up, and how these experiences
informed their involvement with their own children. We took a break half-way through and then
finished off. The interviews lasted from 90 minutes to 2 and a half hours.
As is customary in Chamoru culture, I gave gifts or nina'i to the parent in the form of T-
shirts, chocolates, and leis as a small token of appreciation for being allowed to capture their
knowledge and experiences on parental involvement. The potential value for fulfilling this
cultural gesture was an acknowledgement of the parents’ trust in gifting me with their parenting
experiences. At the same time, the cultural gesture helped strengthen future communications and
ties with the participants.
Data Analysis
According to Merriam, (2009), data analysis helps make sense of information collected
over the course of time if done in a systematic way. In addition, it allowed me to answer the
research question. As Bogdan and Biklen (2003) suggested, data analysis began in the field. I
wrote observer comments which aided my interpreting of my findings. I kept both a notebook
and jotted down notes during the interview as well as immediately after the interview. After each
interview, I wrote reflective memos (Bogdan & Biklen, 2003). These forced me to write
summaries of what emerged. I created a system of organization for all field note memos and
interview transcripts. The interviews were transcribed by close associates and me. I reviewed the
transcripts during the data analysis and updated ones that needed clarifying. This was done by
listening to the interview and editing the transcript. This process took a couple months to
complete. I then placed the transcripts in an electronic file. They were organized by the name of
the village of the interviewee.
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 74
I began the first phase of open coding immediately after the recordings were transcribed.
For the open coding process, I used the comments feature in the review section of Microsoft
Word to list a priori and axial codes, actual evidence, and make comments. Both the research
question and the conceptual framework were used as guides in the coding process. I began with a
priori coding, I used the language found in my research question and conceptual framework as
my a priori codes. I went through each transcript and coded every line. In my reflection memo, I
wrote how I needed to hurry, as I did not have much time. I learned from Corbin and Strauss
(2008) the coding approach of making comparisons and drawing from my personal experiences.
This process was good for a while until I started to notice how my biases were taking over and
interpreting the data the way I wanted to see them instead of letting the data speak its own truth.
To prevent this from occurring as I was coding, I created a sheet of questions and placed it where
I could see them. One of the question was, “Am I hearing them or am I imposing my ideas on
what they are telling me?” These sign posts reminders kept me focused during coding.
From the a priori coding, I applied the concepts from Corbin and Strauss (2008)
regarding thinking about the data in the abstract. I used the constructs from the conceptual
framework to look again at the open coding with the idea of clustering the a priori codes. This
process evolved the coding from a priori to axial. This shift in coding also helped me see the data
in a different light. Corbin and Strauss (2008) call this process as seeing the data in the light of
properties and dimensions. I made the connection to apply the constructs of the conceptual
framework as cluster labels for the axial coding. For example, I noted, “RC. Coaching Child. I
told him that first grade is when you start working, working independently…you have a lot of
work to do and the teacher can’t sit with you and be with you; 1; 5-12, 13-14.”
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 75
The RC stands for role construction which was a construct in the conceptual framework.
The code of coaching child came from the literature I reviewed. More importantly, I was able to
connect the data to the literature. This parent was coaching her son that this is what first grade is
like. She talked about working independently, and he has to work to do on his own while in
class. She mentioned that the teacher cannot be right by him all during class. The documentation
of the axial code lead to the ability to compare other parent’s experiences with coaching their
children. Each parents’ experience with coaching ending up in the role construction work book
and coaching the child worksheet within the workbook. This helped highlight similarities and
differences in how parents approached coaching their child on school-related issues. This made
me understand Corbin and Strauss’ (2008) concept of properties and dimensions and the ability
to start to view the data in the abstract.
The workbooks that resulted from the axial coding process were used in the next phase to
write analytic memos on each parent. This process took many revisions to connect the evidence
with the literature reviewed. I chose data from that represented the parent’s perspective in
answering the research question. I demonstrated how the conceptual framework’s constructs
applied to the literature connected with the evidence and helped to answer the research question.
After the analytic memos were completed for each parent, I looked at the parents’ perspectives
from the analytic memos to create findings and themes based on the analysis. The two findings
that resulted from the analysis were that (1) parents were involved with their children’s academic
needs outside of school and (2) were also involved inside school.
Ethics
I followed Patton’s (2002) ethical issues checklist to ensure I conducted the study
ethically. Prior to the field, the proposal for the study went through the institutional review board
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 76
process for clearance to conduct the study. The process included submission of the screening
handout and the information sheet. With the review board’s approval, I interviewed each parent
using the approved protocol, information sheet, and consent form. There was a piece of sensitive
information which I cleared with my dissertation chair. She guided me by asking if the sensitive
data answered the research question, and I said it did not. She advised me that it was appropriate
to not use the data. As part of ensuring participants’ confidentiality, I used pseudonyms for the
parents. I also kept the data stored on a password-protected computer.
Credibility and Trustworthiness
Since I was the primary instrument of data collection and analysis for this qualitative
study, I engaged in several strategies to address reactivity and reflexivity as I collected and
analyzed data. During data collection, I performed member checks by going back to a subsection
of the interviewees and asking them if their impression of the findings represented their
understanding and not my own to prevent misinterpretation of information told during the
interviews. I discovered my biases intruded upon the interview (Table 3). I found myself asking
the interviewee follow-up questions that sent the interviewee down memory lane about more
Chamoru material culture than the purpose of the interview. I had to reign in the interviewee and
get him or her back on track. This happened with the third parent I interviewed. To minimize
bias, I stuck to the interview protocol. I kept an audit trail or provided a detailed account of my
methods so that the reasons for my decisions about the study were clear. This audit came in the
form of reflexive memos after each interview.

CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 77
Table 3
Biases Going Into the Field and out of the Data Analysis
Biases prior to entering the field Biases going out of the data analysis
I am a Chamoru born and raised in
Guåhan.
Compared to 90% of my sample, I recognized
that I am college educated.
My mother and father taught and
lived the principle and value of
inafa’maolek and ayuda to my
siblings and me.
I recognized that I heard and saw my parents
modeling inafa’maolek whereas eight parents in
my sample had not heard nor knew the meaning
of the word when asked in the interview.
I was raised in a home where we
spoke Chamoru more than English. I
was influenced by a clan that spoke
mostly Chamoru. Thus, I am fluent in
spoken Chamoru.
I am privileged to have grown up in a home that
spoke the Chamoru language more than
English. My parents taught my siblings and me
Chamoru principles and values through word
and deed whereas this was not the case with
80% of the parents in my sample.
I am a product of the Guåhan public
school system whose policy at the
time prevented me from speaking
Chamoru at school.
As a researcher, I was disturbed by my findings
of how the Guåhan public school policy and
regulation (or practice) of not speaking
Chamoru at school in the 40s to 70s has
impacted the Chamoru language ability for
Chamoru parents now.
I am a parent whose children
attended public schools.
I am Chamoru.

