By: beverly j. irby & Rafael lara alecio  (Page 6/12)

Achievement is linked to personal issues faced daily by students, and Latino ELLs face several issues related to socialization within the U.S. school system such as: (a) peer integration with non-Latinos, (b) attitudes toward school work, (c) learning of English, (d) school as a different learning environment, (e) parental involvement in the school, and (f) teacher induction to the culture.

Peer integration

According to Brittain (2002), Latinos, who have had peers who go back and forth and bring information to the native country, may have (a) negative perceptions of particular groups of students, particularly Black students; (b) fears for their safety due to information related to gang activity; and (c) feelings of insecurity related to their national origin. Kao (2000) found that Latinos perceived their peers as believing they were illegal, while Phinney (1990) indicated that the lack of ability in the English language led to more discrimination. Latinos, according to Kao (2000) indicated that they perceived Black students as having negative feelings toward them. Lasso and Soto (2005) found the use of a buddy system assisted new immigrant students in better integrating into the school community.

Attitudes toward school work and the curriculum

Kao (2000) reported that Latinos felt they were not encouraged to join advanced level classes; further, they felt distressed over school and had a lower self-esteem as a consequence. On the other hand, researchers at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (1996) found that immigrant Latinos had an optimism and faith that through hard work, success was possible. Brittain (2002) determined that negative attitudes toward school by Latino immigrants may create feelings of unpreparedness for moving on to higher education. A consensus in the field suggests that children of Mexican decent have higher levels of depression (Joiner, Perez, Wanger, Berenson,&Marquina, 2001; Roberts, Roberts,&Chen, 1997), compared with Euro-American children. One of the prevalent antecedents to high dropout rates is the level of academic achievement; however, according to Vernez and Abrahamse (1996) it is difficult to drop out of school when one does not “drop in.” In other words, many of the students do not even enroll in school at the secondary level; they simply begin working in manual labor jobs. The main reason Latinos reported quitting school was to go to work (Shobe, 2003).

According to a Just Schools California report (2004), ELLS have inequitable access to rigorous coursework with high school counselors lacking the language of the students which limits information provided to ELLs and the information their parents receive about graduation and college requirements. Also, many schools offer an inadequate number of courses designed to meet the needs of their ELLs. As a result, many ELLs have short schedules that do not prepare them, even for graduation. Additionally most classroom teachers have minimal, if any training in meeting the academic or linguistic needs of their ELL students (Byrnes, Kiher,&Manning, 1997; Youngs&Youngs, 2001).