Jason G. Irizarry

Conclusion and Recommendations

As we have seen throughout this paper, the education of Latino/a students is in crisis. At the same time, based on our review of promising practices and creative projects, we also believe that this is a time of great opportunity. There are a number of areas that are especially crucial in improving the education of Latinos/as. Based on our critical synthesis of the literature, in what follows, we briefly address what we see as positive future directions in four broad areas: teacher preparation for diversity, services for ELL and immigrant students, family outreach and community engagement, and school, state, and federal policies and practices.

Ethnic and Urban Intersections in the Classroom: Latino Students, Hybrid Identities, and Culturally Responsive Pedagogy

Drawing from data collected through classroom observations and in-depth interviews, this article describes and analyzes practices identified as culturally responsive by Latinos students in an urban, multiethnic/racial context. The findings suggest that culturally responsive pedagogy must be more broadly conceptualized to address the cultural identities of students who have complex identities because of their experiences with peers of many varied identities, those whose urban roots have resulted in hybrid identities, and those who are multiethnic/multiracial. Based on these findings, the article forwards the concept of “cultural connectedness” as a framework for practicing a non-essentializing, dynamic approach to culturally responsive pedagogy that acknowledges the hybrid nature of culture and identity.

Teach for América The Latinization of U.S. Schools and the Critical Shortage of Latina/o Teachers

Motivated by shifting demographics and the persistently low academic performance of Latinas/os in U.S. schools, the authors examine factors that influence the recruitment and retention of Latina/o teachers. Applying Latina/o critical race theory and cross-case analysis to data collected from three groups of Latinas/os at distinct points in the teacher pipeline—high school students, undergraduate preservice teachers, and inservice teachers—the authors conclude that the perspectives and experiences of Latinas/os differ significantly from the dominant narrative on teacher recruitment and retention, which is largely defined by White teachers’ career histories. The findings of this study serve as an important race- and culture-conscious counternarrative that can inform efforts to systematically diversify the teaching profession.

Reinvigorating Multicultural Education Through Youth Participatory Action Research

This article explores youth participatory action research as a promising instructional practice with the potential to reverse the depoliticizing and “softening” of multicultural education. It demonstrates how, with its explicit commitment to action, youth participatory action research can help to improve the educational experiences and outcomes for youth traditionally underserved by schools.

Transracialized Selves and the Emergence of Post-White Teacher Identities.

This article draws on two previous studies by the authors, both based on interviews with European‐American individuals, to document white experiences with multiculturalism, race, and cultural differences. We consider recent developments in research on whiteness and offer a perspective on racial identities defined as discursively enacted identifications that are rooted in racialized discourse communities. We provide profiles of two white women who draw upon assets developed, in our view, largely through their successful negotiation of relationships with racially and culturally different members of multicultural discourse communities. Next, we demonstrate a methodology based on the narrative analytic tools of Stanton Wortham (2001, Narratives in action: a strategy for research and analysis [New York, Teachers College Press]) that was used to explicate multiple ways in which both participants narrated their identities during interviews. Our analysis demonstrates how these women enacted what we call ‘transracialized’ selves, that is, ways of being white that transcend predictable performances of more typically racialized identities. We link transracialized identities to the notion of ‘post‐white’ identity. Finally, we close with comments about the implications of transracialized, post‐white identities for the field of multicultural teacher education. The future calls for each of us to become partners in the dance of diversity, a dance in which everyone shares the lead. And because we have been separated by race and ethnicity for so long, we may feel awkward at first with the new moves…. But with a little help from our friends in other cultures, even white folks can learn to dance, again, as we did among the great stone circles of ancient Europe. (Howard, 1993, p. 41)

As Cultures Collide

The voices of English-language learners (ELLs) and their families and communities are often marginalized in the discourse regarding the education of linguistic-minority students. Moreover, efforts aimed at improving educational outcomes for ELLs are often rooted in a deficit perspective that views linguistically diverse students of color as inferior and undesirable. Therefore, in an effort to foreground their voices and, at the same time, to critique inaccurate assumptions regarding this community, our chapter utilizes an unorthodox methodology to ensure the inclusion of frequently silenced voices. Our approach draws from cultural sources including print media, documentary films, personal experience, family stories, and academic research. Our approach parallels the “counter-story” methodology described by Solorzano and Yosso (2002) as a “tool for exposing, analyzing, and challenging majoritarian stories” (p. 23) by centering the experiences and voices of marginalized peoples. In this chapter, we forward the subaltern voices of current and former ELL students, as well as their family and community members, with the goal of contributing to a more complex understanding of ELLs and the sociopolitical context of their education. As multicultural teacher educators, we concur with Les Back (1996) that “these muted voices must be integrated into any understanding of the contemporary politics of culture and identity” (p. 6) and, further, that today’s teachers must understand their work in relation to ELLs’ personal and collective struggles, for example, for cultural survival, educational equity, and social justice.