"It Isn't the Child Who Is Culturally Disadvantaged": Los Angeles Unified School District and Its Mexican Students, 1968–1978

• In Event: Urban Communities and School Reform in the 1960s

Abstract

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) experienced demographic shifts and witnessed public display of Mexican-American student and community discontent during the late 1960s. This paper illuminates how and why LAUSD sought to improve the education of its students by engaging with the Mexican American community in three ways: 1) the creation of the Mexican-American Education Commission; 2) the implementation of a district-wide reading program; and 3) the district's participation in training for teachers of Mexican-American students. Such collaboration proves useful for today’s districts that find it challenging to educate some of its students without defaulting to traditional deficit notions of minority students.

Author

• Claudia Diera, University of California - Los Angeles