Teaching for Social Justice: the Promise of Transformative Expectations for Urban Chicanx/Latinx Youth

Abstract

Drawing on the concept of transformative expectations—that is, the instructional practices that demonstrate teachers’ belief systems for the educational justice and empowerment of Chicanx/Latinx youth—this qualitative study explored the expectancy effects of nine classroom teachers with social justice commitments in a school district in California. Through semi-structured interviews, teacher journaling, and artifacts of classroom practices, this study points to the importance of teacher disposition and socialization in developing classroom expectations, as well as helps to conceptualize the expectancies of academic rigor, social capital, empowering curriculum, and teacher caring from perspectives of justice and their importance in supporting students to meet or exceed instructional goals. Applying figured worlds and transformative expectations as the study’s analytic frameworks, teachers reported these four expectancies as important strategies for bringing social justice into the classroom, thereby prompting discussions of the future directions of teaching for social justice.

Notes

1 We use the term Chicanx/Latinx throughout the article, given that the study took place in California where the majority of the Latinx students happened to be Chicanx or of Mexican American descent. However, we also include the term Latinx to be inclusive of students from the Caribbean and Central and South America.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Leticia Rojas

Leticia Rojas is an assistant professor at Brandman University in the School of Education’s Teacher Education Program. For more than 10 years, Leticia has been working to create student-centered spaces that empower low-income youth of color. Leticia’s research focuses on identifying the identities, practices, strengths, and challenges of teachers working to increase Latina/o youth’s college access, particularly those working from a social justice framework. She is the proud daughter of two Mexican immigrant parents.

Daniel D. Liou

Daniel D. Liou is as an assistant professor of Educational Leadership and Innovation in Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University. Daniel's research focuses on the social and institutional analysis of educational pathways and inequities across race, class, gender, and immigration status. Daniel’s research centers on the institutional dynamics of academic expectations from the perspectives of the students, teachers, school leaders, and the P-20 educational pipeline.