Constructed from a social justice paradigm, the researcher of this study combines historical research methods, case study strategies and the lens of critical race theory (CRT) to investigate the Raza Studies program within the Tucson Unified School District’s Ethnic Studies Department. With equal emphasis, this study has four aims: 1) to provide a deep literature review revealing the historical plight of Latin@ students (Darder, 1997; Valencia, 1991/1997/2002); 2) to explore the maintenance of deficit discourses and subtractive schooling conditions in relation to Latin@ students (Ogbu, 1998; Solórzano and Yosso, 2001; Valenzuela, 1999); 3) to offer a counter discourse based on an exploration of alternative critical pedagogies (Cammarota and Romero, 2006/2009; Freire, 1970/1973; Giroux; 1988; Kincheloe; 2004; McLaren, 1997/2003) and; 4) to tell the story of Raza Studies primarily using newspaper articles, letters to the editor and editorials written in response to four major events that occurred from 2007-2010. Within this study, CRT is the most effective theoretical framework to uncover the malignant schooling conditions and practices imposed on Latin@ youth because it allows the researcher to examine how racial stereotyping might contribute to the continued marginalization and subordination of Latin@ students. In turn, the investigation into the conditions and events surrounding La Raza Studies suggests that implicit (and explicit) racist attitudes, within the public discourse, not only impede Latin@ student success but that they also intend to. (Solórzano and Yosso 2001; Giroux 2005). Additionally, this historical descriptive account is further developed and magnified by a critical analysis of the data (58 opinion-based responses retrieved from a local newspaper). Coding for indicators of a deficit discourse (stereotypes, prejudice, xenophobia, etc.), a critical reflection and discussion of these texts is considered within the larger themes of power, ideology, and hegemony. (Apple, 1979/1995; Fairclough, 1995/2001; Giroux, 2004/2005; Giroux and McLaren, 1989; Gramsci, 1971; van Dijk, 1987/1998; Wodak, 1989). In consideration of the four aims of this study combined with the researcher’s theoretical framework and bias, she believes the reader will gain a more empathetic, even if only a more informed, perspective regarding the educational plight of Latin@ students.

The aim of this thesis is to explore school classes with a higher level of achievement in reading than could be expected, with regard to socio-economic background factors and language background. What do those classes practice? Which attitudes towards reading and schooling do those children and their teachers display? The teacher and the classroom environment are in particular focus. The thesis is based on three studies. Firstly, over-achieving and underachieving grade three-classes in reading are compared in a large-scale statistical study. Reading tests, student questionnaires and teacher questionnaires provided data. The results indicate that a positive classroom climate, frequent voluntary reading, the use of authentic literature and many years of teaching experience characterise the over-achieving classes. In a second study eight over-achieving classes, in the same data material were in focus. The schools were located in a low-income, low-education multicultural suburban area. In-depth interviews were performed with adults active in those classes at the time of the data collection. The joint analyses of quantitative and qualitative data indicate that teachers’ ways of relating to their students is important as the Deficit Discourse is replaced by future oriented pedagogy with features such as aesthetic activities, dynamic assessment, strong raming, abundant reading of fiction and a lot of writing. In a third smaller, qualitative study five young university students, former students in one of the targeted classes in the second study, were interviewed in-depth about their school experiences and their Future Time Perspective. The informants emphasize the importance of being acknowledged in school, reading competency and knowledge of oral and written Swedish as factors for success. / Syftet med avhandlingen är att utforska de faktorer som bidrar till att vissa skolklasser presterar på högre nivåer i läsning än vad man skulle kunna förvänta med hänsyn till socioekonomiska bakgrundsfaktorer och språkbakgrund. Hur arbetar dessa klasser? Vilka uppfattningar och attityder visavi läsning och skola kännetecknar dessa barn och deras lärare? Framför allt fokuseras läraren och undervisningen. Avhandlingen baserar sig på tre studier. I en första storskalig statistisk studie jämförs över- och underpresterande klasser i läsning i skolår tre. Lästester, lärarenkäter och elevenkäter låg till grund för analyserna. Resultaten indikerar ett positivt klassrumsklimat, höga frekvenser av fritidsläsning, autentisk litteratur i undervisningen samt lärares långa yrkeserfarenhet som karaktäristika. I en andra uppföljande studie, fokuserades åtta överpresterande klasser i samma datamaterial, i ett multikulturellt förortsområde med låga utbildnings- och inkomstnivåer. I denna studie djupintervjuades även vuxna som varit aktiva i de överpresterande klasserna under tiden för datainsamlingen. De samlade analyserna av kvalitativa och kvantitativa data indikerar att lärares förhållningssätt intar en nyckelroll, då ett brist-synsätt ersatts av framtidsorienterad pedagogik, med inslag som estetisk verksamhet, dynamisk utvärdering, fasta strukturer, riklig läsning av skönlitteratur och eget skrivande. I en tredje, mindre, kvalitativ studie djupintervjuas tidigare elever från en av de undersökta klasserna, nu unga vuxna i början av sin akademiska karriär, om sin skolgång och sitt framtidsperspektiv. Informanterna betonar värdet av att få lyckas, att bli sedd och uppskattad för den man är, samt hemtamhet med litteratur och svenska språket i tal och skrift som framgångsfaktorer.

This dissertation breaks new ground in qualitative educational research by looking closely at the community and curricula of a well-resourced seven-year-old public high school in a New York City borough, which I call the Legal Studies Academy (LSA). This school created its own nonprofit organization in order to accrue private donations. Its most important “funder and founder” is an elite Manhattan law firm. The relationship between the firm and the school is emblematic of the direction that many urban public schools in the United States are moving: toward increased dependence on private funds to secure the resources deemed necessary for quality twenty-first century education (Anyon 1997; Lipman 2004; 2005). My project explores how the privatization of public institutions affects definitions of social justice and good education in the United States. I document the ways that students and teachers in the LSA community both reproduce and contest school norms. My methods in this two-year study included: teacher-research, participant observation of teachers and students, extensive interviews with teachers, students and parents, conduct of a summer book club / cultural circle, and analysis of data from a schoolwide student questionnaire. I also examine materials the school uses to solicit donations from its funders in relation to cultural constructions of urban students and their teachers in literature and the media. I explore what students’ and teachers’ daily practices of resistance or conformity to these cultural constructions might reveal about the place of democracy, humanization, character education, and critical pedagogy in U.S. public schools that depend on private or corporate philanthropists for resources. This ethnography nuances the often polarized debate around issues of achievement in education in the context of the demands of a global economy by documenting how the daily practices of students, families and teachers reflect on a social structure of education and achievement that, in the United States, ever more unequivocally aligns one’s identity and success with marketability. On a larger scale, it inspires critical questions about the place of democracy and citizenship as juxtaposed with inequities furthered by global racial capitalism. / text