During the data analysis, I also kept reflexive memos and a notebook. I performed
adequate and continuous engagement with the data. Initially, during the data analysis phase, this
was a challenge for me. My biases got in the way when I engaged with the data. There were
several times I had to stop inserting what I thought was being said. I had to constantly ask myself
if this was the parent or me. To help resolve the imposing of my biases on the data, I typed up a
list of questions I would ask myself if I sensed that my biases were intruding in analysis and
posted it next to where I worked on the data analysis. One of the questions I asked myself was
“Am I hearing them or am I imposing my ideas or worldview on what the parents are telling
me?” As the data analysis progressed, I developed a table which summarized the findings,
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 78
themes, the actions the parents took for their children, and the number of parents who mentioned
the actions in the interview (Appendix B). Another table shows the components of the original
and revised conceptual models and whether the evidence supported each construct (Appendix C).
Parent-school partnership was not demonstrated in the data collected, as the highlighted section
in the table shows. For this reason, the parent-school partnership construct was replaced with
inside school involvement in the conceptual model. The data also clarified the presence of
outside of school involvement. To capture parent-school partnership, interview questions should
be tailored to address this aspect of involvement specifically. Also, the research design should
consider interviewing school officials and teachers.
Limitations and Delimitations
The aim of this study was to understand the experiences of Chamoru parents in their
elementary-aged children’s academic lives. The purpose of the study was to gain information on
how these parents define and enact their involvement, how their roles were constructed, how
their efficacy was developed, how they gain access to social capital, and how Chamoru ways of
knowing influence their parenting. In in-depth interviews, a purposeful sample of parents spoke
to the world view of parental involvement.
The study was limited, as I only collected and analyzed the perspective of 10 parents.
Also, the study did not intend to capture the school personnel’s perspectives on these parents’
involvement. I was limited by the willingness of participants to be truthful. I was limited by my
inexperience as a new researcher. My inexperience limited my view of markers in respondents,
and there were some instances where I did not have the right probes. A good example of this was
when I was interviewing Jose. I wanted to tease out more of his thoughts on living off the land
and why he valued this so much that he was teaching his son. I did not have questions in my
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 79
interview protocol on this topic. Yet, it was the topic that would have demonstrated an aspect of
Chamoru epistemology. I wish I had more time to spend with these parents. This experience
helped me realize the importance of considering all aspects of the research design. This means
not just what is on paper but also the people, context, time, and environment. I found time to be a
limiting factor. It was the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, and there were challenges trying to get
follow-up interviews. Nine of the parents permitted only one interview.
I was limited by a sample of seven rural parents and only three urban parents: of those,
two had children in public school, and one had a child in private school. This was not a balanced
sample: there was an overrepresentation of rural parents. This limited the findings, since there
was no analysis of whether rural or urban settings or type of school made a difference in terms of
answering the research questions.
Also, I did not have the opportunity to explore Chamoru culture/history through other
methods besides what has been published or written and was readily accessible. I know there
might be other forms of documentation (journals, personal narratives, interviews) that I did not
explore. Had I done so, I might have been able to see things in the data that require further
investigation and exploration.
Conclusion
Prior to the field experience, I believed I had a sound research design. The field
experience was considerably different, and I learned much. I learned to stick to the interview
protocol. I learned to not interview parents when it is close to holidays such as Thanksgiving. I
also learned that the interview protocol becomes the best way to stay focused. I learned during
the data analysis phase that biases can interfere with analysis. The way to avoid bias is to use
asking oneself questions as not to intrude one’s worldview on data analysis.
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 80
CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS
The purpose of this chapter is to report the findings from data from interviews with 10
Indigenous Chamoru parents from Guam. This dissertation sought to learn how these parents
viewed involvement in their children’s academic lives and learn how they acted out these views.
The chapter is organized as follows. First, I review the purpose of the dissertation as well as the
research design. Second, I present an overview of the two findings. Each finding contains several
themes. For the first finding, there are four themes. For the second finding, there are three
themes. Within each theme, I provide an overview of the theme, present the evidence that
addresses the theme, and follow with an analysis of the evidence. The analysis includes how the
evidence aligned with the literature and addressed constructs in the conceptual framework. Also,
as part of the conceptual framework, I examined the data to see what space, whether Chamoru or
Western, the parent found him/herself in at the time of the data collection. As part of the framing
of the conceptual framework, I included as constructs the Chamoru principles of inafaʹmaolek
(help out, cooperate, take care of each other), ayuda (help each other) and poksai (nurture),
which were selected prior to conducting the study. I examined the data to see whether these
principles and values were manifested in the evidence. A conclusion then follows the analysis.
Research on parent involvement featuring various races and ethnic groups is growing
(Baquedano-López et al., 2013; Barton et al., 2004). I was interested in understanding the parent
involvement views, experiences, and their involvement in their elementary-aged children’s
academic lives. The purpose of this dissertation was to explore the perspective of Indigenous
Chamoru parents when constructing their roles as parents in a Western-based education system.
Thus, the focus was on how these parents described and acted out their involvement. The
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 81
following research question guided this study: How do Chamoru parents in Guam define and
enact involvement in their elementary-aged children’s academic lives?
The conceptual framework prior to entering the field encompassed four areas of interest:
(1) parent-life context (Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1997; Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2004) as it
was related to parental role construction and sense of efficacy along with the use of social capital
(Bourdieu 1977; Bourdieu 1986; Coleman, 1988), (2) parent perception of school-partnership
that entailed parent involvement with the school plus the leveraging of social capital (Bourdieu
1977; Bourdieu 1986; Coleman, 1988), (3) the practice of inafaʹmaolek , ayuda, and poksai, and
(4) how parents navigate Chamoru and Western space while being involved with their children’s
academic needs.
This qualitative study used a multiple case study method. Each case was of an Indigenous
Chamoru parent in Guam who had an elementary-age child. For each case, one to two interviews
were conducted over a period of 14 days. The language options given each parent interviewed
was either Chamoru or English. All interviewees chose to be interviewed in English.
Pseudonyms were used to keep identities confidential.
Two findings and several themes emerged from the data and helped answer the research
question. The first finding, has four themes (1) constructing the parent’s role to help with child’s
academic needs, which included homework, discussions with the child on school work, helping
the child with reading at home, talking about educational goals with the child and creating a
schedule (routine) and space for studying; (2) coaching the child about school life and his/her
responsibilities included encouraging child to ask questions in class, encouraging child to ask the
teacher for help and to speak up if something is wrong; (3) leveraging the parents’ social capital
networks to help with the children’s academic needs included clan helping with Chamoru-related
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 82
homework, parents sought clan’s approval to forego clan obligations for child’s school events,
and asked for ideas or help from other parents (bridging social capital); and (4) nurturing the
child’s non-academic needs, which included the teaching of indigenous knowledge and skills as
a responsibility of these parents.
For finding two, there are two themes: (1) volunteering, attending school-based activities,
contacting the teacher, contacting the principal/school staff and (2) growing their social capital
network, which included collaborating with other parents to help with school-related
activity/event.
The conceptual framework helped establish these findings and themes. During the
research, I viewed the conceptual framework as a “tentative theory” (Maxwell, 2013, p. 39).
Through the evidence, I saw participants were supportive of their children’s academic learning.
They constructed their own roles as parents. The data also showed they used social capital
networking to figure out how to get academic help for their children. The interviewees expressed
that they were responsible for teaching their children or they found others to assist them outside
of school. Appendix B contains a table of the findings, themes, and typicality. Appendix C
contains a table summary of the constructs from the initial and updated conceptual framework.
Finding 1: Chamoru Parents’ Outside of School Involvement: Helping Their Children with
Academic and Non-academic Needs
Research suggested that home-based involvement may have the strongest relation to
positive child outcomes (Fan & Chen, 2001). The first finding was participants’ outside of school
involvement: helping their children with academic and non-academic needs. Role construction
and social capital are constructs found in the conceptual framework that guided the discovery of
this finding, themes, and things that parents did for their children. The first three themes
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 83
demonstrate how the parents constructed their role in relation to how they helped their child with
academic needs outside of school. These are constructing their role to help with child’s academic
needs, coaching the child about school life and his/her responsibilities, and leveraging their
social capital networks to help with children’s academic needs. The last theme demonstrated how
the parents engaged in helping the children with non-academic needs.
Theme 1. Constructing the Parent’s Role to Help with the Child’s Academic Needs
The literature spoke to how role construction and sense of efficacy underpinned parent
behavior and involvement in the educational process (Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1997). All
10 participants described how they acted out what they perceived to be their role in helping their
children with their academic needs. The data showed these parents were interested in teaching
and helping their children.
In this theme, how participants constructed their role to help with the child’s academic
needs, the things parents had done for their children that tied to the theme were to help the child
with homework, help the child read at home, talk to the child about school, establish home
routines that focused on academics, and talk about educational goals with the child. These
actions emerged as evidence that helped to answer the research question. For example, Antonia,
a young stay-at-home mom to a 6-year old who attended a public elementary school in a rural
area of southern Guam, lived in a multi-generational household. She described herself as
someone who took a stand when it came to being responsible for what her son learned
academically. She shared she helped her son with his homework when the school failed to meet
his needs. Antonia believed it was her responsibility to supplement or offer her own academic
support at home. She said,
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 84
I’m responsible for everything that goes on with them [her children]. You know, we can
always teach them things. When they come home, we can teach them. At school, teachers
are there to teach you [her son], but when you come home, too, we can help teach how to
do things, too.
She went on to say,
This comes back to his homework. The way I guess she [the teacher] taught him how to
do it, he couldn’t get it. So, I taught him a different way. Like his math, I taught him,
okay, what you can do is, if it is a big number, you don’t have to if there’s nothing here,
so just, say, take the big number first. Then, take away the smaller number. Put your
smaller numbers in your hand and take it away: 17 minus 7. You say 17, 16, 15, 14, 13,
12, 11, 10. You know, think like that. So, trying to—there’s a different way to learn
things.
In this statement, Antonia explained that she believed it was her responsibility to ensure that her
son acquired the academic knowledge that he was expected to learn at school irrespective of how
it was taught at school.
This evidence aligned with parent role construction found in the conceptual framework.
Hoover-Dempsey et al. (2005) defined parental role construction as the “parents’ beliefs about
what they are supposed to do in relation to their children’s education and the patterns of parental
behavior that follow those beliefs” (p. 107). As a parent, Antonia felt it was her responsibility to
help her son at home with his academic learning. Her statement, “when they come home, we can
teach them,” captures her confidence that she could help him learn how to do his math problems
at home. This evidence of confidence aligned with the conceptual framework construct of sense
of efficacy (Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2005; Bandura, 1986). Bandura (1997) stated “belief in
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 85
one’s abilities to act in ways that will produce desired outcomes” (p. 108). Antonia was
confident that she could teach her children and help them with their academic needs. She
articulated this and gave an example of how she helped her son to do his math homework.
Although she recognized the role of the teacher, she also believed she had an obligation
to ensure that her son was able to understand his math assignment. This was after Antonia
perceived that her son did not internalize what he was taught at school. She said, “I guess she
taught him how to do it,” acknowledging the teacher’s role and that, perhaps, the way the teacher
was teaching her son was not the best fit for him to understand. At the same time, Antonia stated
that she “taught him a different way” inferring that she was willing to try other approaches that
would help her son understand how to solve the math problem. Curry and Holter (2015) shared
how parents stressed knowing how their children learned best and that they found ways to help
their children understand concepts taught at school. This research aligned well with Antonia’s
experience. Antonia knew how her son learned and proceeded to find ways to help him
understand how to solve the math homework. Antonia’s approach also aligned with the findings
of Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler (1995) that parents tend to respond to their children’s unique
learning preferences and styles and offer appropriate help for the child to better understand.
As for if or how Antonia straddles Chamoru or Western ways, she expressed,
I understand Chamoru, but I cannot speak it… I guess growing up when you’re younger
you don’t really know what to do when you come around and you see them [clan], you
observe everything when you get older you don’t need to be told I already know what to
do.
Antonia acknowledged that she understood the Chamoru language although she did not speak it.
She also learned Chamoru customs from the clan by observing how things were done growing
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 86
up. These life experiences influenced her focus, desire, and commitment to teach her child. This
resonated with what Cunningham (1992) says about ancient Chamorus and how they loved their
children. As a Chamoru mother in modern-day Guam, Antonia was no different from her
ancestors. Based on the evidence, she understood her role was to help her child learn. This was
an example of ayuda. The act of helping others out was evidence of the construct and principle
of inafa’maolek. Antonia shared, “I catch me teaching him the way my dad told me he taught me
math so now saying everything out loud it’s just like holy cow I think I am becoming my
parents, so you know it’s really what they taught us.” This statement also speaks to inafaʹmaolek
and cultural knowledge transmission of the process of interdependence which includes
reciprocity and sharing. As a mother, Antonia learned from her parents how to teach her child.
This reciprocity was manifested in how Antonia took time to help the child. Antonia shared with
the child the things she learned from her parents. The transmission of inafaʹmaolek continues
into the future. In addition, Antonia’s action of taking the time to spend one-on-one to teach her
son how to do arithmetic was an example of poksai.
Another example comes from Maria, a parent of a 10-year old who attended a private
school in an urban part of central Guam. She said,
I didn’t really care for school. I was one of those ones that really didn’t care. And like
them now, you know, you understand it as you get older. You see it. Like, why do I have
to do this? What is this going to do for me? You know, you start thinking about those
things in your life. But, in nurturing my kids with academics, at their point of time now,
they don’t understand why they need to go through what geometry, or psychology, or
whatever the subject is, right? And I try to let them know they may not be something you
understand now, but it might help you in your future, in your life. You’ll understand it
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 87
later. I said, “Just have an open mind and you know, go through your subjects and read it
and try your best to understand and ask yourself, what is it that your teacher wants you to
know for this particular learning that you are trying to learn or a subject? What is it?”
Then I also try to apply it to real life examples. They were studying about something, and
then they’ll come up on their own. Say, with my younger son there, he said, “Oh, so I
know about cancer” because he’s learning about cells and that thing, you know, in
science, so we’ll talk about it. That’s an experience that I’ve seen recently, but, with the
kids growing up, they know their homework. They know what to do. As soon as they get
home, get to your homework, get to your studies. My father always stresses to us
education is something that no one can ever steal from you, take away from you. You can
lose the money, the house, but not what you learned from education. So, I instill that in
my kids, too. They may not understand why I’m doing it. I said it might come to you later
on in life when you realize that what you’re doing in some subject will apply. Right now,
they just want to be teenagers and elementary students.
From these statements, Maria defined and enacted her role as a parent for her children’s
academic success. She described her experience with school when she was young. Now that she
was a parent, she nurtured her children academically and encouraged that they learn as much as
they could in many different subjects. Maria’s choice to nurture her children academically
aligned with poksai, which is part of the conceptual framework and is further analyzed in
subsequent sections.
Her son’s telling her about what he was learning about cancer was an example of talking
to the child about school, which aligned with the construct of parent-focused role construction in
the conceptual framework. She remembered being a child and not caring to learn the subjects
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 88
only to discover, as a parent, that she used the things she learned while in her youth. Maria
encouraged academic learning at home, which helped her role development as a parent. Now,
she had become focused on explaining why it was important to learn all sorts of subjects. She
also helped her children to know that it might not make any sense now, but it would in the future.
Maria’s example aligned with research on parents engaging in helping the child learn new
concepts and, then, as parents, checking for understanding (Walker, Hoover-Dempsey, Whetsel,
& Green, 2004). Maria also shared that, when her children come home, they know to work on
their homework. She set up both physical and psychological structures to help her children’s
homework performance (Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1997; Walker et al., 2004). She also
instilled the value and importance of education in her children (García Coll et al., 2002). These
practices helped to answer the research question.
Maria straddled both Chamoru and Western ways. In her example, she talked about her
father valuing education. Now that she was a parent, she, too, expressed this same value to her
children. She encouraged them to learn various subjects. This example aligned with
inafaʹmaolek, which means to take care of each other. This principle is found in the conceptual
framework. Growing up, Maria’s father took the time to teach the importance of education.
Based on the evidence, Maria has done the same thing.
Maria also incorporated a Western way of thinking by instructing her children to ask
themselves “what is it that the teacher wants you to learn from this subject?” At the same time,
the evidence demonstrates Maria thinking like a Chamoru when she talked about nurturing her
children to learn various subjects as best as they could while they were young. In Chamoru
culture, children were taught by showing them or modeling. The modern-day version might not
be learning how to husk a coconut or climbing a breadfruit tree for food. Instead, the modern-day
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 89
version s to ensure children are prepared to survive in the world they live in. It is the act of
nurturing or poksai. This connects to the conceptual framework that shows parents engaged in
both Chamoru and Western ways to help their children academically.
Cunningham (1992) explained that Chamoru parents teach their children interdependence
or group achievement and cooperation. He also explained that “America teaches their children to
be independent, stressing individual achievement” (Cunningham, 1992, p. 86). The Western way
is engaging with the Western education system and what is expected of the children. The
Indigenous Chamoru way is inafaʹmaolek and poksai. Maria’s example illustrates a parent who
tried to balance Chamoru and Western ways. She had done this by teaching her children the
Western way of thinking and to question themselves as they learned different subjects. She also
thought and acted out Indigenous Chamoru ways of being by living inafaʹmaolek and poksai.
This next example is from Teresita, a stay-at-home mom of a 6-year old who attended a
public elementary school in a suburb of central Guam. Teresita lived in a multi-generational
household. She shared her home with her family and her parents as well as other siblings and
their families. Teresita provided an example of reading in the home as a way to help her child
academically. She said,
Reading would be number one. I always tell him. I say, “Without reading, you are going
to be lost in the world. You just need to read.” So, he is good. [Some things that we do
are] reading the games and the symbols that he sees. When you play a game, they always
have questions and things that pop up. I think that that, in general, would help him,
always helps him to read better. Now, he is first grade, so he is learning how to spell, so
he spells a lot when we’re anywhere, the signs. Especially now [that the] election [is
going on]. Yeah, it’s cute. So, now I am, like, when I ask him to go ask somebody a
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 90
question or whatever, he will always think Y-E-S, yes. He’s really into spelling
everything he can. When he is doing his homework, I swear, he just amazes me because
he would sit there and try it. He wouldn’t even ask me for help. I am the one saying,
“What? Wait a minute. Do you know how to spell it? And he’s, like, “Yeah, mom” So,
[a] majority of the time he does. He is really malati [smart]. He is really smart. I am
telling you. It just amazes me, which is good. Knowing I am doing a good job at least.
In this statement, Teresita explained how she defined and enacted her involvement with her child
when it came to his academic learning at home. She explained how her son was learning spelling
and reading at home. This example of Teresita’s aligned with the construct of parent-focused
role construction in the conceptual framework (Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2005) which addressed
the parents’ motivational beliefs and interest in how they helped the child with their academic
learning at home. Teresita’s experience aligned well with the literature on providing general
oversight of the homework process. Specifically, she monitored, supervised, and oversaw the
homework process. Teresita expressed how she monitored her child’s homework and progress on
both subjects. She was also interactive in that she checked to see if her son understood the
assignment (Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2005). Her expression of how her son was doing well and
how she was amazed describes her sense of efficacy that she must be doing something good as a
parent and is a construct in the conceptual framework. Parental role construction and sense of
efficacy are both motivational beliefs experienced by parents who are involved with their
children’s academic needs (Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1997; Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2004).
Like Antonia and Maria, Teresita demonstrated straddling both Western and Chamoru
ways of thinking. She demonstrated a Western way of thinking by explaining how, through
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technology, her son learned to read words because he would say them out loud. She noticed that
that was one way he learned how to read.
She valued reading and expressed this to her son. This expression speaks to inafaʹmaolek.
She had taken the time to ensure that her son learned to read. The data further clarifies Teresita’s
value of reading by checking on her son’s homework. She claimed that he is malati, but she still
checked his work, which is another form of inafa’maolek.
The effort Teresita made to create a physical and psychological space in the home for her
son to do his homework addressed the Chamoru way of poksai and ayuda which are found in the
conceptual framework. She found ways to nurture reading with her son by trying all sorts of
ways, technology being one of them. She helped her child by setting up a structure to ensure her
son’s academic development. This also speaks to parental role construction, which is also part of
the conceptual framework.
Three ways in which parents constructed their roles in relation to their children’s
academic lives were helping with homework and understanding academic subjects at home,
talking to the child about school and learning, and creating an environment and structure
conducive for reading at home. Like Antonia and Maria, Teresita straddled both Chamoru and
Western ways because they were part of her everyday living. There was no demarcation that
signified the parent was in the sphere of Chamoru ways and then moved to the sphere of Western
ways. The blend of both spheres was these parents’ reality. The Chamoru principles and values
found in the conceptual framework helped to clarify when the parent was engaging in Chamoru
or Western ways of thinking.

CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 92
Theme 2. Coaching the Child About School Life and Their Responsibilities
The second theme was that participants were involved by coaching their children about
school life and their responsibilities. In this theme, the data revealed 6 parents coached their
children on school-related challenges they perceived their children were experiencing. The data
revealed the parents sharing how they helped to encourage their children to ask questions in
class, ask the teacher for help, and speak up if something was wrong. Parents’ coaching their
children on how to manage school-related challenges is not limited to the Chamoru population.
Calarco (2014) studied how parents taught their children strategies through coaching from home
to help them while in school. Her study revealed middle-class parents coached their children to
problem-solve by using the resources at the school to help them while working-class parents
coached their children to avoid bothering their teacher and to problem-solve on their own. The
data revealed that respondents also engaged in coaching their children from home. The first piece
of evidence was from Carmen. She was the mother of a 10-year old girl who attended a public
elementary school in southern Guam. Carmen worked during the day. At the time of the
interview, she was the sole breadwinner of her family. She had eight children, several of whom
were grown and had their own families. Her 10-year old is her youngest. She said,
Oh, it came about just last week. She was looking sad and I was, like, “Tessie, what is
that?” “Mom, I didn’t do good in my math. It went down?” “No, you can do it. You can
pick it up. I know you can do it, and you’ve been doing it.” But there was something
bothering her, either classmate or something. I guess she was being disturbed in class,
and she wasn’t concentrating on what the teacher was saying. So, she did not understand,
and she did not go. Like she was ashamed to ask the teacher. I said, “Tessie, any time you
feel like you are being, what do you call it, interrupted, or you know, a kid interrupting
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 93
you doing your work, and you misunderstood again how the teacher explained it to you
guys, don’t be afraid to ask your teacher. You know, go on in and ask, or raise up your
hand and ask, “Sir, I misunderstand that because so and so was interrupting me in my,
you know.” So, you know, I always tell them, “don’t be afraid to ask.” And not only that,
she went back to school, and told the child, or I would tell her, “just don’t listen or just
tell your teacher.” So, she would do that now, but, when she goes back to school, she
would do that. If the child’s still bothering her, she would turn around and say, “Leave
me alone, or I’ll tell the teacher.” So, she does take action on that. Yeah, like “If he
continues doing that, then tell the teacher or tell him.” Yeah. She was good, normal.
In this statement, Carmen explained how she coached Tessie, her daughter, when she was being
disturbed by a classmate at school. This parental involvement aligned well with the construct of
parent-focused role construction found in the conceptual framework. I assert that Carmen’s
coaching her daughter to listen and to ask the teacher to explain things that she did not
understand is Carmen’s way of helping her daughter to “assume appropriate personal
responsibility for learning” (Hoover-Dempsey, Battiato, Walker, Reed, DeJong, & Jones, 2001,
p. 204). The researchers added that “parents’ instructional activities appear salient to students’
learning of attitudes, skills, and knowledge associated with school success” (Hoover-Dempsey,
et al. 2001, p. 204).
Carmen also encouraged her daughter to ask the teacher when she did not understand
what the teacher was teaching, especially if she was being disturbed. It was hard to pin point if
Carmen was part of the working-class since this research did not look at parents’ social
economic status. It was not enough for Carmen to mention she was the breadwinner in her
family. She instructed her daughter to ask the teacher for help when she did not understand.
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 94
Carmen’s example may very well be different from Calarco’s (2014) findings on working-class
parents who asked their children to solve their own problems at school. Carmen coached her
daughter that it was all right to ask the teacher for help.
Carmen’s coaching her daughter on how she could pick up her grades in math helped me
recognize that Carmen understood the role that encouragement played in helping her daughter,
succeed in a Western school system. The data revealed how Carmen sensed that Tessie was too
shy to ask for help. When Carmen noticed that something was not right with Tessie, she listened
to her daughter explain what was going on at school. This act of showing concern and taking the
time to listen to Tessie showed what Storie (2009) related to be the principle of inafa’maolek.
She said, “inafa’maolek is concerned with the way people interact with each other” (p. 216).
Carmen was concerned about the interaction between her daughter and the classmate during a
lesson. She was also concerned that, as a parent, she needed to help Tessie learn how to make
things good in the classroom to help improve learning. Carmen coached her daughter to ask for
help. Carmen demonstrated the Chamoru ayuda and poksai. From this context, Carmen acted out
these principles that helped her daughter, Tessie, know how to approach difficult situations at
school.
Another example on how parents coached their children at home on school-related
challenges comes from Antonia. She said, “I told him that first grade is when you’re going to
start working independently so you’re gonna have a lot of work to do and the teacher can’t sit
with you and be with you.” Antonia defined parent involvement as being responsible for how she
coached her son about school life in first grade. In this statement, Antonia explained to her son
that first grade required he do things on his own and be more independent. She introduced her
son to working independently. This example by Antonia aligned with the construct of parental
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 95
role construction, specifically parent-focused role construction, which included parents’ beliefs
and behaviors that show they are interested when it comes to their children’s education (Walker
et al., 2004). Antonia also explained to her son that, at school, there was a lot of work that he will
be asked to do. Lopez (2001) similarly demonstrated the ways in which parents made efforts to
teach their children about the value of work. Here, Antonia focused on teaching her son that
there would be times in class when the teacher would not be able to assist him. Antonia helped
her son understand he was responsible to get his work done during those times.
Antonia coached her son to be responsible for his own work in class. She also taught him
the beginnings of doing things on his own or being independent. This is a Western way.
Cunningham (1992) stated, “Americans teach children to be independent” (p. 86). Antonia
helped the child be responsible for his actions in the classroom. This is similar to Carmen who,
as mentioned earlier, coached her daughter to ask questions and tell the teacher that a classmate
was bothering her. These examples do lend themselves to being Western.
Yet in Carmen’s case, the way she approached the coaching resonated more of living the
Chamoru principle and values of inafa’maolek, ayuda, and poksai. That can also be said of
Antonia. Her approach mirrors that of Carmen’s in that she approached her coaching with ayuda
and poksai. She knew that coaching her son on what school was like in first grade would help
him grow. Also, she coached him on the fact that the teacher could not always be by him. She
came across as being firm and valuing the time to nurture her son.
This last example in this theme was from Jose. He was the parent of a 6-year old boy who
attended a public elementary school in rural south-central Guam. Jose and his partner were
working parents. He shared how, at home, he coached his son to speak up if something was
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 96
wrong. He shared how his son spoke up when he saw another child being picked on. When asked
how he had seen his involvement with his son’s education impacted his son, he said,
I would say helping others mostly. If he has a problem, he will always ask for help, which
I always have him to never be afraid to ask. Even, sometimes, he tells us he helps out
students at school. And, just recently, he helped a young boy who was being picked on.
From this statement, Jose defined and enacted his involvement by how he coached his child to
never be afraid to ask for help at school. Jose’s example aligned with parent-focused role
construction. This evidence aligned well with research on how parents checked on the son’s
school day by having talked to them (Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1997). This evidence shows
Jose manifested a Western approach based on the advice he gave to his son to never be afraid to
speak up. Yet, Jose’s son’s action demonstrated use of inafa’maolek to make good and take care
of each other plus ayuda. The coaching Jose did at home helped his son have the courage to help
another student who was being bullied at school. In some ways, the way Jose poksai or nurtured
his son helped another student. Jose’s example shows it is possible for a parent to straddle both
Western and Chamoru ways of thinking.
Carmen, Antonia, and Jose used coaching at home to help their children navigate difficult
challenges at school. All three examples help answer the research question. They were involved
by coaching their children. I assert that the evidence defines the space these parents situated
themselves in. Sometimes, the words they used, such as “independent,” are a clue that they were
more Western than they were Chamoru. Also, Carmen and Jose’s coaching their children to not
be afraid to ask lends itself to being Western. Having said that, I assert that how they approached
their coaching took on the Chamoru principle and values of inafa’maolek, ayuda, and poksai.
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 97
Theme 3. Leveraging Their Social Capital Networks to Help With the Child’s Academic
Needs
The third theme describes how participants were involved in leveraging their social
capital networks to assist their children’s academic needs. The concept of social networks and
social capital are intricately woven within inafa’maolek and ayuda. Both are constructs in the
conceptual framework. Cunningham (1992) explained that inafa’maolek can be seen in the
network of social obligations that the people formed. He said, “If the ancient Chamorus saw a
need, they felt no hesitation to ask for help. Social obligations, which formed a network of
interdependence, were central to their life” (Cunningham, 1992 p. 89).
During the data analysis, the evidence revealed parents asked clan members to help with
school projects and Chamoru language homework. For this theme, the data revealed 8
participants used their social capital network to help their children. The data revealed the use of
both bonding and bridging social capital, although most parents sought out their clan first. Two
parents used their social networks within their social capital. Jose explained his use of bonding
social capital,
The only time we asked for help is when we weren’t around to help him do his
homework. [When this happens, we] would mostly [rely on] my mother-in-law and
father-in-law. That’s when they will come in and guide him to do it [homework]. I would
say that’s basically the only thing. [We do this] to let them [the child] know that you are
not going to be alone in this. We are going to get to it.
From this statement, Jose shared his belief and engagement when it comes to helping his
son with homework. He related how there were times when both parents were not around
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because of their work schedules to help with homework. Parents helping with homework fit well
with the conceptual framework and aligned with parent-focused role construction.
Research has shown parents strategize to coordinate homework help (Hoover-Dempsey
& Sandler, 1997). Mckenna and Millen (2013) found that parent engagement fostered the notion
that the cultural and social nuances of families were a source of strength. In Jose’s example, he
coordinated help for his child with others in the family. Jose and his son’s mother then arranged
for the grandparents to help their son with his homework. Referring to research on another group
of indigenous Pacific people, Tuafuti and McCaffery (2005) stressed that, while parents tend to
be children’s first teachers, the Samoan cultural context, particularly living in Samoa, allowed
both parents and the wider family to be involved in supporting the child’s learning. In other
words, the clan is a source of bonding social capital. In this space, Jose did manifest more
Chamoru ways than Western in helping his son get help with his schoolwork. Inafa’maolek and
ayuda were manifested in this example as well as.
Also, this finding aligned with research on beliefs of Latino families and especially the
cultural value of familismo. Durand and Perez (2013) referred to this value as:
family closeness, cohesion, and interdependence, an expectation and reliance on family
members—including intergenerational and extended kin—as primary sources of
instrumental and emotional support, and the commitment to the family over individual
needs and desires (Durand & Perez, 2013, p. 65).
This explanation of Latino familismo is similar to the Chamoru value of familia siha which refers
to both immediate family and branches of extended families that make up the clan. As a social
economic unit, “familia siha [family members] … are to share, help and protect each other
without fail and commemorate life celebrations with each other” (Marsh, n.d., p.2). Jose’s choice
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 99
to ask the grandparents to help the son with his homework when work schedules did not permit
the parents to be home when the son came home was seen as being part of familia siha. In other
words, Jose’s effort to coordinate homework help for their son through familia siha was evidence
of constructing his role as a parent.
In another example, Mary defined her parent involvement by using her social capital-
bridging network to help her child with his homework. Mary was the mother of a 10-year old
son, Donald, who attended a public elementary school in southern Guam. She was a working
mother with two other pre-school aged children. She stated,
I would come across where Donald would be, not failing, but having trouble with this one
subject. So, I would ask [a friend] how her son is, not how exactly her son is doing, but
how she’s able to help him with let’s say for example the math equations, how is she able
to help me help Donald in a simpler form.
Based on this statement, Mary explained how she accessed her social capital-bridging
network to help learn how to help Donald with his homework. Social capital-bridging also
aligned with the conceptual framework construct of social capital (Thorpe et al., 2013). There
was empirical evidence that spoke to how children benefit from social connections that parents
have with others, such as neighbors, school personnel, and work colleagues (Crosnoe, 2004;
Dufur et al., 2008; Parcel & Dufur, 2001). Mary’s involvement in accessing resources to help
Donald with his education aligned well with what the research says. In reading the evidence,
Mary needed help on how to help Donald with his homework. She asked her co-worker for help.
