No description available.

This project examines the impact factors such as parent involvement and teacher support have on Mexican American students' decisions about higher education.

This investigation sought the perceptions of a selected group of Mexican-American community leaders in Tucson, Arizona, concerning their recollected classroom relationships with their teachers. The investigation proceeded on the basis of a three-part theoretical framework drawn from the literature of psychology, anthropology, and education. The theory included the following: (1) Perceptual Processes; (2) Cultural Processes; and (3) Interpersonal Processes. An interview schedule, based on the elements of the theoretical framework, was developed employing a Likert type scale together with an open-ended comment format. Twenty Mexican-American community leaders were identified and interviewed in depth regarding the perceived relationships that they recalled having had with their respective teachers. Among the findings, the following appeared to be most significant: (1) the participants generally agreed that their teachers were aware of them; (2) the participants reported perceiving that their teachers had accepted them; (3) the participants agreed that their teachers had generally not accepted most aspects of their bicultural being. They reported perceiving that their teachers' thrust appeared to have been toward assimilation; (4) the participants reported that their teachers seemed not to have cared sufficiently to communicate to them that their bicultural identities were important; (5) the participants reported that their teachers had not encouraged them to make choices in becoming independent persons. They tended to report that their teachers had lowered expectations for them and therefore had not adequately challenged them; and (6) the participants perceived that their teachers had not extended themselves to positively support their cultural identities.

This historical study examines the career of George I. Sanchez, New Mexican educator, who led many political and educational battles in New Mexico and Texas to improve educational opportunities for Spanish-speaking children. Archival materials from the State Records' Center of New Mexico, the papers of Senator Bronson M. Cutting, the Rockefeller Foundation Archives, the papers of President Lyndon Baines Johnson, Sanchez's private papers, unpublished materials at the University of Texas in Austin, oral history, and published materials were used in this study. The author used oral history and archival materials to gather much of the information for this work. The author extends special thanks and appreciation to Mrs. George I. Sanchez for making Sanchez's private papers available for study. The author also wishes to thank Dr. Hector Garcia, Senator Ralph Yarborough, Judge Carlos Cadena, Tom Sutherland, Arthur Campa, J. W. Edgar, Ed Idar, Jr., John Silber, and Connie Sprague, Sanchez's daughter, for their help.

Mexican immigrant students are entering American schools in great numbers. Many of them come to high schools with a good educational background, but there is little knowledge about them and about the factors that contribute to their incorporation into social life in the United States. While the drop out rate of Mexican-American students in high school has remained the highest among all ethnic groups, recent immigrants are pressuring schools to meet their needs immediately. Failure to respond adequately to their needs may result in an increase in the already high drop out rate and a perpetuation of the cycle of poverty among the Mexican-American population. The purpose of this study was to examine the factors that contribute to the incorporation of Mexican immigrant high school students to United States society. The design of the study is a qualitative multiple case study with a phenomenological perspective. Five Mexican immigrant high school students were selected according to specific criteria. Data was collected through in-depth, open-ended interviews, observations, and documentation. Special consideration were given to the role played by the high school in promoting the academic success of Mexican immigrant students and the contribution of native culture to the process of incorporation into United States society. This study makes contributions to knowledge about Mexican immigrant high school students that can help educators improve the services needed by this fast growing segment of the population. / text

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Mexican-American children are educationally disadvantaged, are at-risk for academic failure, and have not demonstrated the academic achievement that other immigrant groups have, even after they have lived in the U.S. for many generations. Today, parental involvement is being touted by government officials and the popular press as one mechanism through which academic achievement can be increased. If parental involvement is indeed effective, it may be one mechanism for improving the achievement of Mexican-American students. For this research, causal modeling (path analysis) was used to investigate the influence of parental involvement on overall academic achievement, and the reading, math, science, and social studies achievement on 1,714 eighth grade Mexican-American children. This research utilized the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS 88), the third major national longitudinal survey developed by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Parental involvement, defined as discussing school activities and having high educational aspirations for children, positively affected all academic achievement areas. SES (socioeconomic status) and previous learning also had strong influences on achievement. Interestingly, as parents' language proficiency increased, parental involvement decreased, when controlling for the gender of the student, SES, parents' birth place, and previous learning. Gender differences were evident in all academic areas, and females received more attention than males from their parents. Family rules did not influence academic achievement and may in fact have a negative influence on social studies achievement. Since a good education is necessary for all who live in modern society, educators and policy makers should continue to encourage Mexican-American parents to discuss school activities and have high educational aspirations for their children. Parental involvement is one potentially alterable variable which can positively influence the academic achievement of Mexican-American children. / Ph. D.

Almost twenty-five years ago, James Coleman's Equalitv of Educational Opportunity reported that "Schools make no difference." Though it was received with dismay and frustration by liberal educators, the Coleman report was not the first to indicate that public schools give unequal access to the "American dream." Since that time theorists have attempted to develop models to explain why students tend to exit the educational system with much the same social and economic potential as their parents. / Ed. D.