Traditionally, contact between Spanish and indigenous languages is described using stage theory. However, there are exceptions to these stages, best understood as accounts of the results of basic constraints on human cognition and the geographic and demographic conditions of contact. The exceptions in several languages of Mesoamerica and the U.S.…

Affirmative action policies have played a critical role in promoting equal opportunity for both Latino faculty and Latino students in higher education. Affirmative action, one of the social programs that evolved from the civil rights movement, was aimed at increasing opportunities employment and education for historically underrepresented groups…

Cultural competence assumes greater importance in the United States as international relations shift and the United States changes its own demographic makeup. Hispanics have significant health care needs and cultural beliefs that influence their acceptance of service. As part of an effort to build cultural competence in undergraduate social work…

Research on African-American and Latina/o youth has been dominated by studies that focus on "problem" adolescent behavior. Typically, they explain youth crime, delinquency, and violence as individual pathological behavior or cultural adaptations stemming from social disorganization in their communities. This article argues for a more…

While the academy has made real efforts at creating opportunities for people of color in the last several decades, real integration remains wanting. In the majority White, upper-class academy, people of color are often seen but not heard. Working from the experience of the author--a first generation Latino in higher education--this piece examines…

This article features the life of Robert "Cyclona" Legorreta and his Fire of Life/El Fuego de la Vida Collection. In this article, the author critically deploys "homosexual" not only to capture Legorreta's self-identification but also to argue for the importance of "situated knowledges" about same-sex desire in relation to art, political action,…

This brief reviews and analyzes issues surrounding public school financing, particularly for Latino communities and elementary school and secondary school education. A review of the current legal debate notes that there have been legal challenges to school financing since 1967, and that rulings have indicated that government has a responsibility…

Minority group students perform less well than White students in elementary mathematics and science education. Strategies for increasing learning for minority students include the following: (1) greater use of textbook illustrations; (2) career strand applications; (3) community field trips; (4) textbook supplement through multicultural resources;…

This publication reproduces the keynote address delivered by the author at the annual conference of the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE) in March 2009, in San Antonio, Texas. In her essay, the author discusses the significance of the growing Hispanic presence through the lens of education. To frame the challenges--and…

An historical perspective reveals that sophisticated mathematical activity has been going on in the Latino culture for thousands of years. This paper provides a general definition of the area of mathematics education that deals with issues of culture and mathematics (ethnomathematics) and defines what is meant by the term Latino in this essay.…

The English-only movement is about more than language; underlying it is bigotry against non-White, non-English-speaking immigrants. The term "Hispanic" is itself a Census Bureau creation which ignores the cultural and linguistic differences between such groups as the Mexican, Cuban, and Nicaraguan immigrants. The argument that a single…

Highlighting challenges facing leaders of Hispanic communities and colleges with predominantly Hispanic enrollments, this paper identifies some of the federal sources of assistance that should be explored to meet those challenges. First, information on Hispanic participation in the U.S. educational system is presented, focusing on low retention…

The paper cites changes in demography which make critical the need for improved policy and practice in serving bilingual exceptional students. A 1984 study of identification and placement of 111 Hispanic and non-Hispanic students in learning disability programs in an urban school disrict in Texas compared student characteristics, membership of…

The National Council of La Raza applauds the recent efforts of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to increase its overall effectiveness by changing its organizational structure, modernizing its information systems, and improving its public image. However, in a number of important areas, the INS still faces grave problems. While…

School desegregation can no longer continue to be an exclusive black and white issue. With demographers predicting that Hispanics will be the largest minority in the U.S. at the turn of the century, educators are facing the difficult challenge of integrating this minority into the mainstream of American education. Despite a quarter century of…