A study examined the beliefs and attitudes of Mexican-trained educators regarding instruction for minority and language minority students in light of assumptions that students experience better outcomes with culturally and linguistically compatible teachers. Fifteen educators who received their teacher education in Mexico, and whose native…

School board associations in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas jointly commissioned this report to identify common issues in K-12 education along the United States/Mexico border. Surveys returned from 206 school districts within 100 miles of the border indicate that this is a diverse and historically impoverished region with a growing…

Buffalo Creek Elementary School in Houston, Texas, has been recognized for its success in serving its students--approximately 600 low-income Hispanic children in grades preK-5. A study of the school, which sought to develop a detailed picture of school effectiveness, identified 33 indicators of success. Each of these indicators is briefly…

The U.S.-Mexican border is an extensive geographical region that is socially and economically distinct from either the United States or Mexico. It has always been a multilingual and multicultural place. This book examines the social and cultural complexities of life in one small rural border town and its high school. Chapter 1 describes Havens,…

Interviews with 32 Mexican-descent college students examined teacher actions in high school that had impacted students' academic success. Positive and negative teacher actions were described in the areas of cultural understanding, stereotypes, expectations of students, and exclusion from or inclusion in classroom activities. Recommendations for…

Introduces a framework for high school retention efforts based on the findings from a study of 84 young Mexican American women who were first in their families to attend college. The framework provides the means for bridging educational gaps by supporting the strengths of these young people and by reducing barriers to educational achievement.…

This report examines factors that influenced low-income Mexican-Americans from homes with little formal education to achieve high academic status. Although over one third of students in California's public schools are Hispanic, only a small fraction of these students complete a university education. Fifty Mexican-Americans (30 men and 20 women)…

This volume contains 18 summaries of research on parental involvement, carried out by inservice teachers completing a Master's degree in multicultural studies. All but one of the participants were certified Texas teachers working in bilingual and English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) education. Their research critically examined many facets of the…

A survey examined the reading and writing practices, educational attitudes, and family background of 38 Mexican-American fathers with children in grades K-2 in Los Angeles County public schools. Literacy practices examined included reading and writing within and outside the home, alone, or with their children. Subjects were divided into four…

This study documents the struggles and successes of three Mexican American teachers over a 40-year period in the Alice Independent School District, Texas. In order to focus on the construction of the subjects' identity as Mexican American teachers, the interviews were transcribed and categorized into themes: parental influence, school experiences,…

A bilingual, bicultural program in the Edgewood Independent School District in San Antonio, Texas, part of the Experimental Schools Program, was designed to reverse "negative self concept, motivation, and attitudes" of its Mexican American students, and by so doing, improve their academic achievement. Efforts were employed to: (1)…

A South Texas survey conducted in 1975 investigated the reading performance of Mexican American students enrolled in a bilingual program to determine whether or not students achieved significantly different reading scores on parallel Spanish and English versions of an appropriate test (Guidance Testing Associates Inter-American Test of Reading).…

To explore the relationship of four sets of factors on Mexican American and Anglo American students' desire to take science courses (enjoyment of science, grades, importance of science, and self image), data were gathered from ninth grade students at three high schools in southern Arizona, by using questionnaires for students and interviews with…

Compares 86 Mexican-American secondary school students in Houston, Texas, who had and 90 students who had not received bilingual instruction in elementary grades. Finds small difference in grade point average (GPA) and absenteeism and fewer dropouts/retentions among bilingual program participants. Finds more years of bilingual instruction…

Examines effects of socioeconomic status, school funding, English proficiency, and Latino population concentration on achievement scores of students in grades 3, 6, and 12 in 66 rural California school districts. Performance on the California Assessment Program was predicted primarily by parental socioeconomic status, and, unexpectedly, improved…