For engaging Latino parents—

• Start no later than upper elementary to introduce the idea of planning for college
  
• Speak the parents' language
• Host small group meetings of parents that have something in common rather than all-school events; make meetings convenient and comfortable; use face-to-face or telephone invitations rather than letters or flyers
• Invite guest speakers from similar backgrounds to share their experiences
• Reinforce basic college information often and in a variety of ways
• Address special concerns of parents, such as children's safety on campus, undocumented status, financial aid
• Provide opportunities to meet individually with college representatives to allow privacy and build trust
• Help parents explore the college process as a group, for mutual support
• Acknowledge barriers that Latinos face in college access, discuss strategies to overcome them

• Provide information on educational requirements for particular jobs—internships, lectures from the business community, career days, youth apprenticeships, job shadowing, mentoring
• CTE programs establish working relationships with private industry, economic development agencies, workforce investment boards
• State-funded early-commitment scholarship programs, partnerships with businesses and foundations, help with college and financial aid applications
• Collaborate with post-secondary institutions—visits to college campuses, shadow students, dual-credit programs

• Parental involvement is related to the amount of information they have regarding college, so targeting lowest-SES parents would produce highest pay-off
• Provide parents with general, concise, clear information on college costs
• Enlist college personnel to explain to parents the importance of early curriculum planning
• Establish school partnerships at the elementary level, where parental involvement can be fostered

For engaging Latino parents—

• Offer parent-child activities
• Promote parents' advocacy and leadership skill development
• Establish home-school liaisons, create cultural and linguistic bridges
• Learn about and understand the neighborhoods in the community, consult with community and religious leaders and local chambers of commerce
• Provide workshops to help parents understand report cards and long-term impact of curriculum choices
• Assign teacher or counselor to interact with local parent clubs
• Foster welcoming atmosphere—create family center, post signs in Spanish, have interpreters available, follow up with parents who attend school events
• Include parents on a task force or site-based management team

• Enlist advocate groups to distribute materials containing college knowledge
• Target specific populations and address challenges such as limited English proficiency and access to Internet
• Enlist community government, foundations, organizations to fund outreach materials and information campaigns
• Provide support and training for teachers and guidance counselors to distribute college knowledge
• Enlist colleges to provide information on steps necessary for college admission and choices that must be made
• Focus early intervention plans on college planning and bring parents into the process
• Secure funding from government, private sector, colleges, other stakeholders for support programs
• Reach out to parents concerning courses necessary for college and offer college planning workshops before students begin the application process

• Ensure that parents and students are aware of college entrance requirements, including entrance examinations, applications
• Assist parents and students in setting goals and evaluating them annually; develop a learning plan or individual graduation plan
• Notify parents annually whether their child is on track for graduation
• Provide information to parents on financial aid eligibility, how to apply for aid

• Increase the quality and quantity of information available to parents on college entrance and financial aid
• Encourage and provide counseling for parents to help develop and maintain student aspirations, academic preparation, and college enrollment
• Build close partnerships with colleges

• Provide a variety of high-quality tools to aid underserved students and their families with college preparation
• Involve leaders at all levels in creating policies, programs, and practices to help students in post-secondary transition
• Make parents and families aware of their part in preparing students for college
• Provide guidance to parents in supporting their child's school achievement, college aspirations, and post-secondary success

• Prepare teachers for parent involvement—benefits of it, key areas they can affect
• Let parents know that they have a strong influence on their child's post-secondary success
• Encourage parents to keep lines of communication with child open and show that education is important
• Increase parental awareness of school policies and curriculum—print communications, parent mentoring programs, family resource centers, Web site, brown bag meetings, teacher-parent meetings
• Inform parents of positive news, to get them more involved and responsive to outreach

• Provide information to parents in the home language
• Alternative approaches for working parents—lunchtime workshops, "engage parents where they are and when they are available," meetings on weekends, college-going program at local church, online information
• Parents' guidance advisory committee to develop college-related activities, at least one program per grade level each year
• Ensure that college recruitment materials are available to all students
• Increase availability of early information on financial aid
• Increase parents' knowledge of full range of post-secondary options

• Increase access to resources, training, and information families need to help their child succeed
• Maintain regular, two-way communication between families and schools
• Welcome families as full partners in school activities and decision making
• Provide access to a wide range of tools to engage families in children's learning
• Schedule meetings, workshops, conferences at times that are convenient for parents
• Provide training to school staff
• Translate information into parents' home language
• Provide child care
• Form partnerships with local community groups, nonprofit organizations, businesses, government, and religious groups
• Encourage parents to talk with children about future goals and what is needed to reach those goals and to attend college and career expositions with their children
• Implement programs to help parents explain college requirements and costs, discuss the importance of personal growth, and raise awareness of the decision-making process to attain goals
• Use a variety of formats to explain assessment information to parents and students and show how it relates to future goals
• Encourage parents to meet and communicate with teachers and counselors early in their child's education career
• Districts should develop and implement a plan for involving parents

• Begin college readiness in middle school
• Explain to students and parents the effect of a challenging curriculum on their future educational, career, and income options
• Use multiple sources of information, including standardized assessments, to inform students and their parents of progress toward college readiness
• Work with families to calculate college costs and form a plan to cover these costs