<p> Latino males from an English Language Learner (ELL) background are not successfully graduating from high school and going to college. This study seeks to understand this phenomenon through narratives of young Latino males in the Los Angeles area. Guided by Yosso's theory community cultural wealth theory, this qualitative study examines the challenges experienced by Latino males in their high school English Language Learner programs, and how these challenges were met. community cultural wealth theory provides six tenets of capital that communities of color possess: aspirational, familial, linguistic, social, navigational, and resistance. These types of cultural wealth exist in the lives of students and can assist students in attaining successful educational outcomes. Interviews with 16 Latino male ELLs between the ages of 18 to 25 were conducted over a 2-month period. The 16 Latino male ELLs were divided into groupings of high school graduates in college, high school graduates, high school students finishing their diploma requirements, and high school dropouts. Along with these interviews, four parent interviews were also conducted in order to gain a holistic perspective of the Latino males' experiences. Latino male ELLs illustrated the utilization of multiple forms of community cultural capital in their narratives; forms of social, linguistic, and navigational capital made a difference in Latino male ELLs that reported not only finishing high school, but also attending college. Conclusions of the study will be used to make recommendations for improvements in counseling services, assisting newly arrived ELLs to high school, and specific changes to policy.</p>

This study seeks to answer the following broad questions: Under what confluence of institutional and contextual factors is the election of a minority candidate more likely (descriptive representation)? And once elected, do these minority representatives realize their potential to impact public policies or the political attitudes of their constituents (substantive representation)? Recent demographic shifts have moved American cities away from a simple Black/White dichotomy, and thus my goal in this study is to evaluate and extend the present theories and models of representation to other racial minorities. Specifically, I examine the extent of descriptive and substantive representation of Latinos in the educational arena. I find that the current theories of minority representation built upon the unique Black American experience in the US are insufficient to explain the political incorporation of Latinos. Specifically, I find that Latinos face additional challenges to incorporation and subsequent policy or empowerment effects based on their immigration and citizenship histories, their country-of-origin and generational diversity, and their particular assimilation and acculturation processes. As I demonstrate, these additional factors condition the likelihood of Latino representation on school boards, as well as the ability of these Latino representatives to enact policy changes or create empowerment effects among Latino constituents. I argue that these findings have important implications for ensuring representative democracy for Latinos and for educational policy outcomes.

<p>The demographics of public schools in the United States have changed over recent years to include millions of English language learners (ELLs), students whose first language is not English and who demonstrate limited proficiency in English. During this same time period, school personnel have struggled to identify ELLs for gifted programs because of language and cultural barriers. The problem addressed in this study was that researchers do not have a clear understanding of why or how some ELLs are being identified for gifted programs despite the documented difficulty with gifted identification of ELLs. Using a qualitative method and embedded single-case study design with a school district's gifted identification process for Spanish-speaking ELLs as the main unit of analysis, the purpose of this study was to explore the ways in which three Spanish-speaking ELLs in a southeastern U.S. school district were identified for a gifted program. Data sources included in-depth interviews with nine teachers and three parents of these students, and a document analysis of state-required gifted characteristics checklists completed by these teachers during the gifted referral process. Data were analyzed and coded to identify patterns related to how these Spanish-speaking ELLs were identified for the gifted program in the school district. From the coded themes, the four patterns of rapid learner, translation abilities, problem solving and creative thinking skills, and motivation emerged as key factors in the school district's gifted identification process for Spanish-speaking ELLs based on teacher interviews, parent interviews, and document review of the gifted characteristics checklists. Recommendations based on the findings included creation of additional gifted checklists that incorporated the characteristics of translation skills, rapid progress in English acquisition, and leadership in the ESL classroom as criteria in the gifted identification process for Spanish-speaking ELLs, professional development for teachers in how to use these factors in the process of identifying gifted Spanish-speaking ELLs, and parent meetings and personal communication to ensure parents of ELLs understand the gifted referral and identification process in the district. Recommendations for future research included studies of other school districts' gifted identification processes for ELLs and studies of the gifted identification process for ELLs from other countries and cultures. </p>

<p> Obesity in the United States has reached epidemic proportions and is affecting younger generations. Research indicates that media usage contributes to adolescent obesity. Data shows that technology use (television, video games, and computer, etc.) is specifically higher among Latinos than their White counterparts. However, limited research exists on the effects that technology use has on Latino adolescents' adiposity. A cross-sectional baseline analysis was conducted using a sample of (<i>N</i>=131) at-risk Latino middle school adolescents from the Youth Empowerment for Success <i> S&iacute; Se Puede</i> Project. Body fat percent was used as the dependent variable; while television time, video or computer game time, and frequency of personal computer use were the independent variables. Results indicated that only video or computer game time had a positive association with Latino youth body fat percent, even after controlling for socioeconomic status. The implications and limitations of the study are discussed.</p>

<p>From its roots in Richie Valens's "La Bamba" riffs, garage rock, and the Ramones to hardcore and the cultural front of the anti-globalization movement, Latina/os have played a significant role in punk music, fashion, identity, and politics. In the 1970s and 1980s, in context of the transformative effects of neo-liberal economic globalization on the United States I Mexico borderlands, working class Latina/o youth from the barrios of Los Angeles to Tijuana's colonias were instrumental in shaping punk's subcultural identity. Though separated by national borders, Latina/o socio-economic conditions and experiences with the police state increasingly mirrored each other. By the 1990s, accessing Latina/o cultural sights and sounds as markers of punk's oppositional identity, these organic intellectuals fostered a transborder civic imagination and alternative critical space within punk that intersected with the radical politics of the indigenous Ejercito Zapatista de Liberaci&oacute;n Nacional (E.Z.L.N.) inciting the anarchist inspired anti-globalization politics in punk culture. </p>

