This dissertation examines the different aspects of education policies and their socioeconomic implications through three distinct research papers. The first chapter investigates the causal impact of grade retention in primary school on juvenile crime in Chile and it was written jointly with Juan Diaz, Nicolas Grau, and Jorge Rivera. Utilizing a…

Chilean data show that a large reading-proficiency gap exists between students with high and low socioeconomic status (SES), that most children do not see themselves as readers, and that half of adolescents read below grade level (Agencia de Calidad de la Educacion, 2019; Consejo Nacional de la Cultura y las Artes, 2014). To understand the reasons…

This study discusses the results of a content analysis of 75 Latina biographies for primary and pre-adolescent students that were published over a 16-year period, spanning from 1995 to 2010. Significant to this study was how Latinas were represented in the biographies and what changes can be seen over time. Using a rubric based on research by…

In this dissertation, I address the issue of social inequalities in education and the role of the education system in confronting them. The project involves two main parts, one empirical and the other conceptual. In the first part--chapters 1 and 2--I address the practical dimension of how to reduce social inequalities in education by exploring…

This teacher research study examines the literary talk and classroom community that emerged during Book Club meetings, fishbowl discussions, and a Retrospective Reflection session which transpired in my fifth grade classroom over the course of two thematic units. Themes of cultural awareness and belonging served to help students flesh out social…