Current educational reform represented by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) symbolizes the summit of neoliberal reforms initiated more than three decades ago with the A Nation At Risk report (ANAR). The so called progressive plea of 'leaving no child behind' has brought poignant changes to US education in general providing an unprecedented impetus for new privatization schemes that disproportionably affect school districts serving large population of minority, low-income students in urban areas. This study provides a macro-micro framework for analyzing teachers' recontextualizations in the context of current reforms and demands.At the macro level, the study analyzes focal intertextual thematic formations (Lemke, 1995) in two cornerstone educational texts, namely, the ANAR report and the NCLB act. Particular historical aspects related to of the assemble of relations (Gramsci, 1971) that overdetermined the production of these texts are also examined. The study then uses the insights gained from this analysis of what is called the "cultural-pedagogic reservoir" as an entry point into analyzing in detail the "individual-pedagogic repertoire" of an experienced middle-school teacher as intertextual thematic formations particular to the focal texts re-emerge and are recontextualized in the interactions constructed in an intervention program for mostly Latino struggling readers. More specifically, the study analyzes the linguistic organization, and pedagogic genre of an experienced teachers' academic recontextualization and how these are accomplished in interaction in underperforming schools intervened by America's Choice, the district's "turn around" private partner.The specific Critical Discourse Analysis approach used draws purposely on analytical tools of Systemic Functional Linguistics theory and Genre theory (Halliday and Martin 1993; Martin, 2000; Martin and Rose 2003). This applied linguistic approach is complemented by the emancipatory agenda of critical ethnography and the overdeterminist class analysis of postmodern Marxism. Findings from linguistic analysis of policy texts reveal that the notions of risk, and crisis advanced by the ANAR report are taken into an unprecedented technocratic level in the No Child Left Behind Act that promote a new privatization (Burch, 2006) as the products and services of private companies are marketed not only as aligning to the law, but being "scientifically proven." The focal teacher working under this conditions was found to consistently use of a patterned and specific purposeful, goal oriented, and staged pedagogic genre organized through ideological principles that responded to a particular and context-bound way of alignment: "Strategic Alignment." Such a Strategic alignment represents an ideological framework that expands the frame of accountability to all stakeholders of the educational process, and not only to those most interested in promoting fidelity with standards and mandates. The teacher not only simultaneously and flexibly responded to standards and mandates represented by the "turn around" company (America's Choice), but also aligned to the needs, rights, and backgrounds of students, and to the thought collectives (Ramanathan, 2002) of the teaching profession. Even though the language of Strategic Alignment was found to be realized as a culturally relevant academic co-constructed linguistic space and a nurturing environment for Latino low-income struggling readers in an urban middle school and because it happens in the context of this new privatization scheme, such responsive pedagogical practices may well be co-opted and used as arguments to dismantle public schooling altogether.

The purpose of this ethnographic study of Puerto Rican parental involvement was to understand how Puerto Rican families in Western Massachusetts view public education and participate in their children's educational experience. Although many studies look at parental involvement within white and non-marginalized families, only a few studies examine Puerto Rican parental involvement and the home environments of Puerto Rican families and how they support their child's education (Hine, 1992; Nieto, 1995, 2000). This study examines three distinct groups of Puerto Rican families with differing employment and income levels. For this study, the researcher interviewed twenty two Puerto Rican families. These families were either from the lower socioeconomic class, working class, or the professional class as determined by their employment and income. An ethnographic/qualitative research methodology was used within this research study, and this allowed the researcher to understand not only the participants' words but also the unique influences of both the community and neighborhoods in which the participants lived and raised their children. Data collection consisted of semi-structured interviews and observations of the families over a period of six months. The project's findings reveal that there are both similarities and differences between the three different social classes. This study highlights the importance of family relationships, bilingualism and biculturalism and Puerto Rican cultural pride as the central themes and findings that emerged within my study. Additionally, social class affected both the family's personal perceptions of their own skills and knowledge regarding their ability to support their children's education. Families with lower social economic class status were less likely to reach out to school staff and to question teachers given their perception that they did not have the same formal training or education as the teachers. However, families with greater income and education levels interacted more regularly, directly, and critically with school staff through actively engaging in dialogue with their child's teachers. To a greater degree, families with working class or professional class employment and incomes were able to operationalize or to name specific skills and knowledge that they could provide as parents to their children at home that would support their school experience.

The importance of the letter as a means for social, personal and intellectual expression for humanists has been highlighted in various studies. For those studies, its value resides in its effectiveness in responding more directly to the presence of a new pool of readers giving rise to a new cultural type, transforming it into the emblematic genre of the humanists. I am interested in considering the influence of epistolary models in the New World, because, as these models were transferred to a new context, they acquired new forms that responded to the needs of communication, representation, symbolization and, finally, a new rhetoric. For the purposes of this dissertation, I will depart from the conception of the letter in the New World as a "polysynthetic" genre; that is to say, inasmuch as I wish to respond to the plurality of communicative needs that arose from the new contexts that were unforeseen by the humanist rhetoric, I will consider the letters from the New World as emerging from and forming part of other genres: accounts, petitions, diaries, among others. The starting point for this dissertation is the thorough reading and analysis of eleven unpublished letters, all written by women, currently located at the Archivo General de Indias in Seville and sent from the Rio de la Plata during the XVI and XVII centuries. In my investigation, I intend to demonstrate how the authors used the writing of such documents as an empowering practice. Secondly, I will prove that these first epistles, written from America, do not necessarily belong to the ars epistolandi, but to the ars dictaminis. Furthermore, this change in distinction requires a critical review of the current state of classical letters. Finally, I maintain that these letters provide a space for the emergence of the authors' identity. In other words, I understand and ground the conclusions of this work on the fact that space culturally shapes gender, but that gender acts in the production of such spaces as well. The participation of female authors by means of these letters merges them with that spatiality in a process both of production and reproduction, since, as a conscience building act, the "I" is turned into text in order to discuss on/about the space.

