Building Teacher Skill by Learning about Racialized Experiences Described by Latin@ Middle and High School Youth

por

María L. Gabriel, Ph.D.  email
Poudre School District
Family, Community, and Equity Coordinator
Fort Collins, Colorado

Resumen

Este artículo presenta evidencia en torno a una tendencia en la educación de los Estados Unidos, donde la diferencia cultural entre los profesores y sus alumnos no permite que haya una comprensión completa de las experiencias de los estudiantes cultural y lingüísticamente diversos en las escuelas y en sus comunidades, específicamente la de los hispanos y latinos. Los resultados parciales de un estudio de análisis documental cualitativo basado en la teoría crítica racial (“critical race theory”) completado en 2011 demuestra la existencia de racismo individual y social que afecta a los estudiantes hispanos y latinos en escuela intermedia y superior (en algunos lugares, escuela secundaria y preparatoria), así como en sus comunidades. Los maestros pueden aprender más sobre lo que significa ser un profesor en un contexto global si logran comprender las experiencias racializadas verbales y no verbales de los 105 estudiantes hispanos y latinos descritas en este estudio.

Palabras clave: diferencia cultural, educación del maestro, estudiantes hispanos, teoría crítica racial

Abstract

This paper demonstrates a trend in U.S. education where the cultural gap between teachers and their students does not allow for a full understanding of culturally and linguistically diverse students’ experiences in schools and their communities, specifically that of Hispanics and Latino/as. Partial study results of a qualitative document analysis based in critical race theory completed in 2011 demonstrate individual and societal racism impacting middle and high school Hispanic and Latino/a students in their schools and communities. Teachers can learn more about what it means to be a teacher in a global context by understanding the verbal and nonverbal racialized experiences of the 105 Hispanic and Latino/a students described in this study.

Keywords: critical race theory, cultural gap, Hispanic students, teacher education

Recibido: 4 sep. 2014; Aceptado: 19 may. 2015

Cómo citar este artículo (estilo APA) / Citing this article (APA style):

Note: This paper was presented at the XII Puerto Rican Congress on Research in Education in March 2013 at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras. Any questions or communications should be directed to Dr. María L. Gabriel using the contact information above.

This paper addresses two purposes. The first one is to show a trend in U.S. education of a cultural mismatch between teachers and students, which does not allow for a full understanding of culturally and linguistically diverse students’ experiences in schools, specifically that of Hispanics and Latino/as (referred throughout the paper as Latin@s in accordance with Latino/a Critical Theory – LatCrit). Secondly, it seeks to share part of the results of a research study completed in 2011, demonstrating the individual and societal racism affecting middle and high school Latin@ students in their schools and communities in the mountain region of the United States as a step to build cross-cultural and global understanding, a critical 21st century skill.

Researcher’s Context and Motivation

The study manifested from my personal and professional experiences as a Latina educator in public education in the mountain region of the United States. My concerns were and continue to be related to the racialized experiences of the Latin@ students with whom I have worked. Duany ([simple_tooltip content=’Duany, J. (2011). Race and racialization- historical background, how Latinas and Latinos became racialized in the United States: Contemporary trends. Retrieved February 19, 2011 from http://www.jrank.org/cultures/pages/4366/Race-Racialization.html‘]2011[/simple_tooltip]) defines the term as discrimination from people outside of the racial group based on a perception of membership in a racial group, “…inputting a hereditary origin to certain intellectual, emotional, or behavioral characteristics of an individual based on group membership” (p. 1). These assumptions of intellectual, emotional, or behavioral characteristics are most often negative and serve to further marginalize already disenfranchised youth in schools.

Through my years as an educator, students have shared a variety of stories of a “subtractive process” ([simple_tooltip content=’Valenzuela, A. (1999). Subtractive schooling: U.S.-Mexican youth and the politics of caring. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.’]Valenzuela, 1999[/simple_tooltip], p. 3), in which their culture and language are frequently not valued or honored in their schools, yet many teachers are not aware of these negative experiences. Often when I tried to tell my colleagues about these anecdotes, the stories were dismissed in a variety of ways. I assert that there are two (and possibly more) reasons why the counterstories are dismissed. First, it is well documented that although the demographics of students are shifting in classrooms, teachers in U.S. schools remain largely white ([simple_tooltip content=’National Collaborative on Diversity in the Teaching Force. (2004). Assessment of diversity in America’s teaching force: A call to action. Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://www.ate1.org/pubs/uploads/diversityreport.pdf‘]National Collaborative on Diversity in the Teaching Force, 2004[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’Palaich, B. Reichardt, R., O’Brien, T., McDaniel, J. Wool, S., McClelland, A. (2014). Keeping up with the kids: Increasing minority teacher representation in Colorado: Executive Summary. Retrieved from http://www.cde.state.co.us/sites/default/files/Keeping%20Up%20With%20the%20Kids_Executive%20Summary_12.18.pdf‘]Palaich et al., 2014[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2012). Digest of Education Statistics: 2012. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d12/ch_2.asp‘]U.S. Department of Education, 2012[/simple_tooltip]). This creates a cultural mismatch that can lead to a clash between teachers and their students. It also suggests “the classroom culture or the teacher’s culture is at odds with the culture of ethnic minority students” ([simple_tooltip content=’Gregory, A., Skiba, R. J., & Noguera, P. A. (2010). The achievement gap and the discipline gap: Two sides of the same coin? Educational Researcher, 39(59), 59-68. doi:10.3102/0013189X09357621‘]Gregory, Skiba, & Noguera, 2010[/simple_tooltip], p. 63). Yet, the teacher’s culture is often the base for the way a classroom setting is created and maintained.

