English language learners are a diverse and fast-growing segment of the student population in the United States. Faced with the double challenge of keeping up with grade-level content while learning English as a new language in a new culture, many of them struggle. This article presents data from a three-phase qualitative study designed to learn…

This article uses life course theory and family bargaining theory to explore how decisions over schooling are negotiated in poorer Mexican families for whom compulsory basic education is a luxury. It explores educational decision making by conceptualizing education in terms of the way it meshes with other social relations and institutions across…