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There is an extensive amount of research on academic success and career development, but most of the literature has focused on the process of White participants. While some of the studies have examined samples from ethnic minority populations, the majority of studies use these populations as comparison groups, studying between-group differences as opposed to within-group differences. The literature is especially lacking in the area Latino academic success and career development. The current study examined how family and culture, specifically socioeconomic status, acculturation, and the quality of the parent-emerging adult relationship, influence the academic success and career development of Latino emerging adults. Eighty-three Latino undergraduate students ages 18 – 24 were recruited for participation in this study. Results indicated that valuing the role of work (career salience) significantly predicted the maturity and positivity of attitudes toward work (career maturity) in Latino emerging adults. Additionally, while family demographic and cultural variables did not seem to have a significant impact on academic success and career development, first-generation college student status, career salience, and conflict in the parent-emerging adult relationship lent some insight into the variation of levels of career maturity in a Latino sample. Furthermore, first-generation student status also impacted the relationship between career maturity and GPA.

This investigation identifies deterrents to the educational, social, and cultural success of Latina adolescent females. Across the nation, and especially in states such as Texas and California, the Hispanic population is fast becoming the largest minority in society. Because the adolescent Hispanic population within the United States today will comprise much of America's future economic and social base, identifying and addressing educational, cultural, and social deterrents to their success becomes important not only for personal well-being, but for the well-being of future society as a whole. A second purpose was that of determining the efficacy of group-centered psychoeducational therapy in improving self-esteem and decreasing anxiety and depression symptoms in adolescent female Hispanic high school students. The experimental groups consisted of one group of seven female Hispanic adolescents who received computer and internet training and psychoeducational group counseling twice a week for five weeks. and a second group of five female Hispanic adolescents who received computer and internet training and psychoeducational group counseling twice a week for five weeks. The control group consisted of fourteen female Hispanic students who received no treatments. The Beck Depression Inventory was used to measure pre and post test levels of depression, the Beck Anxiety Inventory was used to measure pre and post test levels of anxiety, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem questionnaire and the Index of Self-Esteem were used to measure pre and post levels of self-esteem.

Hispanics represent the greatest U.S. population growth, yet Hispanic women are the least educated of all U.S. ethnic female groups and reflect the lowest college enrollment as a percent of their total population. Since nearly half of Hispanics enrolled in college are served by community colleges, this research sought to understand if marianismo, i.e., the cultural expectations that Hispanic women females must focus on caretaking and mothering while reflecting passivity, duty and honor, and self-sacrifice, might provide some explanation for the low levels of degree attainment among Hispanic female community college students compared to their female peers from all other ethnic groups. Marianismo was once a construct that limited the role of women to the home. However, today’s Hispanic female is expected to juggle home priorities along with other roles in which she may engage. These various role demands may influence Hispanic female college persistence and success. Using secondary data analysis of the national Educational Longitudinal Study 2002 (ELS), this study examined the relationship between marianismo and persistence (semester to semester enrollment) of Hispanic females (n = 368) enrolled in community colleges. To create a marianismo scale, 13 items were selected from the ELS and reviewed by individuals familiar with Hispanic culture and marianismo. Confirmatory factor analysis was then used to generate a reliable marianismo scale (Cronbach’s alpha = .82). Logistic regression revealed that of marianismo, socio-economic status, generational status, and high school GPA, only high school GPA was statistically significant for predicting persistence.

The Monterey School Diabetes Prevention Project's (MSDPP) ENERGY Club is a pilot project for school-based health prevention curriculum targeting students with risk factors for diabetes. ENERGY is an acronym for Exercise 'n Eating Right is Good for You.

The purpose of this is study is to investigate the experiences of students in Latino/Latina fraternities and sororities. Five students were selected to take part of the study and were interviewed using a qualitative case study methodology grounded in critical race theory. Five themes were identified: the support system that Latino Greek Lettered Organizations (LGLO) offer, going Greek, challenges, differences from other Greeks, and shifting identify of the organizations from Latino to multicultural. Student affairs practitioners, educators, and researchers will be able to use the findings from this study to better support LGLO's and consequently the success of Latino students on college campuses. / Graduation date: 2012

This study considered how being Latina, and all the variables inherent in gender and ethnicity intersect when a Latina is a public school district superintendent in Texas; specifically, how a Latina superintendent effectuates meaningful and productive superintendent-board relations. The study employed a phenomenological approach, and utilized semi-structured interviews, collection of artifacts, researcher observations, and a board of education member survey. Through the interpretivist paradigm, elements of gender role theory permeated the study. The notion of the glass ceiling as a barrier that women seeking executive level positions, such as the superintendency, emerged from the discourse of the study. Findings suggest that where professional skills, knowledge, and abilities are concerned there is no gender difference; however, the ability for women to be equally considered for executive level positions, such as the superintendency, suggests that disparity in practice continues to exist. Women are challenged to be equally considered for the superintendency. While women carry a presumably different challenge to balance work and family, the findings suggest that those who have attained the superintendency were able to thrive amidst this challenge. The study also suggests that the three Latina superintendent study participants’ practices in developing and maintaining effective superintendent-board relations sustained prior research in this regard. Where superintendents are strategic and purposeful in their efforts to develop and maintain effective superintendent-board relations, they thrive. In contrast, where superintendents are not strategic and purposeful in their efforts to develop and maintain effective superintendent-board relations, the superintendent’s tenure is abbreviated. / text