Since 1980, Chicago's United Neighborhood Organization (UNO) has been a major player in school reform, organising Mexican-American communities to build a neighbourhood high school, founding a local technical institute, passing radical school governance reform, and launching a major charter network. At UNO's apex in 2013, a corruption scandal…

Federal and Arizona educational policies challenge U.S.-Mexico border educators to meet the diverse needs of bilingual, bicultural students while also being required to use instructional pedagogies that offer monolingual and monocultural schooling experiences. Ethnographic research captures American schooling experiences of Latino…

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 in-depth case shows how five Mexican-American community college students use their "pedagogies of survival" to build resistance and navigate through the barriers of community colleges. Pedagogies of survival emanate from social, cultural, economic, and historical struggles of the students, their families, and their communities which…

Reports findings from an exploratory investigation of a comparatively low dropout rate in a predominantly Mexican American school district (Calexico, California). Although many features contribute to the district's ability to retain students, these are best understood as interrelated parts of a complex system. The most important factor appears to…

Increasing numbers of Mexican teenagers immigrate to the United States illegally to work, and few find their way to school. Instituto del Progreso Latino--an alternative high school in Chicago--serves these youth successfully. Youth agencies must provide services that allow these youth to attend school and discourage gang involvement. (SV)

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…

High- and low-achieving Mexican American students were selected from a database that included 2,169 Mexican American students in three California high schools. A sense of belonging to school was the only significant predictor of student grades, but family and peer support and certain cultural influences also contributed to resilient outcomes.…

Among 150 Mexican immigrant students followed throughout their careers in a Los Angeles high school, those who had entered U.S. schools after 2nd grade had lower graduation rates than those entering in grades K-2, but this was not related to differences in English proficiency, at-risk status early in high school, or family or peer factors. (SV)

A survey of 226 Mexican-American mathematics students at a Texas high school found that student attitudes toward mathematics were not very favorable, with female students' attitudes being more negative than those of males. There was a greater occurrence of traditional, teacher-centered activities in all classes in comparison to nontraditional,…

This digest addresses factors that may influence college completion and academic success for Hispanic students, particularly Mexican American students, enrolled in community college and four-year institutions. Recent research suggests that institutional practices in high schools have much to do with the low postsecondary participation rates of…

Dropout rates for Hispanic students are approximately twice those of white Anglo students. This paper reviews the literature on dropout and examines the effects of self-esteem, career and school expectations, family structure, and English language proficiency on the Hispanic youth's decision to drop out. A questionnaire was completed by 139…

The purpose of this research was to identify the self-reported factors affecting the career decision making of Mexican and Mexican-American students. It was hypothesized that the factor clusters would differ between the two sample populations, Mexican and Mexican-American. It was also hypothesized that these clusters would differ from six clusters…

Investigated social pressure to avoid acting white, interviewing relatively high achieving African American and Mexican American students in public and private high schools. Most did not avoid academic achievement to avoid accusations of acting white, and most reported no loss of ethnic identity. They felt strong resentment toward peers'…

In 1992 the Texas Education Agency selected 83 schools to participate in its Partnership Schools Initiative (PSI), which had the goals of improving outcomes for students and closing the performance gaps among various student groups. The schools were allowed flexibility in the process used to achieve these goals. One of the partnership schools,…