Different Cultures One Goal: Latinos and Education

1. Different Cultures One Goal: Latinos and Education “Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself.” Chinese Proverb By Steve Gonzalez, LISW

2. Cultural Proficiency • “Becoming culturally competent is a journey and not a destination.” • “Cultural competency is the will and the ability to form authentic and effective relationships across differences.”

3. Latino Students and Families “Struggle to learn, learn to struggle.” Frank Bonilla, professor

4. Family Values • Latino students want to do well in school • Parents value education • Cultural Pride • Resilient • Family oriented • Work ethic • Determination and strength • Spiritual

5. Latino Family Values(Delgado, 2004) • Respeto-Respect for educators • Ser buen educado-emphasis proper behavior and discipline • Respetar a otros-mutual respect in relationships • Compadres-relationship between parents and godparents (co-parenting)

6. School Culture-Latino Parents need to know (Delgado, 2004) • Individualism-students are expected to think for themselves • Independence-students are expected to work on their own • Promptness-students are expected to arrive at class or meetings on time

7. What Latino Families bring to school(Delgado, 2004) • Language-Spanish and English • Collectivity-strength in joining with others • Interdependence-strongly support others

8. Conditions of Increasing Parent Participation (Delgado, 2004) • Connecting with Latino Families • Sharing information with parents • Supporting continued parent involvement

9. Reach for the Sky

10. Challenges: Every Day in America for Latino Children: • 183 public school students are corporally punished • 2, 357 students are suspended • 561 high school students drop out • 12 babies die • 751 babies are born into poverty • 349 babies are born to teen mothers • 1,005 babies are born to mothers who are not high school graduates Children’s Defense Fund, 2002

11. HOB Latino Pachucos Raza Deep La Raza Loca Aztec Kings Spanish Cobras Sur 13 Florence 13 Brown Pride Surenos 18th street Mara Savatrucha Inactive Playboy Sur Latino Crips La Raza 13 Los Loco’s 13 La Mafia Mi Familia Latino Gangs (DMPD, 2005)

12. Laws:Justice for All

13. Legal Responsibilities Mendez vs. California Board of Education • In 1945 Latino parents confronted segregation of their children into “Mexican Schools.” In 1946 this case ended segregation in California Brown vs. Board of Education 1954 • Ended segregation on national level

14. Legal (cont-slide2) Civil Rights Act, 1964 • School districts to provide equal educational opportunities Bilingual Education Act, 1968 (74 & 78) • Use of bilingual educational practices, techniques, and methods Equal Educational Opportunities Act, 1974 • Law requires that students not be denied access to educational opportunities based on race, color, sex, or national origin (language barriers specifically discussed)

15. Legal (cont-slide 3) Diana vs. State Board of Education • Mandated the assessment of children in their native language or with sections of tests that do not require knowledge of the English language. Lau vs. Nichols, 1974 • Supreme Court ruled identical education does not constitute equal education- Civil Rights Act. The court ruled that the district must take affirmative steps to overcome education barriers faced by non-English speaking students. Guadalupe vs. Tempe School District 1972 • Bilingual education, assessment in primary language, nonverbal measures, IQ tests not the sole criteria, adaptive behavior assessed outside the school

16. Legal (cont-slide 4) PARC & MILLS 1972 • Free and appropriate education, notify parents prior before assessment, due process, least restrictive, special ed. Services regardless of district’s financial capability Public law 94-142, 1975 • FAPE, LRE, IEP, nondiscriminatory assessment procedures, use of multiple measures IDEA 1990 • Emphasis placed on timely and comprehensive multidisciplinary evaluations, early intervention services IDEA 1997 • Parental consent, native language, parental notice, evaluation procedures, eligibility determination, exclusionary factors, IEP

17. Legal (cont-slide 5) Plyler vs Doe, 1982 • Supreme court ruled Texas law unconstitutional to deny enrollment to children of undocumented immigrants NCLB, 2001 Title I: Mandates English language proficiency testing and academic achievement testing of ELLs, setting requirements for the establishment of achievement objectives Title III: Mandates language proficiency testing of ELLs, parent notifications Iowa Limited English Proficiency Legislation, Iowa Code 280.4 • Schools shall provide instruction in ESL or transitional Bilingual instruction

