Research

Language, Literacy, and Schooling among Latino Youth in New York City: An Ethnographic Study

2002-present

Researchers:
Lesley Bartlett
Ofelia Garcia
Jill Koyama

Context for the study  

Latino youth are an important segment of the school-age population in the United States.  They are the children of this country's largest and fastest growing minority group, and now account for 14% of the public school population in the United States and more than 25% of students in urban schools (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2000; Tienda, 2001).  Over the next 20 years the overall number of Latino children is expected to double, and based on current projections one in four school children in America will be Latino by the year 2025 (White House Initiative, 1999). 

Due to their numbers, Latino youth are of enormous public policy interest, and their educational achievement is a matter of growing national concern.  The high school graduation rate for Latinos ages 25 to 29 continues to lag behind that of other major ethnic groupings.  Only 63% of Latinos nationwide have a high school diploma compared to 87% of African Americans and 94% of both Asian Americans and European Americans ages 25 to 29. Within the same age group, only 8% of Latinos nationwide have finished four years of college compared to 18% of African Americans, 34% of European Americans, and 54% of Asian Americans (U.S. and foreign born) (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000).

Latino youth, and especially recently arrived immigrant students, face the challenge of mastering academic English language and literacy in order to succeed in school. In particular, because new school assessments rely heavily on standard literacy in English, Latino students are at higher risk of failure. Educational practice and research studies have focused on the development of higher levels of English academic literacy for immigrant Latino students. But there has been little research on how this academic literacy in English might intersect with the literacy practices of these Latino students outside of school and in Spanish.

Research questions

This four-year ethnographic study examines the educational experiences and language and literacy development of immigrants recently arrived from Spanish speaking countries in Latin America who are studying in New York City. Situated in one NYC high school, this study asks three overarching, interrelated questions:

1. How are new federal and city policies influencing the educational opportunities of newcomer Latino youth, and specifically their language and literacy practices?

2. How are recently-arrived Latino immigrant youth negotiating the new social structures, institutions, and social relations they find upon arrival in New York in their quest to graduate from high school?

3. How are Latino youth's English and Spanish language and academic literacies co-developing over time?

Works Cited

National Center for Education Statistics. 2000. Racial and Ethnic Distribution of Elementary and Secondary Students. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement: Series title: Indicator of the month.

Tienda, M. 2001. College admissions policies and the educational pipeline: Implications for medical and health professions. In B. Smedley, A. Stith, L. Colburn, & C. Evans (Eds.). The Right Thing to Do, the Smart Thing to Do: Enhancing Diversity in the Health Professions. Washington, DC: The National Academy of Sciences.

U.S. Census Bureau (2002a). Demographic Profile (Table DP-3). Profile of Selected Economic Characteristics, 2000, published May, 14 2002. Retrieved October 15, 2003 from http://censtats.census.gove/cgi~bin/pct/pctProfile.pl

Related publications

Garcia, O. and Bartlett, L. (2007). Educating Speech Communities: An Unusual School Model for Latino Newcomers in an Era of Standards. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 10, 1, 1-25.

Bartlett, L. and Fernandez Geara, C. (In prep) Race Matters: The Racial Socialization of Dominican Newcomer Immigrant Youth. To be submitted to Race, Ethnicity, and Education.

Bartlett, L. (under review) Bilingual Literacies, Social Identification, and Educational Trajectories. Linguistics in Education.

Michael, Ali, Andrade, N., and Bartlett, L. (2007). Figuring “Success” in a Bilingual High School. Urban Review 39(2).

Teachers College, Columbia University.