This study examined the demographic characteristics of a sample of Hispanic students enrolled at a Southwestern university. In connection with these data, the analysis proceeded to delineate the relationship between some selected personal characteristics and the reasons that influenced their decision to enroll in higher education. It was found that Hispanic students that come to the university directly from high school and those that transfer from community colleges were very similar demographically, linguistically and academically speaking. Moreover, the reasons that influenced their decision to continue their education at the university level were identical. Those were: (1) Training in your career interest. (2) Overall training. (3) Quality of course instruction. (4) Professional competence of professors. (5) Expense of the institution. (6) Intellectual stimulation provided by climate. At a deeper level, there were four main factors that underlied the dimensions for their reasons to enroll in higher education. Those were: Factor I "Democratic environment and facilities", Factor II "Internal and external cultural features", Factor III "Academic quality of the institution" and Factor IV "Social life of the institution." The statistical results of whether there were sex, socio-economic and language differences with the four factors, showed that the interaction of sex and language background of the respondent had an effect on "Democratic environment and facilities." The effects of socio-economic index and the language spoken at home were found significant on "Internal and external cultural features." The best predictor for the four factors was the socio-economic index. Based on these results, it is recommended that research efforts be expanded to Hispanics in other geographical areas, other levels within higher education and to students of other ethnic groups.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 292-300).

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The goal of current education reform is to increase student achievement (Odden & Clune, 1995). Discrepancies, however, continue to exist in the achievement between the White majority and the minorities of color, including Hispanics as seen in the results of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS). Although 198 Texas elementary schools received an exemplary rating in 2005 for their TAKS performance, only a handful of those schools with a high percentage of Hispanic, economically disadvantaged, and Limited English Proficient (LEP) student enrollment achieved this coveted academic rating (TEA, 2005). This study attempts to answer the research questions: 1) Which, if any, instructional practices are present in the exemplary-rated campuses with high numbers of Hispanic LEP students compared to acceptable-rated campuses with the same type of student populations? and 2) Are educators aware of and modifying their instructional practices to be more aligned with proven research-based practices? The Best Practice and Benchmark Concept provides the framework for the study. The design includes the use of a survey, interviews, an observation checklist, and an analysis of documents to compare the practices of two exemplary-rated campuses and two acceptable-rated campuses, all spanning grades PreK-5th grade, enrolling at least 500 students, and serving high percentages of Hispanic, economically disadvantaged, and LEP students. Findings revealed differences in the consistent use of best practices, in the methods of instruction (structured and directive versus constructivist), in the positive attitude and commitment of teachers, in the type of research-based programs, and in the instructional settings of the bilingual/ESL students. The finding of mixing structured, directive instruction to promote student success before moving to a more constructivist method of teaching is a practice rarely encountered in literature. All other practices observed have been documented in literature. In addition, educators were indeed found to be modifying their practices to align with those proven in research. Other factors besides best practices which influence student achievement surfaced, indicating the difference in performance between the exemplary and the acceptable campuses could not be attributed solely to the use of best practices. / text

Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 164-171).

Against the backdrop of religious disaffiliation and social fragmentation in the United States, the future of both practices and venues for American religious education is uncertain. In this study of Tapestry, a church-run foster youth mentoring network, and St. Sebastian’s Summer Camp, a predominantly Latinx church-run community day camp, I develop and document one promising pairing in response to this quandary: an adapted form of Digital Storytelling (Lambert, 2012) as a communal spiritual practice appropriate to what I call faith-adjacent spaces. Such spaces are convened by modes of activity separate from formal institutional programs and rituals but still connected to religion in meaningful, visible ways. In this participatory multimodal ethnography, I draw on socio-spatial and narrative analytic frameworks to reveal and explore (1) organizational practices of belonging that already exist at Tapestry, (2) the function of new collaboratively designed Digital Storytelling practices at Tapestry and St. Sebastian’s, and (3) the role of my various researcher-facilitator identities in this work. I present these findings in the form of a four-part audio documentary that interweaves recordings from my ethnographic fieldwork, excerpts from the artifacts that participants and I co-created, audio engagements with academic and practitioner literature, and researcher narrative and analysis. The annotated production scripts for Becoming Tapestry comprise both the bulk of this manuscript and, together with the four podcast episodes themselves, the dissertation proper.

Looking for best teaching practices has always been an important issue for educators. Teacher education programs, school districts, and researchers have gone to great lengths to train teachers to teach "better." Yet, students are still not performing well in school, specifically minority students. The achievement gap and dropout rates only get larger between Latino students and their White peers. According to National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES, 2002), in the United States the drop out rate for Latino students is 23.8% compared to 6.8% for White students. With such disparities occurring, what is being done to address this large, under-performing population? What do Latino students need in order to succeed in the American school system? One of the known ways to help Latino students succeed is culturally responsive teaching (Banks, 2006). Are culturally responsive teaching practices the best pedagogical approach for Latino students? And if so, do teachers understand what these practices entail? This inquiry was a qualitative study highlighting the teaching practices of three self-identified culturally responsive teachers working in an inner-city school that is predominately populated by low performing Latino students. This study involved observations and interviews with three teachers and employed ethnographic methods highlighting not only what culturally relevant teachers in classroom practices with Latino students, but also how these practices help teachers' efficacy improve.

The purpose of this project is to help at-risk Latino youth through environmental education programs. An integral aspect of this project included hands-on and interactive experiences at several education sites throughout the State of California. These site visits included the following institutions: Yosemite Institute, Chapman Ranch, Orange County Outdoor Science School, University of Southern California, Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies, Catalina Island Camps, Camp Oaks, Wildlands Conservancy (Oak Glen), St. James Reserve, and Alvarado-Jensen Ranch.

This thesis is a study of the history of the education of Spanish-speaking people in Texas. The study covers a long period of time, from the middle of the seventeenth century to the present time.

This study used a mixed method approach (quantitative and qualitative) to examine the commonalities and differences between Hispanic and non-Hispanic participants of the Even Start Family Literacy Program. Using a life course perspective, this study examined the educational background and life history of Hispanic and non-Hispanic participants, their reasons and goals for program participation, and changes experienced due to Even Start participation. The sample for the qualitative analysis consisted of 32 Hispanic and 25 non-Hispanic female participants. Quantitative latent growth curve analysis was conducted on 96 (75 Hispanic and 21 Non-Hispanic) participants to measure change over time and to estimate the differences in rate of change between Hispanic and non-Hispanic participants. Results of this study indicate that wide commonalities yet vital differences exist between Hispanic and non-Hispanic participants. Poverty was the significant determinant factor in Hispanic as well as non-Hispanic participants' school failure. The experiences and implications of poverty, however, varied for Hispanic and non- Hispanic parents. The reasons and goals for Even Start participation were to achieve self-sufficiency for Hispanic and non-Hispanic parents. Achieving self-sufficiency involved acculturation to the American society for Hispanic participants. For non- Hispanic parents achieving self-sufficiency involved attaining GED and getting off of welfare. No effect of ethnicity was identified on the five outcome measures quantitatively examined in this study, which include knowledge of child development, parenting confidence and support, depression, self-esteem, and life skills. Initial differences existed between Hispanic and non-Hispanic participants in knowledge of child development and life skills, with non-Hispanic participants reporting higher knowledge of child development and greater life skills. Non-Hispanic participants, however, did not make greater gains than their Hispanic participants after being in the program. Qualitative results indicate that skills gained by Hispanic participants helped them acculturate in the American society, whereas for non-Hispanic participants the program helped achieve a sense of purpose and direction in life and create a better life for themselves and their family. / Graduation date: 2003