Bienvenidos,
Welcome to Volume 16, Number 4 of the Journal of Latinos and Education. With your support, the journal has grown in stature and impact as the premiere research publication that provides a cross-, multi-, and interdisciplinary forum for scholars and writers from diverse disciplines who share a common interest in the analysis, discussion, critique, and dissemination of educational issues that impact Latinos.
We have nine contributions to this issue’s FEATURE ARTICLES. The first by Juan A. Freire, Verónica E. Valdez and M. Garrett Delavan titled The (Dis)inclusion of Latina/o Interests from Utah’s Dual Language Education Boom reports on a qualitative content analysis and critical discourse analysis (CDA) of Utah’s Senate Bills 41 and 80 and the Critical Languages Program Rule and Utah State Office of Education’s (USOE) websites for dual-language (DL) related content. In doing so the authors seek to answer the following research questions: How equitably are Latina/o interests addressed in the state DL policy? How equitably are Latinas/os portrayed in Utah State Office of Education (USOE) DL-related promotional materials? By using a Critical Race Theory (CRT) and LatCrit framework they attend to the racial and linguistic discrimination inherent in Utah’s dual language policy, which at its core privileges English and the needs of dominant English speakers. They find a dismissal of Latina/o language needs through the policy’s focus on the implementation of foreign/second language immersion and 90:10 dual language programs and differentiated dual language teacher credentialing requirements that favors world language constituency. In addition, they found the centrality of English overshadowed and silenced other languages (Spanish in particular) in promotional material.
Secondly, in Dream Big: Exploring Empowering Processes of DREAM Act Advocacy in a Focal State, Brad Forenza and Carolina Mendonca examine the lessons and advocacy narrated by five college-aged undocumented DREAM Act supporters interviewed about their beliefs, role, participation and leadership in advancing the DREAM Act in their state. In tandem with the four dimensions of intra-organizational empowerment, they found that these activists shared a desire to change the status quo in favor of one of the most disenfranchised groups in the United States (DREAMers); acknowledged the importance of solidarity and coalition building with other advocates to advance the cause; advocated a need to confront and challenge stigmas around the undocumented status; and came to understand the political process (via civic literacy).
The third contribution by Kysa Nygreen discusses findings from research with a grassroots, community-based organization working with Latina/o immigrant parents. Latina/o Parent Organizing for Educational Justice: An Ethnographic Account of Community Building and Radical Healing presents alternative understandings to the too often pervasive deficit-view of Latina/o parent involvement that frames parents as passive and unengaged. The study, instead, demonstrates partnerships that work to strengthen parents’ critical consciousness and advocacy skills. In narrative form, the author highlights the Freirean popular education approach utilized by the organization in their workshops where women—like Zoraya—shared with pride stories of school advocacy and engagement. In line with a mujerist point of view that looks at the struggles, resiliency and survival of Chicanas/Latinas, Nygreen also documents the insecurities and fears that Latina mothers contend with in an anti-Latino immigrant climate that speak to a humanizing and context-specific approach to parent engagement. That is, it is about meeting the needs of community members on their terms regardless of the initial objectives or intentions of the organization.
Adult Education and the Health Literacy of Hispanic Immigrants in the United States posits that Hispanic adults have the lowest health literacy levels of any other group especially amongst monolingual Spanish-speaking immigrants and this has severe consequences for determining appropriate health services. Considering the importance of health literacy among Hispanics, Francisco Soto Mas, Holly E. Jacobson and Arturo Olivárez set out to evaluate whether health literacy for Spanish-speaking adults could improve within a community-based adult education program since most programs in the past were offered in health care venues. Employing a quasi-experimental design with two different groups the study concluded that while no statistically significant differences across groups were evident, access to adult education could improve overall life skills.
Next, in The Use of Digital Educational Technology and Third Spaces with Foreign-Born Latinos Oscar Guerra-Nunez sets out to answer the question: How are digital education third spaces created and utilized by foreign-born Latino students and their instructors and what role does educational technology play in that process? Considering the dearth of research in this area, especially with Latino students and utilizing a qualitative approach, the author conducts a collective case study of four foreign-born Latino students in an elementary school in North Carolina that included classroom field observations and individual semi-structured interviews. The data generated insight on the use of digital technologies as opportunities for personalized learning, as was the case with one of the students Pedro, and the need to cater educational technologies to the specific needs of foreign-born students (i.e. language accommodations). In addition, the study points to the importance of acknowledging and drawing on this generation of digital natives familiar with aspects of technology. The classroom space was another significant opportunity for establishing critical technological opportunities and relationships among and with other Latino students that could serve as supportive peers. Ultimately, the organic approach of the classroom as a third space aimed to challenge hegemonic ideologies and restore transformative and meaningful student engagement.
