"Non Satis Scire": Standards-Based or Culture-Based Educational Reform?

• In Event: To Know English Learners Is Not Enough: A Call to Include the Other English Learners

Abstract

Objectives: To review the literature on current research on Latino education --particularly non-Mexican Latino groups in K-12 settings. To discuss innovative scholarship that has not been sufficiently applied in K-12 educational settings serving Mexican and non-Mexican heritage groups. To propose new ways to utilize this knowledge in the future in terms of policy, training and future educational practices to serve the public good.

Theoretical Perspectives. Many decades of sound educational research have informed us that standard-based reform and accountability are not the exclusive solutions to reduce the chronic academic gap between mainstream students and culturally-diverse students—particularly those students of Latino origin. The challenges facing Latino students today extend beyond the classroom walls—and it is visible in rampant unemployment rates, and school attrition (Villegas & Lucas, 2002). When our educational system ignores Latino students’ own traditional teaching and learning nurtured in the home and within their communities---the educational system loses a valuable educational tool to augment the existing curriculum and to build from existing knowledge (Gay, 2010). In addition, learning in a language which is not one’s own, exerts undue pressure for children; not only is there the challenge of learning a new language, but also learning new knowledge and skills (Kottak & Kozaitis, 2012). As a result, Latino children find it difficult to cope with the challenges that emerge from the so-called ‘standard’ language of instruction (Banks & Banks, 2010; Demmert, 2011; Nieto 2010; Skutnabb-Kangas & Dunbar, 2010). Current research argues that cultural-based education (CBE) is a basic human right to all culturally-diverse students (and colonized indigenous Mexican and Central American groups). This educational approach was frequently denied by the colonial powers and settler regimes (Demmert, 2011).

Current free trade agreements have resulted in huge economic shifts of jobs from developed countries to emerging countries. Economists predict that in the future, there will be fewer economic opportunities here than in Asia, and Latin America (Dubner, 2008). With this shift in the forefront, will our students—including cultural minorities who are rapidly losing their native languages---be prepared linguistically and culturally to work in a globalized society? What do K-12 educators know about the role of culture and language in learning? As important as the core state-standards are, will they lead to the skills needed to function in a global world? What do educators and policy-makers need to know about the education of Latinos from Mexican and non-Mexican backgrounds in lieu of CBE and other current theoretical frameworks?

Data Sources. Current data on Latinos from non-Mexican background has been gathered from the NCES and the PEW Research Center.
Results. Case studies of selected K-12 institutions which are successfully utilizing CBE approaches will be shared.

Scholarly Significance. This paper advances knowledge on the education of Latinos—in particular, non-Mexican, Latino groups which have received very little attention in current research. It also emphasizes innovative approaches (e.g. CBE) to improve policy, teacher education and practices affecting ‘other’ Latino groups.

Author

• Mariella M. Espinoza-Herold, Northern Arizona University