18. Future Leaders

19. The Problem:What we Know

20. You’ve never heard of four Ph.D.’s doing a drive-by or of four engineers holding up a liquor store.” Jaime Oaxaca, businessman

21. Reach Your Potential

22. Hispanic Dropout Project (1998) • Hispanic children have less preschool experience compared to other groups • Found that school administrators readily transferred students for school disengagement, absenteeism, non-conforming behavior, and poor academic work • Found that students were inappropriately placed in special education

23. Hispanic Dropout Project (cont) • Found that special education law and due process were frequently ignored • Found inequities in ESL programs related to testing, staffing, placement, and finances

24. Research:What it tells us

25. Romo &Falbo Study 1996 • On the national level Hispanic youth drop out of school at about twice the rate of non-Hispanic Whites • Nationally many students leave school before 9th grade • Nationally the drop out rate for Hispanic youth has increased over the years while the drop out rates for Whites and African-Americans have decreased

26. Romo & Falbo (cont) • Found Hispanic underachievement was due in part to schools’ tracking of Mexican-American students into general or vocational coursework that did not train the youth to have the skills they needed to get a bachelor’s degree or a job that offered future mobility • Recommend the use of strategies associated with success, rather than just factors related to failure

27. DMPS Minority Enrollment Report • Since 1992, the percent of Hispanic/Latino students in DMPS has increased by 59.4% (DMPS,1995)

28. DMPS Withdrawal Reports • 1996-1997 Withdrawal Report (9-12): Latino students enrollment at 4% but made up 7.5% of school withdrawals

29. Latino Student Suspensions(DMPS, 2005) • Latino students make up 9.7% of total enrollment in the district for middle schools and high schools, but make up 11.5% of students suspended

30. Latino Student Focus Group(DMPS, 2005) • Students feel that suspensions are not working • Students are away from school and fall behind in class work or no school work is sent home • Students believe suspensions are biased/ discriminatory-given unequally • Student solutions: Saturday school, night school, peer court, intense home work center • School staff need more training/education • Hire Latino staff at all levels, more bilingual staff • Pay more attention to students, listen to us, treat us fairly

31. Latino Parent Focus Group(DMPS, 2005) • Suspensions do not work • Students falling behind in classes • Suspensions are discriminatory • Schools should increase communication with parents • Solutions: Saturday school, send home work, look for positives, parent contact, education/training of staff, Spanish speaking staff, hire Latino staff

32. DMPS State of Schools Address(Dr. Witherspoon, 10-7-2005) • The proficiency of 4th grade Latino students in reading increased by 7%-the achievement gap narrowed by 5% • Proficiency of 4th grade Latino students in math increased by 9%-achievement gap narrowed by 7% • Latino 8th grade students showing improvement in reading and math • Graduation rate for Latino students is 72.5%,up by 15% in two years

33. Latino College Expo Survey Report (Gonzalez,1995) Survey Findings • Average age 14.9% • 59% Female • 63% Live with both parents • 70.9% have lived in Iowa 1 to 5 years • 51.8% of families with income of $20,000 or less • 25.2% between $20,000-$40,000 • Spanish is the primary language for 78.4% • Average number of siblings is 3.9

34. Survey (cont-slide 2) • 83% of the fathers had no college education • Only 35.7% of the fathers had finished high school • 20% of the fathers and 18.9% of the mothers did not have a manual labor or service job • 12.4% have a sibling in college • 12.6% of the fathers have a college education • 71.7% students interested in post-secondary education • 69.9% students making plans for college • 58.4% report GPA of “B” or better

35. Survey (cont-slide 3) Information About College: • 40.4% students reported not receiving • 49.8% never discussed college with their counselor • 78.6 of parents are not receiving any information about college • Sources for college information 45% from Latino College Expo and 36.1 from school counselors

36. Survey (cont-slide 4) • Students are more likely to make plans to attend college when they receive information regarding higher education (.001) • Students are more likely to have interest in college/vocational training when education of dad is high school and above (.007)

37. Research: Experiences of a Mexican Immigrant Mother A qualitative study conducted by (McClelland & Chen, 1997), found language and culture as barriers to the mother advocating for her son. Themes uncovered include: (a) “I don’t understand what’s going on,” (b) “The school is difficult to deal with.” (c) “Others wonder what I am doing at school.”

