A review of more than 500 empirical studies conducted since 1970 on the achievement of Mexican Americans identified prior claims supported and/or refuted by data, isolated promising hypotheses for further investigation or educational implementation, and made recommendations for improvement of schooling, school-home relations, and teacher preparation. The review found widely accepted stereotypes about Mexican Americans' lack of internal locus of control, reluctance to compete, depressed intelligence, field dependence orientation in learning, and failure to acculturate to be false. Factors found to be associated with increased achievement included language usage, bilingualism, bilingual education, positive self-concept, home independence training, and school/classroom affective climate. Findings indicated that teacher warmth and enthusiasm and absence of authoritarianism and punitiveness significantly impact academic achievement of Mexican American students; cooperative learning environments produce greater academic gains than competitive or individualistic learning environments for all students; students in low-track high school classes receive less educational opportunities than students in heterogeneous groups; and the fact that the self-concept of Mexican Americans does not appear to increase either with succeeding generations or with the age of the individuals suggests that these students are not mastering their environment and are not surrounded by nurturant significant others in school or in the community. (NEC)