“Nice White Schools”: How Do We Understand the Possible Benefits of Integration for Latinx Children?

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

As the nation’s Latinx population grows, many families are moving to new destinations—locales experiencing large, unexpected growth in their Latinx population. Young Latinx children are arriving in new destinations, but educators and policy makers have little evidence on how best to facilitate their school reception in ways that effectively engage and support their learning. They are entering schools–once predominantly White–that vary widely in segregation and quality. Research with adolescents indicates that many Latinxs arrive in school to find racial and economic isolation and limited services available—and abundant social hostility (Dondero & Muller 2012; Potochnick, 2012). This complicates debates over racial integration and how to narrow persisting Latinx disparities in learning (Guerrero et al., 2013; Reardon & Galindo, 2009).

We aim to advance theory related to racial integration, cultural assets, and learning – and to identify school and classroom mechanisms that support transformative educational experiences for young Latinx children. We propose a three-paper panel to examine: 1) how schools’ racial/ethnic and socioeconomic composition is related to Latinx children’s early mathematics skills; 2) how school composition relates to the school resources available; and 3) how kindergarten classrooms in which Latinx children start school may vary based on their racial/ethnic and socioeconomic composition. Through these papers, we will investigate how the school and classroom contexts in which young Latinx children develop and learn may facilitate—or fail to facilitate—their early academic outcomes.

Sub Unit

• Education, Schooling

Chair

• Bruce Fuller, University of California - Berkeley

Discussant

• Cynthia Teresa García Coll, University of Puerto Rico

Individual Presentations

• School Segregation and Early Learning of Latinx Students - Presenting Author: Yoonjeon Kim, University of California - Berkeley; Non-Presenting Author: Claudia Galindo, University of Maryland, College Park

• School Composition and Resources: Exploring Latinxs’ Learning Growth in Elementary Grades - Presenting Author: Francisco Lagos, University of Maryland - College Park; Non-Presenting Author: Claudia Galindo, University of Maryland, College Park

• Classroom Composition and Mechanisms for Latinx Kindergartners - Presenting Author: Margaret Bridges, University of California - Berkeley; Non-Presenting Author: Jiehui Zhao, University of Maryland - College Park