38. Brief Research Review • Alva (1991) reported Mexican-American students self-appraisal of their preparation for college and a sense of control was the most significant predictor of GPA along with educational support from teachers/friends. • Goodenow (1992) assessed sense of school membership and found Hispanic students sense of belonging has a reinforcing effect on positive academic behaviors. • Hernandez (1993) conducted a study with Mexican-American students and found that extracurricular activities increased a students sense of engagegement within the school and served as a protective factor. • Gandara (1995) found family support and individual persistence were the factors that contributed most to academic success for Mexican-American students. Also parental involvement , mentors ,and college prep track play an important factor in academic achievement.

39. Schools Reaching Out

40. “That’s the point. It goes like this: Teaching is touching life.” • Jamie Escalante, Educator The Fire in our Souls, 1996 “Students may not remember what we taught them, but they WILL remember how we treated them” Dennis Oliver, 2005

41. Reach Your Dreams

42. Characteristics of Effective schoolsHispanic Dropout Project (1998) • Schools have very high academic and behavioral standards for their students • Schools communicate those standards clearly and they provide access to and support students in meeting those standards • Schools that make a difference connect their students in meaningful ways to adults • Schools connect their students to possible futures in college and the work force • Schools provide families with useful information about how their children are doing and about their futures

43. Solutions and Recommendations

44. Recommendations for improving graduation rates for all students(Romo & Falbo) • Focus on student learning • Respond to the learning needs of students • Administrators can spend more time in the classroom 2. Meet basic needs • Schools can bring in other agencies and resources to help meet needs, such as food, shelter etc.

45. Romo-slide 2 3. Use a variety of teaching techniques • Variety of techniques will engage the learning style of youth 4. Make material meaningful to students • Students want to learn about things that are relevant to their lives 5. Make scholastic standards clear • Clearly defined standards for academic success, along with the support to reach those standards can provide motivation and achievement

46. Romo-slide 3 6. Allow no students to fail • If students do not do well on an assignment, the work should be re-done with clearer instructions and with remedial teaching if necessary 7. Use tests as milestones • Tests should be used as milestones of progress and not as indicators of success or failure • Tests should be used to help identify strengths and weaknesses, not failure 8. Make participation in school work more rewarding than skipping • Increase efforts to make school more inviting and interesting

47. Romo-slide 4 9. Make skipping difficult • Develop strategies to keep students in school 10. Value persistence and hard work • Recognize students who work hard to achieve 11. Make schools accessible to parents • Promote a user friendly atmosphere

48. Romo-slide 5 12. Assume responsibility for educating all students • Schools have the responsibility to reach out and educate all students, of all ethnic backgrounds, abilities, and incomes 13. Mobilize resources to link school and work • Many employers are eager to have better trained workers and are willing to work with the schools • Engaging companies in the educational planning to link achievement in school with positive outcomes in the labor market would help keep youth in school

49. Recommendations for Principals and Building level decision-makers(Lockwood, 2000) • Schools should act quickly to warning signs when students disengage from school work or lose academic ground • Schools need to personalize programs and services that work with Latino students • Ensure that all students have access to high quality curricula and provide support needed to achieve • Schools should replicate effective programs • Monitor the effectiveness of programs

50. Recommendations for Teachers/program staff(Lockwood, 2000) • Teachers should teach content that is interesting, relevant and challenging • Provide support for student learning • Communicate high standards • Understand the roles of language, race, culture, and gender • Engage parents