The Latinization of U.s. Schools: Successful Teaching and Learning in Shifting Cultural Contexts

The research presented here was conducted by urban Latino high school students with their teacher Irizarry (Institute for Puerto Rican and Latino Studies, U. of Connecticut). The book emerges from Project FUERTE, a long-term participatory action research project that engages Latino youth in urban schools in meaningful, co-constructed research while enhancing their academic skills and familiarizing them with the conventions of Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR). The students wrote and dictated their personal stories and school experiences through "testimonios," a qualitative methodology springing from the fields of Latin American studies and scholarship in Latino critical race theory. Although the students originally wrote and spoke in informal language, slang, and hybrid language, the author worked with each student to transform their writing into more traditional academic language. Students also conducted reviews of literature, with Irizarry's guidance, and these findings are integrated into their testimonios. After an overview of Latino education, chapters look at issues such as deficit perspectives of Latino students, undocumented Latino students, and school discipline and exclusion. In the final section of the book, chapters co-written by the author with college students offer personal reflections on YPAR. Each chapter concludes with three concrete recommendations for teachers and discussion of implications for teaching and teacher education. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)