Improving Schools for Latinos: Creating Better Learning Environments

As a result of multiple unfavorable circumstances, public schools have been unable to effectively educate America's most disadvantaged student population--Latinos. In this book, the author contends that it is imperative to reinvent schools in order to provide a viable education for these students. This book starts with the past, points out the present, and speaks to the future. It exposes the negative mental models and practices that must be discarded and proposes what favorable elements need to be put into place. The book features: (1) An outline of what future Latino schools must look like; (2) A focus on organizing, leading, and governing schools to create equitable relationships and democratic institutions; (3) A comprehensive view and understanding about school and classrooms; and (4) Helpful resources for program assistance, community-based organizations, and funding sources. Following a foreword by Reynaldo Contreras, this book is divided into the following nine chapters: (1) Why We Must Start Now to Create New Schools for Mexican Latinos; (2) It Takes an Entire Village; (3) Engendering New Hope, "Si se puede!"; (4) Building Capacity and Creating Flexibility; (5) Schools as True Places of Learning for Human Growth; (6) Organizing Schools for Latino Learners and Fostering Creativity; (7) Assessment for Human Development and Reinvention; (8) Holding True to Democratic Principles; and (9) A Call to Join the Action.