Improving Schooling Outcomes for Latinos in Rural California: A Placed-Based Approach to Farmworkers' History

• In Event: 16.061 - Roundtable Session 4
  In Roundtable Session: 16.061-18 - Latino Communities: Historical Perspectives

Abstract

Site of one of the largest and fastest growing Latino populations in the nation’s most populous state, Latino schooling in California’s Central Valley has received scant attention from educational researchers. Although a critical player in its powerful agricultural economy and history, Latinos are the Central Valley population most vulnerable to poverty, poor health, and low schooling outcomes.

This paper provides a portrait of the challenges and promise of Latino schooling in the Central Valley. We document a multi-year “Placed Based Education” project by which Latino and Filipino community college students learn of the region’s legendary Farm Worker’s movement through an oral history methodology. We find that students attain great gains within historical thinking skills, bi-literacy abilities, and positive bicultural identity.

Authors

• Adam Sawyer, Soka University of America

• Oliver Rosales, Bakersfield College

• Oscar Medina, Soka University of America