St. Paul, Minn. – Senior sociology major Rosa Druker, Champaign, Ill., has been awarded third prize in the 53nd Annual Midwest Sociological Society Student Paper Competitions.

In her third-prize paper “Supporting Strategies: Rethinking Parental Involvement for Latino Immigrants,” Druker examined how Latino immigrant parents approach their children’s elementary and middle school education. Druker conducted Spanish-language interviews with parents in the Twin Cities, finding that all informants placed a high value on their children’s education, despite the multiple barriers they faced. Most informants relied more on home-based forms of involvement, such as encouraging their children and relying on cultural frames. A smaller number of parents also adjusted their understanding of their roles to fit the expectations of school’s. Druker’s findings indicate that programs promoting in-school parental involvement risk overlooking how Latino immigrant parents’ work with their children could contribute to student success.

Druker will receive her prize and present her paper at the Annual Meeting of the Midwest Sociological Society in Chicago in April.

The Midwest Sociological Society (MSS), founded in 1936, is a professional organization of academic and applied sociologists as well as students of the discipline. While the MSS membership area formally includes nine states – Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, Kansas, South Dakota and North Dakota – more than one-third of the members are from other parts of the nation and the world.

Macalester College, founded in 1874, is a national liberal arts college with a full-time enrollment of 2,138 students. Macalester is nationally recognized for its long-standing commitment to academic excellence, internationalism, multiculturalism, and civic engagement. Learn more at macalester.edu.

February 4 2016

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