Teaching and Learning in the New Latino Diaspora

This volume does more than document an educational dynamic that impacts Latino populations across the United States; it also connects educational challenges to concrete plans for how those problems can be resolved. Both experienced and new scholars describe strategies and outline policies to support academic success, affirm identity and belonging, and show how educational institutions can be transformed to better serve Latino constituencies in a post-pandemic world, where insistent efforts at right of belonging and affirmation counter Trumpian xenophobia and hostility. Examples from elementary education to higher education supply familiar points of entry, but also challenge readers to explore scenarios and strategies that they have not previously considered. Each chapter begins with empirical documentation of an educational problem involving Latino populations where their presence is relatively new (mainly post-IRCA) and goes on to outline how that problem can be resolved. The text includes depictions of how youth participatory action research can diversify teacher education recruitment, what authentically welcoming college campuses might look like, how high school literature classes could include more Latino authors, and much more.

Book Features:

• Includes detailed examples of practice to assist teachers and school leaders in restructuring their classrooms and programs to better serve Latino students.
• Describes settings and scenarios from across the United States that will be familiar to those teaching, leading, or preparing to do so.
• Focuses on the new diaspora as distinct from states with traditionally large Latino populations.
• Argues that lagging educational outcomes are far from inevitable and that inclusion, engagement, and success are possible and worth striving for.

Edmund T. Hamann is a professor in the department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education at the University of Nebraska. Socorro G. Herrera is professor of curriculum and instruction at Kansas State University and executive director of the Center for Intercultural and Multilingual Advocacy (CIMA). Enrique G. Murillo Jr. is a professor in the department of Teacher Education and Foundations at California State University, San Bernardino, where he is director of doctoral studies. He is also founder of LEAD (Latino Education and Advocacy Days). Stanton Wortham is Charles F. Donovan, S.J., Dean of the Lynch School of Education and Human Development, Boston College.

“The rich, context-sensitive research in this volume charts a powerful course for transforming education in the New Latino Diaspora and beyond.”
—From the Foreword by Sofia A. Villenas, associate professor of anthropology, Cornell University

“Teaching and Learning in the New Latino Diaspora goes beyond looking at what's wrong to boldly consider what can be done to make things right by our Latinx students and families. The authors employ an ‘imagineering’ approach to set a more just and humane pathway for educational policies, systems, and pedagogies.”
—Tatyana Kleyn, professor, The City College of New York and principal investigator, CUNY-Initiative on Immigration and Education

“With rich and engaging examples spanning teacher education programs, district initiatives, classroom practices, and more, this volume provides a much-needed perspective on how to meaningfully improve education for youth across the New Latino Diaspora. By moving beyond critical appraisal and into concrete strategies of critical practice, this exceptional and excellent text makes an important contribution that should be read by scholars, practitioners, and policymakers alike.”
—Andrea Flores, Vartan Gregorian Assistant Professor of Education, Brown University

“This renewed collection of culturally responsive systemic solutions reflects possible transformations of an educational system centered on access and Latino excellence, fulfilling the promise of generational sacrifice and public education.”
—Cristóbal Rodríguez, associate provost for equity, Western Michigan University and commissioner, White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics

Contents

Foreword Sofia A. Villenas  vii

1.  From Challenges to Improvements: Creating Culturally Responsive Practice in the New Latino Diaspora  1
Edmund T. Hamann, Socorro G. Herrera, Enrique G. Murillo, Jr., and Stanton Wortham

2.  Imagineering More Inclusive Teacher Education: Systemic Approaches to Challenging the Predominance of Whiteness in Education  8
Amanda R. Morales, Lydiah Kiramba, Ricardo Martinez, and Edmund T. Hamann

3.  Impacto sin Quemarse: Building Understanding of the Latinx Immigrant/Migrant Experience Through Literature  20
Scott Beck, Alma Stevenson, and Yasar Bodur

4.  Reengineering Professional Development for Educational Leaders in the New Latinx Diaspora of the U.S. Midwest  38
Lisa M. Dorner and Emily R. Crawford

5.  Reframing Emergent Multilinguals as “First-Class Citizens” in the New Latinx Diaspora of New Jersey  56
Meredith McConnochie

6.  Imagining and Reengineering Inclusive Schooling for All Students in the New Latino Diaspora  71
Tricia Gray

7.  Lessons From the New Latinx Diaspora in Idaho: Negotiating Access to School Success and Well-Being  87
Eulalia Gallegos Buitron and Vanessa Anthony-Stevens

8.  Intersectional Potentialities in Non-Urban K–12 Education: Envisioning the Future for New Latinx Diaspora Nebraska  103
Jessica Sierk

9.  Leveraging Existing Educator Expertise: Serving Latinx Students in the Rural Southeast  118
Julie Yammine and Rebecca Lowenhaupt

10.  Luchando Contra La Corriente (Fighting Against the Current): Historicizing Our Latinx Identities  132
Socorro G. Herrera, Lisa Lynn Porter, and Katherine Barko-Alva

11.  Transforming K–12 School District Structures to Center Latinx Newcomers  146
Megan Hopkins and Hayley Weddle

12.  Studying Up to Reimagine and Reframe the Dual Language Bilingual Education Agenda in the New Latino Diaspora  156
Jessica Mitchell-McCollough

13.  The Bureaucratic Paradox: Newcomer Unaccompanied Children, Educational Access, and Strategies for Increasing Flourishing Through an Ecosystem of Care  169
Sophia Rodriguez, Lisa Lopez-Escobar, and Katya Murillo-Valencia

14.  The Praxis of More Welcoming, More Just, More Successful Schooling in the New Latino Diaspora  191
Edmund T. Hamann, Socorro G. Herrera, Stanton Wortham, and Enrique G. Murillo

Index  195

About the Editors and Contributors  204