Latine students make up more than half of California’s K-12 public school population, but the perspectives of this group and their families are underrepresented in research and policy conversations.
The report What California’s Latine Students, Families and Communities Want From and For Their Schools, published in May under the umbrella of Stanford University’s Getting Down to Facts research project reviewing public education in the state, takes a qualitative approach to the subject.
“Students and families are not merely subjects of educational policy but active interpreters of schooling whose insights can inform more equitable and inclusive approaches to education,” the report reads. “Centering these voices moves educational research beyond documenting disparities toward understanding how communities themselves imagine and create the conditions for meaningful learning.”
Participants in the study come from diverse backgrounds and experiences.
CSBA is highlighting findings and recommendations from this report as part of its blog series recognizing National Hispanic Heritage Month, observed annually from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15.
Common themes
“We are in a pretty contentious and fractured time right now and many of the kinds of concerns we’re seeing happening sociopolitically outside of schools are directly shaping the experiences for kids and for their families,” said Antero Garcia, a professor at Stanford’s Graduate School of Education in a video accompanying the report.
For many involved in the study, “the most fundamental question about school was not about curriculum or instruction; it was whether school was safe,” the report explains. At a time where immigration enforcement and anti-immigrant rhetoric has intensified, this fear exists across ages, geographic location and immigration status, researchers found. Children indicated that they have anxiety about being targeted, stopped or unexpectedly losing a parent.
Another overarching finding is that “‘Latine’ is not a monolith and that schools, in their practices, curricula, and assumptions, often treat it as one,” the report states. “Participants from across California pushed back against a Latine identity that is implicitly Mexican-centric, particularly in a state where immigration from Central America, South America, and the Caribbean has reshaped the demographics of many school communities.”
Additionally, language was identified as a barrier to access and an ongoing source of inequity as well as a component of cultural identity and an educational resource. Bilingual and dual immersion programs are viewed as priorities. However, a lack of high-quality translation for families regarding educational issues like enrollment, governance meetings and in disciplinary proceedings, can be perceived as exclusionary.
Findings
Through the survey, families detailed concerns about the quality of school food and lack of time to eat. “For students who rely on school meals, as a primary food source, this is not just a minor inconvenience, it affects concentration, dignity, and a student’s basic sense of being cared for,” according to the report.
Students across age groups and their families spoke on the need for time to socialize, play and decompress. Participants also emphasized the value of outdoor time, farm-based learning and access to gardens, seen as “the time and space where students could engage with the natural world and for many families, connect to agricultural and land-based traditions that carry a deep cultural meaning.”
Regarding books and curriculum, students and families hold a strong desire “to see books that reflect their own cultural histories, languages and communities on school shelves.” Moreover, “several participants spoke with alarm and frustration about the growing movement to remove books from classrooms and school libraries. They were clear in understanding this movement as targeting, among others, books about Latine, Black and LGBTQ+ experiences,” the report states. “Families described this as a direct attack on their children’s right to see themselves in print.”
Participants “called for language offerings that would reflect the linguistic reality of their communities that included Spanish, indigenous languages, and heritage language programs.”
There was enthusiasm about ethnic studies both as a course and a pedagogical framework. Some saw the topic as a catalyst of civic engagement. “Families described wanting ethnic studies to start a conversation about what is happening currently and to be taught with depth and authenticity rather than meeting the requirement checkbox,” according to the report.
Caregivers signified that institutional powers sometimes felt inaccessible because of factors like meeting times, language barriers and generally, a sense that the spaces weren’t for them. “Families describe a clear desire not just to be informed about decisions but to help make them. Many Latine parents described feeling excluded from Parent-Teacher Associations (PTA) and from meaningful and direct access to their school principals, particularly around the planning of when meetings were held,” the report states.
Social-emotional learning (SEL) opportunities and educational environments that inspire and encourage joy and connection and celebrate students’ cultural identities are critical. “Students spoke about the importance of feeling known by their teachers and having adults who checked in with them, being in classrooms where it is okay to struggle,” the report explains. “SEL was not understood as a program to be added on but as the relational foundation of a classroom.”
Recommendations
Suggestions for improvement related to educational policy and practice include:
- Implementing strong policies that ensure schools are safe, trusted places for families
- Investing in the physical and environmental conditions of campuses
- Supporting inclusive, historically accurate curriculum that reflects Latin American communities and the global community
- Protecting access to diverse literature
- Developing culturally responsive pedagogies recognizing the diversity of Latine identities
- Providing professional support for educators facilitating discussions on contemporary social and global issues
