As thousands of communities--especially in the South--became booming gateways for immigrant families during the 1990s and the early years of the new century, public schools struggled with the unfamiliar task of serving the large numbers of English-learners arriving in their classrooms. Instructional programs were built from scratch. Districts had…

It is not known how teachers describe parental involvement as an influence on Mexican immigrant student achievement is the problem of this study. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study is to explore how teachers describe parental involvement as an influence on Mexican immigrant student achievement in Northern Illinois. The six types of…

The focus of this article is on how translanguaging, which is defined as a language practice that transcends formal language boundaries, was used as a linguistic tool and resource for expressing thoughts, emotions, and understandings of and around English and Spanish texts. Focusing on translanguaging as a medium for learning, the authors begin…

This study explores perceptions of Mexican mother-adolescent communication about sexuality. Participants interviewed included four mother-expecting son pairs and four mother-pregnant daughter pairs. Our interviews revealed important adolescent gender differences. Pena (shame/embarrassment) played a major role vis-a-vis indirect communication about…

Do some forms of student (and school) assessment hinder the introduction of innovative educational practices and the development of innovation skills in education systems? This report focuses on the impact of high-stake summative assessment on innovation and argues that it is possible to reconcile high-stakes assessments and examinations through…

This paper summarizes main findings from an investigation of the familiarity and importance of assessment practices from the perspectives of Mexican teachers, counselors, and administrators. A survey that listed 74 practices, sampling 7 areas of competencies, was assembled from the Code of Fair Testing Practices in Education, the Standards for…