The goal of the research was to learn about the opinions of Texas college students on the death penalty and to determine the impact that prior interaction with the criminal justice system through incarceration or employment had on their opinions. A sequential, explanatory mixed methodology was implemented during the data collection, analysis, and…

A Dissertation in Practice was conducted which connected theories of action and Yosso's (2015) community cultural wealth framework to address the absence of diverse parental perspectives and oversight at Freedom Middle School in South Texas. Platicas with seven parent volunteers and a parent engagement survey available to all Freedom Middle School…

In this qualitative case study, using Freire's theory of critical consciousness development, we examined the influence of a 1-credit immigration policy service-learning course on college students' motivations to act against immigration injustices. We found that after witnessing immigration issues at the Lower Rio Grande Valley area in Texas,…

This article describes the use of video-cued multivocal ethnography (VCE) in the Civic Action and Young Children Study conducted with preschool children in South Texas. We detail how and why we continue to use the VCE method as a process of collective reflection and analysis with participating communities. We also explore how VCE helps us enact…

Using testimonios as counterstories, we--a Latina/Indigenous immigrant and white U.S. male--examine our professional trajectories while noting changes that shaped our identities as educators and researchers within a bilingual teacher preparation program. The dual purpose of this paper is: (1) to highlight our struggles as bilingual teacher…

This essay explores the institutionalized master narrative of public institutions and how the mandated policies enacted by public institutions impact social studies teachers when they are delivering instruction to their students. A socio-transformative constructivist framework guides the essay in order to affirm that knowledge is socially…

This article traces how Mexican American Studies (MAS) scholar activists led and supported a statewide movement for MAS in Texas. As a Xicana feminist scholar activist, Saldan~a draws from her retrospective memory and personal archive of organizational notes, movement documents, personal testimonies before the State Board of Education, and photos,…

Contrary to the charge that advocacy-oriented research cannot meet social science research standards because it is inherently biased, the authors of this article argue that collaborative, community-engaged scholarship (CCES) must meet high standards of rigor if it is to be useful to support equity-oriented, social justice agendas. In fact, they…

It is estimated that 1.6 billion students were displaced from the traditional school building in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic (UN, 2022; IMF, 2020). While the drastic change in how society normally functions was a shock for everyone, children and historically marginalized people suffered disproportionately severe impacts (GHO, 2022; UNESCO,…

In this paper, we entangle Latino/a youth activism with ritual culture in U.S. higher education. Specifically, we analyze ethnographically-generated data from Gildersleeve's (2015; 2016) study of Latino graduation ceremonies, emplacing our analyses within new materialist philosophy. We theorize the Latino graduation ceremony as assemblage…

Leadership takes on a tone of urgency when we are struggling for justice. At the same time, the right to lead -- the agency to embrace a leadership identity -- can also feel more distant when we are marginalized by the dominant society. For bilingual education teachers working with immigrant communities, the development of critical consciousness,…

In this descriptive and comparative study, we present results highlighting the complexity and scope of the challenges facing rural districts as they navigate the changing demographics of the students and families they serve. Rapid increases in the number and concentration of racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse students in rural areas…

At a Texas community college, stakeholders wanted to strengthen the financial literacy module offered in the student development course for undergraduates. The problem was that no formative data existed on students' financial literacy, and it was not known if knowledge of financial literacy for students who participated in a prior financial…

During the past several decades, historians have investigated various aspects of the Chicano movement. In most of these studies, the important role that moderate liberal activists have played in promoting significant social change during the same period has been slighted. By moderate liberal activists, I mean those who depended on the federal…

The United States of America is known to be one of the most culturally, racially, and ethnically diverse countries in the world. With this comes the increasing diversity among school populations, making multicultural education necessary at all levels of education while integrating a culturally inclusive world-view into all areas of the curriculum.…