This evidence aligned with inafa’maolek and ayuda. Chamorus did not hesitate to ask for help if
they needed it (Cunningham, 1992). This evidence demonstrated Mary straddling Chamoru and
Western ways to get help on how to help Donald with his homework.
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Another example came from Juan. He was the father whose 7-year old daughter attended
a public elementary school in southwest Guam. At the time of the interview, Juan was between
jobs. Juan described how he enacted his parent involvement by how he leveraged his social
capital network to help his daughter with her homework. He said,
Well, recently, it was a Chamoru project and one of my other half’s cousin is a Chamoru
teacher. And there was a sentence that we had to put together, to translate it from English
to Chamoru, and my daughter had it right [meaning she had the homework assignment],
and we called him, and he assisted us with the Chamoru, and they were big words, you
know. It was hard to put it into Chamoru. So, I take that back, they do assist us, you
know, but just immediate [meaning extended family]. Yes. [He is a Chamoru teacher at
the elementary school.] They’re [Juan’s partner and the teacher] cousins, and he reaches
out to us if we need help. You know, we can go ahead and contact him. But he does want
my daughter to try and do it herself. But we do come, as parents, and we do need help
because not all of us understands the language. That’s how bad it got. And I think she
learns more to speak than what I learned. And that’s a big thing. It really makes me
[think] highly of her and I do learn from them [his children] also. I learn from them and it
makes me, how do you say that? Keep me thinking or put things together and this is, you
know, that’s the word inafa’maolek inafaʹmaolek.
From this statement, Juan enacted his involvement in how he helped his daughter find
help for her Chamoru homework. He went through his partner’s extended family to get help. The
daughter’s assignment was way beyond his knowledge and skills. His partner called on a cousin
who was a Chamoru teacher to help with the assignment. This evidence aligned with the
construct of social capital. Juan’s example also aligned with parent-focused role construction.
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 101
The feedback from the cousin was to make sure the child did the homework herself. Juan’s
example aligned with research on how parents find help for their child’s homework from others
in the family. (Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1995; Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1997; Hoover-
Dempsey et al., 2004). In Juan’s example, family includes extended family and clan members.
Just like Mary, Juan and his partner asked for help, especially since the cousin did say not to
hesitate to call on him for help. This evidence aligned with inafa’maolek and ayuda. The use of
Chamoru principles and values show Juan used Chamoru ways. Yet, the response from the
cousin who helped them with their daughter’s homework was to be sure that the child did the
homework on her own in the future. This was a response from a teacher working in a Western
school system.
All three examples reveal the parents’ use of social networks within their social capital.
The examples from Jose and Juan demonstrate social capital bonding and the example from
Mary displays social capital-bridging. All three to some degree engaged in Chamoru ways. A
couple of them working within the clan. All three help to answer the research question on how
Chamoru parents in Guam define and enact involvement in their elementary-aged children’s
academic lives. They do so by leveraging social capital to help the child with their homework.
Theme 4. Nurturing the Child’s Non-academic Needs
Theme 4 describes how participants were involved in nurturing their children’s non-
academic needs. The data revealed how parents viewed it as their responsibility to engage in
teaching their children Chamoru indigenous knowledge and skills and not just what was focused
on in school. This evidence aligned with how ancient Chamoru education was carried out by
parents and elders and the “responsibility for getting an education was on the student”
(Cunningham, 1992, p. 156). He added, “children were not hurried to learn. Interested children
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simply observed and imitated the adult skills they were ready to learn. Children learned most
things from their parents” (Cunningham, 1992, p. 154). Here is an example from Carmen. She
shared,
Well, growing up as a Chamoru individual, I want to teach my kids the culture, the
religion, the tradition, how we celebrate in life. Or work things around the house, or our
society, you know. So, that’s what I teach. Like, for me, you know, I show them that I’m
the kind of person that helps other people. You know, the values of doing that. That’s
who I am, so I teach them, “okay, you help this person, you know, or whoever needs
help.” And then also, like, doing something that you don’t need to be told. The values of
knowing that [and] learning. I go help others so now she sees that in me. She goes help
others, too. Then, out of nowhere, like, “mom, can I go help her.” She sees what I do. So,
I’m showing her the role model. Then, one day, she goes “mom can I go help Aunty
Rita?” You know, and all that. So, as a good role model, we have to teach them and not
only by words but also in action you know.
She added,
Teaching them, learning with them. Their education and teaching them, I don’t know.
Like I said, respect and everything in life. For as a good role model, that I know what’s
right for them, I teach them. Like I said, a day before, I was cooking a meal, and she’s
there like, “Mom can I help you?” “Yeah, you want to cut onions?” So, I was teaching
her how to cut. When they see me do that, “mom can I help?” “Okay, come and learn.
Just flip it, wrap.” You know, because I’m teaching them, they are learning. Or to make
donuts again. You’re mixing it. You’re teaching them at the same time. So, when they get
older they know how to mix it =. Oh, she likes cultural dancing. The Chamoru tradition
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 103
dancing and all that. She enjoys that, so I love going there to support her, and knowing
that she wants to learn our culture. Yes, Chamoru. It’s part of the Chamoru class.
In these two pieces of evidence, Carmen defined and enacted her role as a Chamoru
parent when it came to ensuring her child was successful non-academically. Carmen’s example
aligned with two concepts in the conceptual framework. The first is parent-focused role
construction, and the second is Chamoru ways of being. She was responsible for teaching her
children about the Chamoru culture, the religion, the traditions and how to celebrate life.
Carmen believed non-academic teachings were important for her daughter to learn and
she actively taught her daughter knowledge and skills such as serving others, learning to work,
and cooking. Her experience aligned with the research of Calzada et al. (2015). These
researchers used focus groups made up of Dominican and Mexican mothers of preschoolers and
found that “respect, family, and religion were the most important values that mothers sought to
transmit to their children” (Calzada et al., p. 259). Although very little is written about Chamoru
parent involvement, Carmen’s explanation of non-academic teachings parallels the Latino
literature of respeto and educación. Durand (2011) explained a study on Mexican families by
Goldenberg and Gallimore (1995) where parents’ definition of education “did not center
exclusively on academics, but included morality, proper behavior, good manners, and respect for
elders” (Durand, 2011, p. 259).
Exploring the Latino body of literature helped to understand other cultures and ethnicities
and how they approach non-dominant perspectives on what it means to be a parent. This also
aligned with my research objective of looking at Chamoru parents’ involvement and where they
locate themselves in either the Western or indigenous perspective. In Carmen’s case, she was
located on the Chamoru indigenous perspective. This evidence also indicates that she was
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involved in teaching her children non-academic knowledge and skills. Carmen’s example speaks
to how Chamoru parents value teaching their child more than just academics but also other
knowledge and skills to help them be able to live in the world. The Chamoru value of poksai was
also evident in Carmen’s data. Carmen made the time to teach her daughter.
This next example is from Teresita. She said,
We are such a giving culture, so I teach my kids not to be stingy because, now, the
American way is “Oh, we cannot eat that” because it’s not store bought. But sharing is
really part of our culture, so to share with everyone is to show that you care. I always try
to teach [them to share.] I will always try to ask everyone don’t grab. At least ask, and
then maybe he won’t be so stingy, so he want to go and do it all by himself or whatever.
That time, I see it.
From this statement, Teresita defined and enacted her responsibility in her child’s non-
academic needs by sharing her belief and behavior when it came to cultural value of sharing.
Teresita’s concern in the shifting landscape of Chamorus adapting to more “American ways”
aligned with the research by Torsch (1996) who examined the impact of socio-cultural and
political-economic changes to the elderly experience in Guam. Diego (2010) commented on
Torsch’s study by saying,
The study revealed that the adoption of the American values of individualism and
material culture adversely affected Chamoru value of cooperation, reciprocal obligations,
status and respect for the elderly within the traditional extended family system and
community…Sharing practices in the systems of reciprocal family obligation and
chenchule’ have been weakened by individualistic pursuits. Her findings revealed the
resulting disparity in contrast to the communal nature of indigenous societies which
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 105
emphasize group needs, cooperation and the sharing of resources within the extended
family network and community. (pp. 142–143)
The way Teresita believed and enacted her involvement in teaching her son about sharing
is an example of a parent involved in educating the next generation on Chamoru cultural values.
Her example aligned with inafa’maolek, ayuda, and poksai. Teresita’s example also aligned with
the concept of parent-focused role construction. Teresita viewed the child learning and sharing
practices based on Chamoru kustumbre as being important for the child’s development.
Teresita’s example lands her more in the Chamoru space than Western. She tried to teach the
Chamoru value of sharing. She gave an example of not grabbing. Although she did not say the
Chamoru word for sharing, she did approach the teaching of her children using poksai. She
nurtured her children to live the value of sharing, which is connected to the Chamoru principle of
inafa’maolek. The story was told during ancient times of a Spaniard named Sancho who
ridiculed a Chamoru named Sinaro. Sinaro took revenge on Sancho by stabbing him. Sunama,
the chief, rushed to the side of Sancho and, along with the folks from the village, they combined
their resources and shared in helping Sunama, their chief (Cunningham, 1992). This story
demonstrates how Chamorus work and share their resources to bring about harmony. The
Chamoru prefix inafa denotes to come together and faomaolek means to fix, make good or make
right. This coming together and trying to make things right is the spirit of inafa’maolek. It is the
spirit of interdependence.
Another example for the fourth theme comes from Jose. He stated,
How to make a living for himself. How to hunt. How to prepare food. How to, you know,
look for it. Basically, I am trying to teach them the important values, which is if don’t got
much at the time you can go do these kinds of things to get something out of it. Yeah,
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 106
like hunting you can go get deer, pigs. You don’t have to worry about the food ’cause
you can split it up or something, so it’s basically how to, how to survive mostly. Yeah,
try to live off the land.
In this statement, Jose defined his involvement in his son’s non-academic needs. He
explained his desire for his son to live off the land. The example he gave was hunting. Jose’s
example aligned with poksai and ayuda as well as parent-focused role construction. He explained
that teaching his son to hunt means the son can turn around and hunt food for the familia siha or
sell the meat for money. Jose believed teaching his son to live off of the land was integral to
indigenous knowledge and the values that emphasize relationships and the natural world (Cajete,
2000). Hare (2011) added that the land was a source of knowledge and that land-based
experiences were central to identity formation and a way of life. The space that Jose engaged
himself in was more Chamoru than Western.
All three of the examples from Carmen, Teresita and Jose speak to how these parents
taught their children knowledge and skills that were beyond academics yet are important in
preparing the children to live in this world. The need to learn how to work, how to live Chamoru
values and the need to learn how to live off of the land resonated with these parents. The data
also manifests how they engaged in the process of transmission of cultural knowledge and skills
with their elementary-aged children.
Finding 2: Inside-School Involvement: Chamoru Parents’ Views and Experiences
Finding two focuses on how participants viewed and experienced inside-school
involvement. The data revealed parents volunteered their time in classrooms and activities plus
attended parent-teacher organization meetings. The data also revealed how parents grew their
social capital networks by being involved at the school and connected with other parents when
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 107
they helped with field trips or when they organized teacher directed academic activities for
school. Within finding two, there are two themes: parents’ perceptions and experiences with how
they volunteer, attend school activities and contact school staff and parents’ perceptions and
experiences with growing their social capital networks. Each theme includes an overview,
evidence, analysis of evidence which contains the connection of the evidence to the conceptual
framework, examination of the Chamoru and/or Western space the parent found him/herself in
and whether or not the evidence manifested the Chamoru principles of inafaʹmaolek, ayuda,
and/or poksai.
Theme 1. Chamoru Parents’ Views and Experiences with how they Volunteer and Attend
School-based Activities, and Contact School Staff
In reviewing the literature, academic socialization was defined as the means by which
parents supported their children’s education and learning (Epstein & Sanders, 2002). Suizzo,
Pahlke, Yarnell, Chen, and Romero (2014) mentioned McWayne, Hampton, Fantuzzo, Cohen,
and Sekino (2004) claimed that academic socialization includes both school involvement such as
volunteering in classrooms, attending conferences and activities and home-based involvement,
such as engaging children in learning activities, discussing school with children, and conveying
high educational expectations.
In this theme, the focus was on parents’ experiences of volunteering, attending school
activities and contacting school staff. In the conceptual framework, I tentatively incorporated the
construct of parent-school partnership. The idea was that I would find examples of parents who
worked in concert with the school to help their children academically. As mentioned earlier, the