Wellbeing amongst historically marginalized communities plays a significant role in the overall academic success and social integration of youth, especially middle school students. In The Influence of Loneliness and Interpersonal Relations on Latina/o Middle School Students’ Wellbeing by Dagoberto Heredia Jr., Mayra L. Sanchéz Gonzalez, Christine M. Rosner, Xiao He, Linda G. Castillo and Lizette Ojeda, the authors work with Latina/o students to examine precisely the relationship of loneliness and student wellbeing. Students relationship with others—be it peers or teachers—can have positive effects yet previous research on Latino youth and families fails to attend to this important relationship. The study consisted of questionnaires administered to 394 Latina/o students in four middle schools in Texas. Their findings echoed those of other studies with some minor surprises. For instance, consistent with other studies is the fact that younger students have higher levels of wellbeing than older students and that loneliness was tempered by family and peer support. Unforeseen, however, was the positive relationship loneliness had with high levels of wellbeing and the relationship between wellbeing and family, peer and teacher support among this population was not significant.
The seventh article by Robert Kraemer and Leah Fabiano-Smith titled Language Assessment of Latino English Learning Children: A Records Abstraction Study set out to document the assessment practices of language ‘disorders’ and overidentification of Latino children. Based on data from 23 sites in Northern California that included 88 speech-language assessment reports, the data supports the authors’ suppositions that the overidentification of Latino students is linked to the use of standardized tests that align with linguistic and cultural norms of monolingual English-speaking children and that few alternative non-standardized measures were implemented. Greater assessment tools and training to challenge and change these practices is clearly needed in order to attend to the needs of this population.
Eighth in line by Israel Aguilar discusses how the use of auto-ethnography by university faculty can serve as a teaching method that fosters reflective practices among pre-service educators and leaders. Internal Revolutions: Auto-ethnography as a Method for Faculty Who Prepare K-12 Educators and Leaders at Hispanic Serving Institutions suggests that because auto-ethnography requires critical self-reflection, vulnerability and questions of positionality and power it can develop critical consciousness and a challenge to the structures of power and privilege. Hence, when faculty engage in the critical work of self-reflection and auto-ethnography they are better equipped to help students do the same.
Lastly, Healing Images and Narratives: Undocumented Chicana/Latina Pedagogies of Resistance by Lindsay Pérez Huber delivers a Chicana feminist analysis of testimonios with 10 undocumented Chicana/Latina professionals. At the core of the analysis are participants’ ways of knowing, lived experiences and everyday teaching and learning practices. Through the testimonios of three participants, she unearths the significance of mestiza consciousness, convivencia and mindbodyspirit as forms of undocumented pedagogies of resistance. From Carmen’s testimonio, for instance, we witness the meaningfulness of traveling across borders as she straddles—from a mestiza consciousness—numerous social locations and multiple identities. In a similar fashion, Lizet’s testimonio underscores the notion of convivencia—the idea that we exist in the presence of others—especially in community organizing and activist efforts. The inseparability of the mindbodyspirit is another Chicana/Latina feminist epistemological concept evident in Alicia’s testimonio as she related her health issues with the pressures and stress of her life as an undocumented college student. In essence, the women’s testimonios signaled the adverse material conditions Chicana/Latina undocumented women must face and the knowledge, skills and insight they use to resist and sobrevivir.
Continue to read ahead and enjoy the full value and complexity of the articles presented by Volume 16, Number 4 of the Journal of Latinos and Education. The Editorial staff looks forward to supporting your continued research and practices that illuminate the myriad of circumstances in which Latino/as and their families continue to struggle for educational excellence and equity. Your support, and this volume, affirms the importance of scholarship and creative analysis that attempts to give voice to a community of learners that is silent no longer.
Thank you - muchísimas gracias.