Study on How to Close the Achievement Gap in the Hispanic Population

Early Childhood, Social Work and Humanitarian Development and Family Science are the topics I chose for my concentration. My passion to work with families from different backgrounds is the main reason I chose the topics. My dream has always been to work with families that have gone through the same issues in life as me. For instance, I can relate with the case of early childhood because I work in the school system as a family Service Assistant. This line of work exposes me to working with parents and children from the between 2-4 years thus giving me a push to help this group particular group of people who are not natives of America. In the focus of Social Work, the majority of people I work with are families of Hispanic and other backgrounds different from Americans. These families are modest and unaware of the cultures and tradition of Americans. Also, the reason why I settled for Human Development and Family science discipline is because of the experience I have in working with these Hispanic families in focusing on their structure and different systems of family life.

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My research interest is:

How to close the achievement gap among children between the age of 2-4 through Family Engagement in the Hispanic Population?

The achievement gap is the difference in academic performance between groups of students. I aim to focus on these gaps that exist among children aged 2-4 years in the Hispanic population. I, however, experienced challenges with this question when it comes to the part of finding the exact ages of the children since on several occasions the journal uses children above the age of four. Also, poverty is an issue facing these vulnerable families with low income of the Hispanic population meaning that it would not be entirely possible for focus on the subject of the achievement gap in education without addressing it.

The primary reason for this research study is because it is evident that the people from these Hispanic communities are ever away from their children's lives because of many different reasons. Among these reasons is the fact that many parents are undocumented and have decided to migrate. Another reason for parents being away is because the females among the Hispanic population have been raped and abused by their husbands and gangs. Time also is a factor as the adults in the families work extra hours to make a living because one job is not enough to take care of the family. Children are therefore left behind with babysitters for many hours since their mothers also work for more extended hours. Parents are not involved in the schooling of their children not because they do not want but because of the different circumstances that are understandable and justifiable at some point.

More disciplines are needed to provide more research focus on the issue of achievement gap because there is a need for more data that will compliment on my work. Also, through my disciplines and others of the same interest, I can draw theoretical information that will help achieve what I intend to accomplish. Different disciplines have developed standard procedures such as direct communication to aid the gathering and collection of data needed. The standardized data answer questions such as who, what, and where among other specifics on the collection of data of the three disciplines (Bazerman, 2010).

Question (ii)

In the discipline of early childhood, children between ages 2-4 years from the Hispanic families do not get enough affection and attention from their parents. This, therefore, means that the parents are not available to give first lessons that a child needs when they grow up. This makes them less enlightened by the time they need to join a school. Hispanic children start school at late ages with undeveloped academic skills as compared to American children. Considering human behavior as a factor, early childhood characteristics develop as a result of overlooking persistent inequity family experiences. Porter & Morris (2016) highlight that schooling plays a significant role in perpetuating disparities in education but the limited role of the family in raising the children at a tender age contributes to an increasing problem. Additionally, the physical adaptation including geographical characteristics of growth adds to the gap of achievement in school. Through this study, I hope to reduce the achievement gap by identifying the needs that the children of the Hispanic face such as parental attention and care at an early age. For instance, by offering children between ages 2-4 years enough parental attention and care needed for growth means that they will have access for early childhood home education that is mostly provided by the parent.

In the social work discipline, I can learn about the dynamic issues that are faced by the Hispanic population and other families of the immigrants. As a social worker, I deal with parents and other members of families from these immigrant groups. The results of the study I conducted by asking questions to those I interacted with shows that the achievement gap in schools widen because of the life experiences that the children face. These experiences include the abandonment and little concern from parents as they grow. To reduce this gap, I hope to bring the parent to the attention that child schooling is as important as their work and therefore making sure children attend school is a mandatory step towards reducing the achievement gap. Social work allows me to give one on one information to the parents of the children.

Family science as a discipline paved the way for me to study the close interpersonal relationships of the immigrant folks. Humanitarian discipline also assisted in my understanding of the family structures of the Hispania families. Adopting a research methodology of an interview, the results showed that some parents had left their homes and children behind because of lack of legal documents to allow them to stay or secure job in America. This affects the children psychology causing them to grow lives with no parent figure. Focus on the gap in kindergarten performance indicated a disparity in performance between American children and immigrant children thus this study aims at pushing for the need of parents of Hispanic children securing passports and decent jobs to allow them to spend more time with their growing children. BIS 300 prepared me for the use of standardized methods of collecting data such as direct question and answer session in exploring more in the disciplines I am studying. The techniques used to answer research questions in my field of work are standardized methods such as survey methods involving the use of interviews and one on one or direct communication.

Question (iii)

My project intends to move towards finding more solutions of family engagement to contribute in the closing of the gaps among children of ages 2-4years Through my project; I want to know if there are any programs similar to my research question. Each of my disciplines can add more support and information that can increase the credibility in the research. My project may be adopted to help address the issue of achievement gap among children of the Hispanic population through the disciplines of early childhood, social work and Humanitarian assistance and family science. Early childhood discipline will help in the understanding of human behavior including psychology and sociology among children. Social work will assist in studying the dynamics of life including the physical objects such as geographical information affecting the parents of the youngsters and Humanitarian, and family science will help me to understand the dynamics of parenting among the Hispanic population. The author Froma Walsh has been influential in developing the direction of my study because she wrote Normal Family Process which has helped me to understand more family styles and the reason why some parenting styles are beneficial or not for the families (Walsh, 2012).

ReferencesBazerman, C. (2010). Creating knowledge. The informed writer.

Potter, D., & Morris, D. S. (2016). Family and Schooling Experiences in Racial/Ethnic Academic Achievement Gaps. Sociological Perspectives, 60(1), 132-167. doi:10.1177/0731121416629989

Walsh, F. (Ed.). (2012). Normal family processes: Growing diversity and complexity. Guilford Press.