Background/Context: Early childhood education in the United States is currently suspended between the belief that young children learn through dynamic experiences in which they are able to create and experiment, and the belief that young children's emerging literacy and math skills require formal instruction and assessments to ensure future…

This article features Lourdes Catholic School, a small Catholic school where students grapple with life and learning in the shadow of two nations. The school, which is governed by the Minim Daughters of Mary Immaculate, is located in Nogales, a desert mountain town straddling the line that separates Arizona from the Mexican state of Sonora. Though…