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In an effort to help close the Hispanic achievement gap, Wheaton High School is reaching out to the school's Hispanic community by holding monthly Spanish-language meetings that encourage parents to get more involved in their students' education.

Carlene Murray, one of the school's assistant principals, said many of the Hispanic students are first-generation Americans, which means their parents have a language and cultural barrier the school has to make an effort to overcome.

Murray said it's important for Latino parents to know what resources the school has to help with their child's education.

"It's amazing how many parents don't realize what is available to them right in the community," she said.

The meetings, held at the 12601 Dalewood Drive school, range from highlighting after-school homework programs to job fairs.

Close to 150 parents showed up last week for the first meeting of the school year, which focused on enrichment programs at the high school.

Marco Antonio Fuentes, who has a 15-year-old son at Wheaton and doesn't speak English, said without the Spanish event he wouldn't have known about the school's homework assistance programs.

It was important to tell Spanish-speaking parents about free lunchtime tutoring and an after-school homework center because in addition to being the school's largest population, Hispanic students also have the lowest grade-point average than any other group at the school, Murray said.

Last year, 64 percent of Hispanic students at Wheaton High School were ineligible for sports and other activities because their grade-point average was less than a 2.0, she said.

"We needed to focus on our Hispanic community," Murray said.

Parents were also shown how to access their students' grades through an online database. They were given an account number, received lessons on the program and were told they could use the school's computers to check their children's progress at anytime.

Murray said she hoped last week's meeting gave parents the tools they need to motivate their children.

Graciela and Juan Carlos Gutierrez said they attended Hispanic parent night for that very reason. Their daughter is a freshman at Wheaton High School and, for whatever reason, it's been difficult to make sure she does her homework, they said.

"It's like [she] lost interest," Graciela Gutierrez said.

The couple said they wanted to learn how to stay involved in their daughter's education as well as find activities she can participate in.

The information about Wheaton Sports Academy's after-school sports program at the school matched the needs of many parents, Murray said. It requires students to attend the school's homework center from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. three days a week before they can play video games, athletic games and even win prizes such as iPods or Nintendo Wii sets.

The overarching reason for Hispanic parent nights, Murray said, is to convey to the Hispanic community that the school is a parenting resource for them.

"We're here. We are willing to help you; willing to work with you," Murray said.