This case study outlines the struggle for desegregation and the adoption of culturally responsive curricula in the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) as it attempted to balance state politics and federal court oversight. The case offers a detailed illustration of the political and legal events that led up to the adoption, elimination, and…

This Chicana Critical Feminist Testimonio reveals a Mexican/Mexican-American Ethic of Care and Testimonios of struggle and survival informing curriculum and pedagogy of one Mexican/Mexican-American female educator of predominantly Mexican/Mexican-American students. This work is part of a larger ethnographic study conducted through multiple…

This paper reports on a case study that was conducted at five high schools from a large, urban school district located in South Texas. The purpose of the study was to gain an understanding of Algebra 1 teaching strategies. The research questions were: (1) What is the predominant mode of instruction for Algebra 1? and (2) What is the level of…

This case study examines the founding of a high school in a developing rural area in Washington and the school's efforts to serve a changing and diversifying population. Having been expropriated for the war effort in the 1940s, the town of Mattawa (Washington) was rebuilt after the war, but high school students were bused to other school districts…

Three bilingual Mexican-American children labeled language disordered were observed at home and school. Linguistic, discourse, and social competencies differed between the two children not judged language disordered by their parents and the one child who was, suggesting that only the latter was truly language disordered. (21 references) (SV)

A 3-year case study of a Houston (Texas) high school demonstrates that high stakes testing is an alienating feature of schooling. The need to pass the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills to graduate discourages many Mexican American and immigrant Mexican students from completing high school or considering college. The English-only nature of the…

Select student interns from Indiana University spent 6-15 weeks teaching in schools of the Rio Grande Valley in south Texas. An ethnographic study explored ways that cross-cultural teaching experiences affected cross-cultural awareness, self awareness, attitudes toward culturally relevant teaching, understandings of bilingual education, and…

This book aims to provide a better understanding of Mexican American high school students and their struggles with ethnicity, Americanization, prejudice, schools, and life's purposes. In most Anglo minds, these students are characterized by exceptionally high dropout rates and poor school performance, without any explanation for this performance…

In 1994-95, a study identified over 50 Texas schools that were heavily impacted by poverty but had high scores on state achievement tests. Specifically, the schools received Title I funds and were implementing Title I schoolwide programs, and at each school, over 60 percent of students met free or reduced-price lunch criteria; at least 70 percent…

Focusing on four Mexican American women from migrant farmworker backgrounds and one woman recently immigrated from Mexico, the study explored the attitudes and experiences of the Mexican American culture considered important by Mexican American migrant women themselves. Extensive open-ended interviews, conducted mostly in the women's homes, were…

A local university worked with a Texas elementary school serving mostly Mexican Americans to implement a two-way bilingual program, provide inservice and graduate course work for faculty, provide parent training, connect with the community, and provide field experiences for undergraduate bilingual education teachers. Test scores and community…

This book explores race relations between Mexican Americans and Anglo Americans in "Middlewest," a fictitious name for an actual rural Idaho community with the highest proportion of Mexican Americans in the state. Many Mexican Americans in this predominantly agricultural area are current or former migrant workers. The first chapter…

The purpose of this paper is to present an argument for understanding the factors that support or constrain the development of Chicana/o students' academic identities and consequently, their academic resiliency in high school. The article draws on a larger study investigating ways that schooling structures and teacher mind-sets can sustain…

A study by the Texas Education Agency examined the variables contributing to the academic success of economically disadvantaged and language minority students. Data were collected from seven high-achieving elementary schools with high poverty rates and high percentages of limited English proficient (LEP) students via teacher questionnaires;…

Challenging conventional wisdom that Mexican Americans were passive victims of their educational fates, this book examines the Mexican American struggle for equal education during the 1960s and 1970s in a California community "Brownfield." It looks at responses of a predominantly White school system and community to the growing number of…