evidence showed not a partnership but more of how the parent was involved inside the school.
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 108
In this theme, I feature parents who shared their perspectives on what it was like to be
involved with inside the school activities. Based on the data, some parents saw the child’s need
and sought out help outside of the school. The literature mentioned that parents who volunteer at
the schools play a major role in many aspects of school life such as aiding the teacher in the
classroom and helping equal out the adult to child ratio on field trips or out of classroom
activities (Mutch & Collins, 2012). Other literature noted parent participation in the school
included attending parent-teacher association meetings, attending one-on-one meetings with the
child’s school official, and also attending parent-teacher conferences (Domina, 2005). From the
data, I learned the perspectives and experiences of Chamoru parents and their views of inside-
school involvement.
The data in this theme revealed seven parents talked about how they volunteered,
attended school activities and contacted school staff. What follows are examples from the data.
The first is that Antonia believed volunteering and attending school-related activities made her a
more informed parent. She said,
Lately, they [parent-teacher organization] have been fund raising to make new benches
for the school. I am always participating to help my kid be really comfortable and his
school better. I am all in. Also, you know, what is going on at the school, what holidays
are coming up, what activities are coming up.
Antonia’s example of how she volunteered to help fundraise for the parent-teacher
organization was what Mutch and Collins (2012) pointed out as a means for parents and teachers
to collaborate for the good of the school and the ultimately benefit of the student. Antonia’s
example mentioned her efforts to help the school acquire benches and how, in turn, these efforts
helped her child to be comfortable at the school. She also said that how she volunteered helped
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 109
the school be a better place for her child. Her example sheds light on how Antonia takes interest
in her son’s learning school environment. Her example demonstrated she was willing to help
fundraise for school needs like the benches. She knew this would impact her son somehow.
Antonia’s presence in the school afforded her inside information on upcoming holidays
and events. She also mentioned how she wanted to insure her son was comfortable at school and
that was the reason she helped with fundraising for benches and shows that she desired to
provide a comfortable environment for the child at the school. This spoke to how she nurtured
her son.
Another example was from Maria, who believed that, as a parent, she could choose to
volunteer and/or attend school-related activities. She said,
I think they [her children] would say, “She picks and chooses.” Because I do pick and
choose when it comes to things with the school and it’s not because I want to.
Sometimes, it’s because of my situation, car transportation at that moment, at that time,
or another family engagement. Like I said, I weigh which one would be more important
and, usually, it’s the family. Oh, there was one recently. Our school had one for our grade
level. It was a fundraiser, and the whole school was invited, so my son is part of that, and
he was asking me. It happened during Sunday. He said “Are we going? Are we going to
the fundraising?” And I said, “No I don’t feel so good. I feel kind of groggy.” You know,
and just to get up and go out, and I kind of felt for him because, you know, he’s my
young boy and he probably wants to meet his classmates and stuff like that, but he was
okay. And I don’t know if I really upset him or not. He ended up staying home and
watching TV with me and just relaxing.
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 110
From this statement, Maria defined and enacted her involvement by choosing what
activities she attended. Unlike Antonia, Maria was more selective in her approach to being
involved inside school. Maria mentioned her reasons for being selective were due to
transportation or family engagements. Researchers have suggested that roles are composed of
beliefs about what one should do and the behaviors through which those beliefs are enacted
(Biddle, 1986; Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1997). In Maria’s example, she described her life
context, which, at times, might involve limitations on transportation or the need to meet familia
siha obligations (Marsh, n.d.). Maria’s example aligned with the construct of parent-life context
(Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler 1997; Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2004). Maria’s example also
described a parent who engaged in both Chamoru and Western ways. She was careful in
choosing what she would participate in. In this example, she chose not to go to the child’s school
activity and stayed home instead. Some of her other reasons for not attending school activities
were due to not having means of transportation and family obligations. The latter reason, family
obligations, does ties with inafa’maolek and ayuda.
The next two examples address how participants contacted the school’s staff to help their
children. The first example is from Josephine. She was the mother of two, the older of whom had
special needs and attended a Department of Defense school in southwest Guam. At the time of
the interview, Josephine lived in a multi-generational home. She believed and recommended
that, through active academically-focused relationships between parents and schools, the
children’s educational needs were improved. Her example is about her daughter who had a
disability. She said,
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 111
I worked closely with the teacher. We are involved in an IEP plan, and they teach certain
things in her classroom, and I would communicate with her to teach us so that we can
apply that same learning ability at home.
From this statement, Josephine defined and enacted her involvement in the child’s school
by working with the school on her child’s individualized education program (IEP) plan.
Josephine’s example aligned with the concept of the inside-school involvement and the construct
of parent-focused role which was part of the conceptual framework. She communicated with the
school, so they could learn as parents and try to apply the same at home. Based on Josephine’s
example, I assert that her experience was positive and proactive. Researchers on the topic of
parent involvement with disabled children identified barriers such as being less confident in their
abilities, and lacking social, cultural, and economic capital necessary to effectively advocate on
their children’s behalf. In addition, working-class parents might have little flexibility to attend
IEP meetings or other school events and tend to be less involved (Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2005;
Rodriquez, Blatz, & Elbaum, 2014). In the case of Josephine, she was very involved with her
daughter’s academic/school needs. She was proactive about communicating with the teachers
about her child’s IEP. Although not evident in Josephine’s response, the child’s school appeared
to be proactive in their approach with communicating with Josephine.
Another example is from Katalina. She was the parent of two sons who attended a public
elementary school in what was considered an urban area of central Guam. She lived in a multi-
generational home. The eldest of the two children had recently been evaluated as having a
learning disability. Katalina believed and recommended that, through active parent-focused role
construction and inside-school involvement, the relationships between parents and schools
helped to meet the educational needs of her sons. She said,
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 112
Actually, yes, with Doug. When I found out that he was having difficulty learning, that
learning disability he had, that’s what actually affected me more than I thought it would
because you don’t wanna see your kid suffering like that, or suffering at all. So, when
that came to the picture, that’s when I turned to my mom, and I told her what’s going on
and that I didn’t know what to do. So, she told me there’s programs in the school that will
help him, so I need to go. As a parent, I need to go and do that, so he doesn’t suffer as
much as he did. That’s what helped me was my mom, throwing out options, and then
that’s when I sat down, and I was thinking about it. Then, I got up, and I fixed the
problem. He’s actually going through a program at school that’s helping him. Yes, [I]
mainly [work with] the teacher. We go through the program that Doug’s…I’m always in
contact with the teachers. If there’s any problems, or if they need my consent with
something regarding my child, she takes the time, and I appreciate that because she keeps
me informed.
Based on this statement, Katalina addressed the learning disability her son had. This
example aligned with the constructs of parent-focused role construction, social capital network
and inafa’maolek. Katalina talked about how she saw her son suffering. This led her to do
something about it. She turned to her mother for advice. This action speaks to Katalina using her
social capital network and inafa’maolek. Her mother helped Katalina by letting her know that
Katalina could get help for her son through the school. Katalina approached the school about her
son, and, just like her mother said, Katalina was able to get the help her son needed. Now, she
stays in contact with the teacher. She was able to get reports on her child’s progress and check if
the school needed her consent for the child. She was developing her role as a parent of a child
with a learning disability. Her example aligned with the work of Rodriquez, Blatz, and Elbaum
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 113
(2014). In speaking to schools involving parents, school personnel could demonstrate cultural
sensitivity by getting families’ input on long-term transition goals that are important to them
(Rodriguez et al., 2014). She learned that talking to her mom was the right thing to do. From
there, she learned to contact the school and have her child tested. The principle of inafa’maolek,
was real for Katalina as she learned that she needed to collaborate with others to get the help the
child needed.
The data in this theme revealed participants’ views and experiences on how they
volunteered, attended activities, and contacted the school staff. Parents volunteered by helping to
provide the child with a good school environment. Another parent was selective in what
activities she attended, and a couple of parents sought help for their children and became partners
with the school to get the academic help their children needed. Each parent differed in the
Chamoru and Western space they found themselves in. Each parent also varied in the Chamoru
principles that fit the context they found themselves in.
Theme 2. Parents’ Perceptions and Experiences With Growing Their Social Capital
Networks
Social networks may play a role in how parents define and enact their involvement in
their children’s academic lives (Bourdieu, 1977, 1986; Coleman, 1988). In this theme, the data
revealed three parents developed their social capital networks while they volunteered and/or
attended school-related activities. There were two examples. The first is from Teresita. Teresita
believed that volunteering and attending school-related activities would grow her social capital
network. She said,
Oh, it would have to be knowing more parents. Being more involved with them, you
know. It would have to be the Head Start year, where we had to…I was actually the
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 114
president of the parent group. So, getting together with the other parents to help with
school activities like, especially, we went to Underwater World. I was the one who
actually scheduled them to go. So, I had helped with other parents with that, too.
From this statement, Teresita showed her involvement when her son was in Head Start
and the things she was able to do to help the group plan a field trip to Underwater World.
Teresita’s example aligned parent-school role construction and social capital. She explained that
being president helped her grow her social capital network. She became acquainted with other
parents and helped inform them of school functions. Through her social capital, Teresita
facilitated the flow of information among parents. She talked about helping the parents know of
upcoming school activities and, in general, helped the parents (Coleman, 1988). Teresita’s
example encompasses a network of relationships among the parents. One of the benefits the
network afforded the parents was access to information. Another was support from other parents
in the network. At the same time, the parents gained insight on school norms and how those
norms enhanced the children’s success in school. Teresita’s words do not openly demonstrate
whether she engaged in more Chamoru or Western ways. Her action of taking the lead might
come across as being assertive and very Western in approach. Yet, in reality, she was applying t
inafa’maolek and ayuda, so I assert that she did live those principles.
The next example is by Katalina. Katalina believed that volunteering and attending
school-related activities grew her social network. She said,
[I]t actually does [grow my social network] because meeting other parents and seeing
how they interact with their children’s school, it brings me ideas as well [as] to how I
approach their-my children’s school life.
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 115
From this, Katalina defined the belief of being involved with other parents for the benefit
of her children as being important to her social capital network. Katalina’s example aligned with
parent-school role construction and social capital. Katalina’s example demonstrates how social
capital is a collective phenomenon where relationships thrive among individuals. Social capital
facilitates the flow of information, so Katalina openly stated how she saw other parents interact
with the school (Coleman, 1988; Horvat et al., 2003). Katalina’s example mirrors Teresita’s in
terms of benefits the network affords the parents. Katalina’s example does not lend itself to
prescribing whether she approached this space more as Chamoru or Western. When it comes to
inafa’maolek and ayuda, she defined her experience as being helpful and that, in turn, will help
benefit her children.
This theme of how interviewees viewed and used their social capital networks helped me
understand how parents helped their children with their academic needs. The examples shared
were of bridging social capital. One parent talked about her role as she organized a field trip for
the class. There was no direct mention of its correlation to the child’s academic success, yet the
parent experienced being involved inside the school, specifically her son’s class, thus benefiting
the child indirectly. The other parent talked about the benefits of being with and learning from
the other parents. She got ideas on how to help her son’s school life. The parent who organized
the trip might sound Western because she took the initiative to help. Yet, a closer examination
and application of Chamoru principles found the use of inafa’maolek and ayuda as the parent
cooperated with the teacher, school, and other parents. The second piece of evidence was a more
indirect application of inafaʹmaolek and ayuda. She saw the ideas she learned from other parents
as ways that can help her improve the academic lives of her children.

CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 116
Conclusion
Together, the findings and the themes provided perspectives of these 10 Chamoru parents
in Guam and how they defined and enacted involvement in their elementary-aged children’s
academic lives. In many ways, the findings confirmed these parents were involved in their
children’s academic learning. The data also confirmed the desire of these parents to ensure
growth and learning in the non-academic development of their children.
Their desire to attend to outside of school and in-school activities was evident given the
data. The data did show a few parents straddling both Chamoru and Western ways. Closer
examination of the data show how inafa’maolek, ayuda, and poksai were intricately woven into
the parents’ enactment of their beliefs and enriched the analysis. The data revealed the parents’
desires to help their children with academic and non-academic needs outside of school through
homework, talking to the child, getting help for the child, teaching the child to work, and
teaching the child to live off the land. Their use of social capital networks also demonstrated the
realness of both bonding and bridging social capital. Also, they recognized how social capital
networking helped both outside- and inside-school involvement. In all, these parents’
perspectives on involvement told of their challenges and successes as they helped their children
academically.

CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 117
CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION
The study examined Chamoru parents’ involvement in their children’s academic lives. I
set out to discover how the parents viewed and experienced involvement both outside and inside
school. At the time of the study, there was relatively little known about Chamoru parental
involvement in Guam (Watt, 1988). The purpose of this study was to learn how these parents
involved themselves in their children’s academic lives. Designed as a qualitative study using a
multi-case study methodology, I sought to answer the following research question: How do
Chamoru parents in Guam define and enact involvement in their elementary-aged children’s
academic lives?
To answer this question, data were collected through interviews with 10 Chamoru parents
of elementary-aged children attending either public or private schools in rural or urban areas.
Pseudonyms were used for each of the parents to protect the parents’ identities. All data were
transcribed using word processing software. During the a priori phase of coding data, I used the
comment option in the word processing software to insert open codes. During the axial coding
phase, the data were transferred from the word document onto Excel spreadsheets, which
involved the creation of workbooks for each construct and the axial codes associated with them.
The next phase consisted of building analytic memos to tie in how the evidence helped answer
the research question. Analysis involved select evidence from each of the parents, identification
of the construct from the conceptual framework that aligned with the evidence, and the research
literature that either supports or refutes the evidence. I also looked at the evidence to see how
participants located themselves in Chamoru or Western way using the constructs of the Chamoru
principle and values of inafa'maolek, ayuda, and poksai. Two findings and several themes
resulted from this process.
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 118
Overall, this study found Chamoru parents were involved with their children both outside
and inside of the school. Although context varied from parent to parent, consistent with the
larger literature on parent involvement (Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1997; Hoover-Dempsey et
al., 2005; Walker et al., 2004, Walker & Hoover-Dempsey, 2008), the data revealed parents
helped with their child’s academic needs. There were commonalities and differences among the
parents’ beliefs and experiences. Parents used their social capital networks (Bourdieu, 1977,
1986; Coleman, 1988; McNeal, 1999) to help their children academically. Examples of both
bonding and bridging capital (Foley & O’Connor, 2013, Thorpe et al., 2013) emerged from the
data.
The data revealed that parents were either straddling Chamoru and Western ways or were
more located in either. The use of inafa’maolek, ayuda, and poksai (Cunningham, 1992) helped
to determine where the parents located themselves. Examples of inafa’maolek were times when
the parents sought help among clan members or friends to help their children academically.
Examples of ayuda were instances where parents helped their children understand and also help
the teacher. Examples of the values of poksai were moments when the parents taught and helped
the child. By knowing if and how they straddled both Chamoru and Western ways, I saw the
struggles parents had with both outside- and inside-school involvement. Struggles with outside-
school involvement occurred when parents had difficulty helping their children with their
Chamoru language assignments. The parents’ struggle to speak and write the language caused
them to go to clan members for help. Other examples come from parents struggling to do math
homework. Some parents used their social capital network to assist their children. Struggles
parents had with inside school involvement included not being able to make school-sponsored
activities or meetings due to work.
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 119
Finding 1: Chamoru Parents’ Outside of School Involvement: Helping Their Children with
Academic and Non-academic Needs
Four themes that emerged from the first finding, all pointing to parent involvement
outside the school. The first theme was constructing the parent’s role to help with the child’s
academic needs. The data revealed parents were supportive of their children’s academic needs.
The parents constructed their roles through helping with homework, reading to the child, talking
to the child about school, and creating routines/structure for the children to do homework
(Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1995; Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1997; Hoover-Dempsey et al.,
2004).
The second theme was coaching the child about school life and their responsibilities.
Almost all parents talked to their children about school. In these conversations, the parents
discovered the children struggled with homework or classroom challenges. Fewer than half of
the parents expressed how they approached coaching their children. One coached her daughter
on what to say and do. Another coached his son not to be afraid to speak up. These strategies did
help their children at school (Calarco, 2014).
The third theme was leveraging social capital networks to help with the child’s academic
needs. Parents employed both bonding and bridging social capital to get help for their children’s
academic needs (Bourdieu 1977, 1986; Coleman, 1988; Foley & O’Connor, 2013; McNeal,
1999; Thorpe et al., 2013). The parents often sought out help within the clan for Chamoru
language-related homework. Others sought help from others outside of the clan for ways to teach
their children certain subjects.
For the fourth theme, nurturing the child’s non-academic needs, the parents viewed it as
their responsibility to teach their children Chamoru indigenous knowledge and skills, not just
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 120
school-related subjects. They spoke on how to approach teaching their children non-academic
things through modeling. For example, a parent taught the value of serving others. Another
parent taught the Chamoru value of sharing and taught her children not to grab because that
demonstrated being stingy. Another parent believed it is important for his son to live off of the
land through hunting and fishing.
Finding 2: Inside-School Involvement: Chamoru Parents’ Views and Experiences
There were two themes within the second finding. Both themes addressed how parents
were involved inside the school. The first theme was that participants’ views and experiences
with volunteering, attending school-based activities, and contacting school staff. The data
revealed some parents engaged in these activities. Most of the interviewees worked, and this was
a reason only three volunteered at the school. When it came to attending school-related activities,
all parents expressed either being there for their children or finding clan representatives to do so.
Six parents said they would contact school officials on matters concerning their children. Seven
said they went directly to the teacher. Most of these parents worked and were interested in their
children’s academic needs (Appendix B).
The second theme, parents’ perceptions and experiences with growing their social capital
networks, focused on both bonding and bridging social capital (Foley & O’Connor, 2013;
Thorpe et al. 2013). Three parents reported bridging social capital. One organized a field trip for
her son’s Head Start class. Another attended activities for her sons and met other parents.
Another asked a friend how she helped her son to learn a certain math problem. In all these
instances, parents grew their social capital. They gained more information about the school. They
learned from the other parents about how they do things to help their children academically.
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 121
Something else that emerged from this theme had to do with navigating the
responsibilities that come up for the clan (Cunningham, 1992; Foley & O’Connor, 2013). The
parents were given a scenario which entailed responsibilities for the child at school and the clan
that happen at the same time and on the same day. What would they do? Most of the parents
(n=7) would contact the clan member(s) and inform them that they were going to take care of the
child’s school needs first. When asked how the clan member(s) responded, they reported that the
clan said, “come when you can.” The process of informing the clan speaks to how these parents
value familia siha and how they showed respect by informing the clan they needed to take care
of the child first. The other three parents would either forego the child’s school responsibility or
would need more information to decide because it depended on what the clan responsibility was.
It is also evident infa’maolek, ayuda, and poksai guide participants’ approach
involvement in their children’s academic lives. These values and principle were present in the
way they constructed parent roles and enacted involvement. Some parents are more Chamoru
and others are more Western, but the extent is not easily measurable. What is evident is that they
construct their parent roles to navigate the overlapping of cultures in a way they feel was most
beneficial to their children.
Implications and Recommendations
The study also presents a glimpse into how participants straddle Chamoru and Western
ways of thinking. This was accomplished through the constructs in the conceptual framework of
inafa’maolek, ayuda, and poksai (Cunningham, 1992). The study contributes to the limited
research on how Chamoru parents on Guam locate themselves in this Chamoru and/or Western
space as they help their children with their academic needs. Misco and Lee (2012) reported
Hattori (2011) addressing the combined “forces of globalization, urbanization, popular culture,
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 122
and the presence of the U.S. military influence on the transformation of the Chamoru culture” (p.
24). This study contributes to the thoughts that Chamorus have overlapping identities being both
indigenous to the Marianas and being part of the United States (Misco & Lee, 2012). This study
provided insight into what these overlapping identities might look like through the interviewees’
experiences.
This dissertation suggests schools implement policies that cater to working parents.
School leaders do not do enough to plan events when parents are available. How well are the
parents being informed about in relation to what is taking place on campus? The sample showed
eight parents worked. Some worked two jobs. In some cases, both parents worked. Based on the
data, one recommendation for practice is that schools assist parents understand homework the
children bring home and make sure working parents have opportunities to attend parenting
workshops.
Another implication is that schools do not use the best methods to communicate with
working parents about school-related items. The parents in the study showed that they help or
seek out help for their children. More than often, they sought help among clan members or
friends. Being a working parent may have contributed to the choice of approach. One
recommendation is that schools establish a parent homework helpline. This might be a way in
which these parents could seek help from school personnel with their children’s academic needs.
Teachers are encouraged to involve working parents in other ways by working with the familia
siha.
Implications and Recommendations for Practice
Chamoru parents today, who were raised during the time when it was not acceptable to
speak Chamoru, struggle with helping their children who are now learning Chamoru in school.
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 123
How does that make them feel as parents? This implication is a reality for several of the parents I
interviewed. I recommend that, as educators and policymakers, we become aware and sensitive
to these parents.
Implications and Recommendations for Policy
With regards to parents who were raised during the time when it was not allowable to
speak Chamoru and now do not speak the language, I recommend policies that provide resources
to these parents to engage them in the learning of the language in ways that will raise their sense
of efficacy with regards to the language. Doing so will afford them the wherewithal to help their
children with their Chamoru language assignments. This also will be a powerful move to restore
to them the language of their ancestors which they were not privileged to converse in.
At the policy level, the Guåhan school district can look at current policies and regulations
to see how they help or diminish helping the working parents. They can also revisit the
information they provide on how the parent, especially the working parent, can be involved in
school (Mutch and Collins, 2012). Teachers are encouraged to look not just at mother and father
for support but also to extended family members such as grandparents, aunties, uncles, older
siblings and all who encourage school responsibility (Kaomea, 2012).
Implications and Recommendations for Further Research
In the process of the study, I struggled with the limited availability of work on Chamoru
parental involvement. This study is a start. Additional studies on parental involvement with
middle- and high-school-aged children is also recommended.
The study revealed respondents had a difficult time helping their children with Chamoru
language-related homework. I searched for research on the issue and found none. This led me to
suggest this as a possible topic for future research. This study gave a glimpse of the struggle
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 124
parents face because they cannot understand or speak the language. Instead, they find a clan
member who can assist their children with homework. More research on how large this gap is
would aid the Guåhan school district’s approach to this phenomenon.
This uneven distribution of sampling did not work in this study’s favor. I could not make
inferences towards urban or rural experiences because of an overrepresentation of rural parents
and an underrepresentation of urban parents. The other limitation was the sample of parents
whose children attended private schools. Future studies could focus on whether rural and urban
settings influence parent involvement and in what way. The same can be said of attendance at
public or private schools and how parent involvement may differ within those settings.
Another area for future study is to identify literature that addresses Chamoru
epistemology. The limited body of knowledge on the topic was a challenge as I evaluated the
data to establish whether the parent was communicating more Chamoru or Western ways. This
was a struggle for this study and posed a great limitation when compared to the literature on
other Pacific indigenous cultures. There is a need to add to the body of knowledge available on
this epistemology.
Conclusion
This study sought to understand how Chamoru parents in Guam defined and enacted
involvement in their elementary-aged children’s academic lives. The study found that Chamoru
parents either teach their children at home or to seek help from clan members or others outside of
the clan to help their children academically. The findings also showed a distinction between
outside-school and inside-school involvement. Although the study did initially contain the
construct of parent-school partnership, the data did not demonstrate presence of that type of
activity among the parents interviewed. This is not to preclude that parent-school partnership is
CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 125
not present in the lives of Chamoru parents in general and the schools their children attend. This
merely was not evident in the data from the sample for this study.
This study focused on Chamoru parent involvement with elementary-aged children’s
academic lives. Future studies of Chamoru parent involvement with middle and high school-age
students are also needed. Moreover, the study also provides a basis for further research into SES
as a factor in their involvement. Parent-and-school partnership is another topic worth
investigating in the future. This study also discovered parents who do not comprehend the
Chamoru language need help themselves in order to help with their children’s homework. This
study also brought an awareness of the challenges pertaining to inside-school involvement. The
high incidence of working parents is reason for schools to find new ways to communicate and
encourage inside-school involvement. The value behind this study is that it focuses on Chamoru
parent involvement and studied qualitatively. It contributes to the need for studies on Chamoru
epistemology.

CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 126
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CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 140
Appendix A
Screening Handout

CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 141
Appendix B
Findings, Themes, Actions, Typicality
Finding Theme Actions Parents took for their Children Typicality
1. Outside of School
Involvement: how
parents helped their
children with
academic and non-
academic needs
1. Constructing their
role to help with
child’s academic
needs
Viewing homework as helping child
academically/Struggling with understanding
the homework
10
Reading at home 2
Talking about school 8
Talking about educational goals with child 7
Creating schedule/routine and rules for
doing homework
8
2. Coaching the child
about school life and
his/her responsibilities
Encouraging child to ask questions in class 3
Encouraging child to ask the teacher for
help
2
Encouraging child to speak up if something
is wrong
4
Talking to Child about Bullying 1
3. Leveraging their
social capital
networks to help with
their children’s
academic needs
Seeking help from clan on child’s Chamoru
language homework (Bonding Capital)
5
Learning academic approaches from other
parents outside of clan (Bridging Capital)
3
4. Nurturing the
child’s non-academic
needs
Teaching indigenous knowledge and skills
is also a responsibility, not just what is
cared about in the context of the school
5
Desires child to learn the language, cultural
customs, values, beliefs
5
2. Inside-School
Involvement:
Chamoru parents’
views and
experiences
1. Parents’
perceptions and
experiences with
volunteering and
attending school-
based activities
Volunteering at school 3
Attending Parent-Teacher Organization 1
Attending Parent-Teacher Conference 6
Volunteering resources 1
Attending School-Based
Activities/Meetings
10
Contacting school officials 6
Contacting teacher 7
2. Parents’
Perceptions and
experiences in
growing their social
networks as part of
their social capital
Seeking clan’s approval to forego clan
obligations for child’s school events
(Bonding Capital)
7
Collaborating with other parents to help
with school-related activity/event (Bridging
Capital)
3

