Browsing by Subject "Mexican Americans--Education"
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Item Development of the attributions for scholastic outcomes scale--Latino (ASO-L)(2007) Sperling, Rick Alan, 1974-; Falbo, Toni; Dodd, Barbara GlenzingThis study supports the development of the Attributions for Scholastic Outcomes Scale--Latino (ASO-L). Previous research has shown that people believe that it is important to close the achievement gaps that exist between racial/ethnic minorities and Whites (Rose & Gallup, 2004). Despite the fact that the general public has taken an interest in this area, there are currently no instruments for measuring how people reason about these issues. Consequently, there is little knowledge as to why people continue to support policies that have been unsuccessful in bringing racial/ethnic minority academic performance up to the level of Whites. This study takes steps in that direction by providing educators and school reform advocates with a useful instrument for understanding how people reason about the causes for the Latino-White achievement gap. The ASO-L measures the extent to which people believe in two different explanations for the Latino-White achievement gap. I have termed the explanation that I believe is most pervasive in US society "culture-blaming." It is consistent with the dominant racial story about Latino underachievement, which focuses primarily on the presumed limitations of Latino families and Latino culture. I refer to what I believe to be the second most common explanation as "structure-blaming." It challenges the dominant racial story because it places blame on schools and the schooling system rather than the limitations of Latinos. Confirmatory factor analyses provide evidence for the factorial validity of the ASO-L. In addition, structural equation modeling performed on sample data indicates that the two primary explanations--culture-blaming and structure-blaming--are meaningfully related to attitudes towards resource redistribution, English-only initiatives, parent education, and standardized testing above and beyond what can be accounted for by measures of attributional complexity (G. Fletcher, Danilovics, Fernandez, Peterson, & Reeder, 1986) and political orientation (Kerlinger, 1984). Finally, a comparison of latent means revealed that Latinos are more likely than Whites to endorse structure-blaming attributions, but no less likely to endorse culture-blaming attributions. Recommendations for further research and academic activism are included.Item Mexican American female principals and their chameleon identity: working against a socially constructed identity in a predominantly white school district(2003) Trujillo-Ball, Laura Angelica; Scheurich, James JosephThe identity of Mexican American women and the influences of the social constructions on their identity is the focus of this dissertation. The focus and purpose of the research was to reveal, to describe, and to examine the success of Mexican American female educational leaders and how their identities have been influenced by assigned attributes, self-assigned attributes, Chicana feminism, and educational leadership styles. The study focused on 4 successful Mexican American female principals and the influences on their chameleon identity from family, culture, and society. The three research questions that guided this research were (a) What does identity mean to Mexican American female educational leaders? (b) how does the Mexican American female identity change due to experiences, influences, and expectations from family, culture, society, and self? and (c) what does the prototype of a successful Mexican American female educational leader “look like” according to the narratives gathered for this study? Qualitative research was used for this study, specifically the approaches of naturalistic and narrative inquiry. This approach was used to find in-depth stories of the experiences of 4 successful Mexican American female principals. The data were collected through two individual interviews with each participant and one group interview. The open-ended interview method was used to encourage informal conversations, which helped themes to emerge (Patton, 1990). This method allowed for spontaneous questions and uninterrupted narratives. This study helps fill the gap in research on women and minorities. It serves as a beacon that illuminates the chameleon identity of successful Mexican American female principals. This beacon has implications for recognizing the need to identify Mexican American females as different from Hispanics and Minority women as a whole. Additionally, this beacon has implications for practice in schools, for policy at the district and state levels, and for further research. The study findings confirm other research in the area of female and minority identity, placement of female principals within a district, and influences in identity; they also provide a new realization of the prototype of a successful Mexican American female principal based on the 4 women’s stories.Item The Spanish heritage language learning experience in the rural midwest: voices from a newly diverse small town(2005) Lorenzen, Charla Neuroth; Blanco, George; Valenzuela, AngelaItem The effects of labeling Hispanic English language learners as learning disabled(2014-09-29) Rodriguez, Sandra Irma