Role of Parents & Family

Puente instructors create and foster a familia-like environment to provide students with the support and motivation likely to enable them to succeed in furthering their educational goals. Parent and family involvement and participation are also important to help achieve these goals. Puente counselors and instructors work to acknowledge the social and cultural identities of students' families and to integrate those identities into the program. Counselors are encouraged to involve family members or guardians as active participants in the high school program and to provide them with opportunities for leadership by involving them in the planning and execution of Puente activities.

"Puente gives parents the building blocks to support their children, and it helps them be the key to their children's success."
— W.N. Grubb, C.M. Lara, S. Valdez, Counselor, Coordinator, monitor, mom: the roles of counselors in the Puente Program. Educational Policy.16, 557-571 (2002)

"86% of principals, head counselors and English department chairs at Puente high schools said their schools have been changed by Puente, largely due to huge increases in parent involvement."
— P. Gandara, Professor of Education, UCLA