CHAMORU PARENT INVOLVEMENT 142
Appendix C
Constructs of Initial and Updated Conceptual Model

Abstract (if available)

Abstract In Guam, the Chamoru have weathered centuries of change in the political and educational arenas. This study explored ways parents assisted their children at home and in school to understand the perspectives and approaches of parents in Guam. The sample consisted of 10 Chamoru parents. The purpose of this study was to address the question of how these parents define and enact involvement in their elementary-aged children’s academic lives. This qualitative multi-case study included interviews, and a majority of the sample was from rural rather than urban settings. Findings revealed parents being involved with both outside and inside of school activities.

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Creator Ram, Rosalind Reyes Meno (author)

Core Title Examining parental involvement at the elementary-level: the Chamoru perspective

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Education (Leadership)

Publication Date 01/11/2018

Defense Date 10/27/2017

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag academic needs,case study,Chamoru,Chamoru epistemology,Chamoru indigenous epistemology,Chamoru language,Chamoru ways of thinking,elementary-level,epistemology,Guam,homework,indigenous language assignments,interviews,non-academic needs,nurture,nurturing,OAI-PMH Harvest,overlapping identities,parent inside school involvement,parent involvement,parent outside of school involvement,parent role-construction,parent volunteer,parental involvement,qualitative analysis,qualitative research,social capital networks,social capital-bonding network,social capital-bridging network,social network

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Advisor Slayton, Julie D. (committee chair), Green, Alan (committee member), Hayes, Kathy (committee member), Ka'ili, Tevita (committee member)

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