“That fuego, that fire in their stomach”: academically successful Latinas/os and racial opportunity cost

Abstract

This article discusses the racial opportunity cost of academic achievement for Latina/o students who graduated from urban high schools and participated in a larger study of 18 high-achieving students of color. The article focuses on the ways the school context influenced their success. Interviews with the seven Latina/o participants reveal that while the original findings encompassed their perspectives, there were additional dimensions to their experiences that expanded the notion of racial opportunity cost. These factors included: (1) Language; (2) Immigration; and (3) Family. A secondary focus of this article is how school leaders can use these findings to facilitate academic achievement for Latina/o students.

Keywords:

• academically successful Latinas/os
• racial opportunity cost
• academic achievement
• costs of academic success

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. All student and school names are pseudonyms.