The academic achievement rates of urban Latino students are significantly lower than those of non-minority youth. To date, most of the research on this topic has focused on learning and motivational characteristics of underrepresented youth in elementary and middle school and much less on urban high schools. This study investigated variables…

This article describes passing for English fluent among Latino immigrant children. A two-year ethnography of eight Latino immigrant families was conducted in which fifth-grade children were followed in home, school, and community contexts. This article presents passing as a consequence of U.S. race relations. Their reasons for presenting…

This article contains a description of the Dual Proficiency (DP) program in an urban elementary school located in the heart of a large south-western city, as well as the teachers who designed and now implement DP, and the immigrant community participating by choice in DP. We write from a context where, ironically, the number of English language…

This report explores how sociocultural factors affect reading engagement, literacy learning, and achievement among a diverse group of learners. The report examines previous theory and research on motivation in the area of reading (reading engagement) from a sociocultural perspective. It describes a study that examined the issue of reading…

A study examined family influences on reading motivation in Latino children. Surveys and interviews with 18 Latino students in an urban southwestern elementary school and their parents indicated that as domestic workload increased, the value children placed on reading decreased. The more time families spent together and on religious literacy…

Examined the relationship between Latino paraeducators and the teachers with whom they worked within two elementary schools with predominantly low-income, Hispanic students. Observation and interview data indicated that paraprofessionals engaged almost entirely in low level activities and had access to only a narrow set of the practices in which…

A study investigated the attitudes and beliefs of three groups of third- and fourth-grade classroom teachers (special education pull-out, bilingual credentialed, and bilingual waivered, n=18 per group) concerning the reading assessment of Latino language minority students. Data were gathered from semi-structured interviews, a written…

Although the special education system has become a central institutional mechanism for addressing school failure and low achievement, it is a system unresponsive to the needs of Chicano students. Despite the severity of problems of school failure for Chicano students, interactions with the special education system have largely been characterized…