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Open Access Knowledge and Scholarship

Date of Award

12-2017

Culminating Project Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Child and Family Studies: Family Studies: M.S.

Department

Child and Family Studies

College

School of Education

First Advisor

Jane Minnema

Second Advisor

Karin Ihnen

Third Advisor

Ming-Chi Own

Fourth Advisor

Kyounghee Seo

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Keywords and Subject Headings

immigrant refugee hmong parents parent involvement

Abstract

One of the largest Asian ethnic group in Minnesota are the Hmong. Its population has continuously increased since 1976. Many Hmong were not educated before they settled to the United States, as immigrants or refugees they encountered many barriers. Language and transportation was a problem for many, which hinder them from being involved in their child’s education. Therefore, the purpose of this research project is to examine Hmong immigrant and refugee parents’ perception and attitudes toward their child’s education, homework help, and school participation in K-12 education. The focused participants in this study include a sample of seven Hmong immigrant and refugee parents. Qualitative data collection methods included a face to face semi-structured interview in English or translated in Hmong as needed. The end results defined how parents perceive child’s education, educational experiences as an immigrant or refugee parent, barriers of parental involvement, and frequency in parental involvement.

Comments/Acknowledgements

First and foremost, I would like to dedicate this thesis project to my mother, Nhia Vang and my father, Kong Yang for being the most supportive parents throughout all my years of schooling. Without them my educational successes would not have been possible. I especially thank my parents for being my motivation to complete this study, and most of all for everything they have done for me. I would not have been able to do it without their moral support and unconditional love.

I would also like to express my gratitude to Karin Ihnen, Ming-Chi Own, Kyounghee Seo, and most importantly to Jane Minnema for serving on my committee, guiding me throughout the process, and contributing to my research. Without the support of my committee members, this thesis project would not have been successful.

Furthermore, I would like to acknowledge my younger sister, Nelsie Kalia Yang, for her wholeheartedly support and belief in me and finally, I would like to thank my down to earth best friends Kalia Lee, Mai Kou Vang, and Song Vang for their valuable input, words of encouragement, and time.

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