Latino Youth Education Policy Statement

With the American dream progressively elusive for and exclusive of Latinos, there is an urgent need for empirically and conceptually based macro-level policy solutions for Latino education. Going beyond just exposing educational inequalities, this volume provides intelligent and pragmatic research-based policy directions and tools for change for U.S. Latino Education and other multicultural contexts. U.S. Latinos and Education Policy is organized round three themes: education as both product and process of social and historical events and practices; the experiences of young immigrants in schools in both U.S. and international settings and policy approaches to address their needs; and situated perspectives on learning among immigrant students across school, home, and community. With contributions from leading scholars, including Luis Moll, Eugene E. Garcia, Richard P. Durán, Sonia Nieto , Angela Valenzuela, Alejandro Portes and Barbara Flores, this volume enhances existing discussions by showcasing how researchers working both within and in collaboration with Latino communities have employed multiple analytic frameworks; illustrating how current scholarship and culturally oriented theory can serve equity-oriented practice; and, focusing attention on ethnicity in context and in relation to the interaction of developmental and cultural factors. The theoretical and methodological perspectives integrate praxis research from multiple disciplines and apply this research directly to policy.

This critical case study exposes the educational realities of Latinos in K-12 public schools in the Western United States from the students’ own perspectives. Issues that are often over simplified and commonly misunderstood are brought to life. Their accounts are then compared with the viewpoints of a range of K-12 teachers on matters of community, learning, race, culture, and school politics.

Will the United States have an educational caste system in 2030? Drawing on both extensive demographic data and compelling case studies, this powerful book reveals the depths of the educational crisis looming for Latino students, the nation’s largest and most rapidly growing minority group.Richly informative and accessibly written, The Latino Education Crisis describes the cumulative disadvantages faced by too many children in the complex American school systems, where one in five students is Latino. Many live in poor and dangerous neighborhoods, attend impoverished and underachieving schools, and are raised by parents who speak little English and are the least educated of any ethnic group.The effects for the families, the community, and the nation are sobering. Latino children are behind on academic measures by the time they enter kindergarten. And while immigrant drive propels some to success, most never catch up. Many drop out of high school and those who do go on to college—often ill prepared and overworked—seldom finish.Revealing and disturbing, The Latino Education Crisis is a call to action and will be essential reading for everyone involved in planning the future of American schools.

Despite their numbers, Latinos continue to lack full and equal participation in all facets of American life, including education. This book provides a critical discussion of the role that select K–12 educational policies have and continue to play in failing Latino students. The author draws upon institutional, national, and statewide data sets, as well as interviews among students, teachers, and college administrators, to explore the role that public policies play in educating Latino students. The book concludes with specific recommendations that aim to raise achievement, college transition rates, and success among Latino students across the preschool through college continuum. Frances Contrerasis an Associate Professor of Higher Education in the area of Leadership and Policy Studies in the College of Education, University of Washington in Seattle “Prof. Frances Contreras is one of the nation’s leading authorities on Latino educational problems and on policies that will effectively address these. This book presents a unique and incisive analysis of the Latino educational achievement gap and its connections to concomitant gap in educational opportunities for Latinos. This very readable book combines rigorous scholarship with clearly stated policy recommendations. It should be read by all who are interested in understanding and addressing one of the most serious problems of our times.” —Jorge Chapa,University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign “Rich in data and social context, Contreras presents a compelling and comprehensive picture for the collective need to invest fully in the education of our Latino youth. As important, she delineates a bold public policy pathway for Latino student success that encompasses K–12 and higher education.” —James M. Montoya,Vice President, Higher Education, The College Board “This book offers valuable insights and productive recommendations for addressing a critically important topic: how to improve educational equity for Latinos, one of our nation’s fastest-growing but most-underserved populations.” —Laura Perna, Professor, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania

The federal government has based much of its education policies on those adopted in Texas. This book examines how "Texas-style" accountability—the notion that decisions governing retention, promotion, and graduation should be based on a single test score—fails Latina/o youth and their communities. The contributors, many of them from Texas, scrutinize state policies concerning high-stakes testing and provide new data that demonstrate how Texas' current system of testing results in a plethora of new inequalities. They argue that Texas policies exacerbate historic inequities, fail to accommodate the needs and abilities of English language learners, and that the dramatic educational improvement attributed to Texas' system of accountability is itself questionable. The book proposes a more valid and democratic approach to assessment and accountability that would combine standardized examinations with multiple sources of information about a student's academic performance.

The purpose of this study was to further investigate how one successful comprehensive high school serving a large percentage of Latino students builds collegegoing culture. The study examined two perspectives on college-going culture; that of the school staff (including administrators, school counselors, and teacher leaders), and of first-generation Latino students that have been admitted to a 4-year college. In addition, the study included a walkthrough to look for physical evidence of college-going culture. The researcher employed the qualitative tradition of case study to answer the research questions. All data were audio recorded, transcribed, and coded for themes After thematic coding and analysis, several themes emerged. The themes were broken down into categories: overlapping themes among educators and students, student themes, and educator themes. The overlapping themes among educators and students were: high expectations and rigor, schoolwide college-focused activities, school counselor support, and positive peer pressure. Student themes included: teacher caring and support, and familial influence. Educator themes included: common mission statement, Academic Literacy Plan, and systems of support. While many studies have looked at what Latino students attributed to their enrollment in college, few studies have looked specifically at the college-going culture that was created at the school site and how that impacted their decision to enroll. The findings have implications for educational leaders in terms of how they may foster and create a college-going culture that supports Latino students in accessing postsecondary education.

Demonstrates how educators and policymakers should treat the intertwined nature of immigrant education and social progress in order to improve current policies and practices. Offering a much-needed dialogue about Latino demographic change in the United States and its intersections with P–20 education, US Latinization provides discussions that help move beyond the outdated idea that Mexican and Spanish (language) are synonyms. This nativist logic has caused “Mexican rooms” to re-emerge in the form of English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) transitional programs, tagging Latinos as “Limited English Proficient” in ways that contribute to persisting educational gaps. Spencer Salas and Pedro R. Portes bring together voices that address the social and geographical nature of achievement and that serve as a theoretical or methodological resource for educational leaders and policy makers committed to access, equity, and educational excellence.