<p>The rapid growth of the retail economy has created an abundance of low wage work. The retail sector often employs black and Latina women in low middle management and part-time positions while, white men and women hold top managerial and human resource positions. Consequently, a distinctive pattern of inequality emerges for women of color in retail work. Utilizing data from 20 in-depth interviews, I find black and Latina women's raises and promotions are stifled by the surveillance and bodily control they encounter on the retail floor. This study explores the simultaneous ways race, gender, class and body type intersect to place women of color in subordinate positions within the workforce. Moreover, this research provides insight into how the "white racial frame" is used to exploit women of color by both white management and the self-surveillance women of color conduct onto their own bodies. </p>

<p><p>This dissertation examines the trajectory of military conscription in Bolivia from Liberals&rsquo; imposition of this obligation after coming to power in 1899 to the eve of revolution in 1952. Conscription is an ideal fulcrum for understanding the changing balance between state and society because it was central to their relationship during this period. The lens of military service thus alters our understandings of methods of rule, practices of authority, and ideas about citizenship in and belonging to the Bolivian nation. In eliminating the possibility of purchasing replacements and exemptions for tribute-paying Indians, Liberals brought into the barracks both literate men who were formal citizens and the non-citizens who made up the vast majority of the population. This study thus grapples with the complexities generated by an institution that bridged the overarching and linked divides of profession, language, literacy, indigeneity, and urbanity. </p></p><p><p>Venturing inside the barracks, this dissertation shows how experiences of labor, military routines, punishment, teasing, and drinking led to a situation in which many conscripts became increasingly invested in military service, negotiated its terms, and built ties that transcended local power structures. In addition to examining desertion, insubordination, and mutinies, it provides an explanation of the new legal categories created by military service, such as reservist, <italic>omiso</italic>, <italic>remiso</italic>, and deserter. It then points to the 1932-1935 Chaco War and its aftermath as the period when conscription became a major force in tying an unequal nation together. The mass mobilization necessitated by the war redefined the meaning and terms of conscription, even as the state resorted to forcible mass impressment throughout the national territory while simultaneously negotiating with various interest groups. A postwar process of reckoning initiated by the state, combined with mobilization from below by those who served, added a new hierarchy of military service that overlaid and sometimes even trumped long-standing hierarchies based on education, language, profession, and heritage.</p></p><p><p>This study thus explores conscription as a terrain on which Bolivians from across divides converged and negotiated their relationships with each other and with the state. The unique strength of this work lies in its use of unpublished internal military documents, especially court-martial records. These sources are further enriched by extensive use of congressional debates, official correspondence, reports of foreign military attach&eacute;s, memoirs, and published oral histories. Through an analysis of these sources, this dissertation reveals not only elites&rsquo; visions of using the barracks to assimilate a diverse population but also the ways that soldiers and their families came to appropriate military service and invest it with new meanings on a personal, familial, communal, and national level. In the process, a conscript nation would eventually emerge that, while still hierarchical and divided by profound differences, was not merely a project of an assimilationist state but rather constructed in a dialectical process from both above and below.</p></p> / Dissertation

<p> The primary purpose of this study was to examine successful instructional practices that promote high academic achievement for at-risk students in juvenile detention centers, and possibly lead to a reduction in recidivism in the juvenile justice system. A case study was conducted at 2 Los Angeles juvenile detention centers, known as "The Sports Camp" and "The Vocational Camp." Qualitative research methods provided data triangulated from a document and artifact examination, interviews, and observations. Analysis of the data suggests that, contrary to popular belief, there are successful instructional practices that positively impact student academic achievement. However, the findings also indicate that extenuating circumstances prevent some students from taking advantage f their educational opportunities. Although the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) is committed to improving educational outcomes for incarcerated youth, there are no magic formulas or solutions. Therefore, multiple strategies will be needed to significantly improve educational outcomes for students in this nontraditional school setting.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to partner with the community to learn and conceptualize how to integrate a spiritual and leadership development program in order to promote social and family responsibility in African American and Latino at-risk males who have become single fathers and to become responsive to the Word of God in their lives.</p>

<p> This study examined Latino student college experiences at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Black enrollment at HBCUs has been decreasing and, as a result, HBCUs are turning to non-Black students to make up the enrollment deficit. One group sought after by some HBCUs is Latino students. Comprising 15.2% of the population in the United States, Latinos are the largest minority group and these numbers are expected to grow another 29% by 2050. Five undergraduate students at two HBCUs were interviewed for this qualitative study. Findings revealed five themes from participants' college experiences&mdash;campus involvement, cultural integration, faculty involvement, family support, and financing of college education. Administrators in academic affairs, enrollment management, and student affairs can consider the study's findings in order to plan Latino student initiatives. A challenge in American higher education has been the Latino educational pipeline; as such, this study is significant because it expands research on Latino college experiences at HBCUs.</p>