The cultural mismatch has been shown to lead to discipline and achievement disparities between students of color and their white peers ([simple_tooltip content=’Gregory, A., Skiba, R. J., & Noguera, P. A. (2010). The achievement gap and the discipline gap: Two sides of the same coin? Educational Researcher, 39(59), 59-68. doi:10.3102/0013189X09357621‘]Gregory et al., 2010[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’Skiba, R. J., Horner, R. H., Chung, C., Rausch, M. K., May, S. L., & Tobin, T. (2011). Race is not neutral: A national investigation of African American and Latino disproportionality in school discipline. School Psychology Review, 40(1), 85-107.’]Skiba et al., 2011[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division & U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (2014, January 8). “Notice of Language Assistance Dear Colleague Letter” on the Nondiscriminatory Administration of School Discipline. Retrieved June 9, 2014 from http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201401-title-vi.html‘]U.S. Department of Justice & U. S. Department of Education, 2014[/simple_tooltip]). This phenomenon, also known as “culture clash” ([simple_tooltip content=’Viadero, D. (1996, April 10). Culture clash. Education Week, 15(29), 39-42.’]Viadero, 1996[/simple_tooltip], p. 39), exists when schools are not in alignment with the cultures of students in attendance.

Secondly, acknowledging that race impacts some of our students unfairly can be a difficult pill to swallow. Whatever the reason, the need still exists and a profound opportunity presents itself for teachers to build their cross-cultural understanding of culturally and linguistically diverse students.

This paper demonstrates a beginning two-step process to create inroads for cross-cultural and global understanding of students’ racialized experiences. The first step requires sharing the students’ experiences of discrimination and racial microaggressions. The second one aims to deconstruct the findings to support teachers’ understanding of how the Latin@ students’ experiences impact their learning, and make evident the need for more teachers to be open to the described experiences of Latin@ students in schools.

Research framework

Because of the focus on race and ethnicity, and the specific impacts of Hispanic/Latino heritage relayed in this paper, the research framework included the use of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Latino Critical Race Theory (LatCrit). While many scholars have comprehensively explained the roots of CRT ([simple_tooltip content=’DeCuir, J. T., & Dixson, A. D. (2004, June/July). “So when it comes out, they aren’t that surprised that it is there”: Using critical race theory as a tool of analysis of race and racism in education. Educational Researcher, 33(26), 26-31. doi:10.3102/0013189X033005026‘]DeCuir & Dixson, 2004[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’Delgado, R., & Stefancic, J. (2001). Critical race theory: An introduction. New York, NY: New York University Press.’]Delgado & Stefancic, 2001[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’Matsuda, M. J., Lawrence, C. R., III, Delgado, R., & Crenshaw, K. W. (1993). Words that wound: Critical race theory, assaultive speech, and the first amendment. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.’]Matsuda, Lawrence, Delgado, & Crenshaw, 1993; [simple_tooltip content=’Milner, H. R., IV. (2008). Critical race theory and interest convergence as analytic tools in teacher education policies and practices. Journal of Teacher Education, 59(4), 332-346. doi:10.1177/0022487108321884‘]Milner, 2008[/simple_tooltip]), it entered the discussion in education as critical theorists questioned race as a factor in educational inequities. Ladson-Billings and Tate ([simple_tooltip content=’Ladson-Billings, G., & Tate, W. F. (1995, Fall). Toward a critical race theory of education. Teachers College Record, 97(1), 47-68.’]1995[/simple_tooltip]) introduced CRT as “an analytic tool for understanding school inequity” (p. 48). CRT tenets are connected to education through: (1) intercentricity of race and racism; (2) challenge to dominant ideology; (3) commitment to social justice; (4) centrality of experiential knowledge, and (5) interdisciplinary perspective ([simple_tooltip content=’Yosso, T. J., Smith, W. A., Ceja, M., & Solórzano, D. G. (2009, Winter). Critical race theory, racial microaggressions, and campus racial climate for Latina/o undergraduates. Harvard Educational Review, 79(4), 659-690.’]Yosso, 2006[/simple_tooltip]). LatCrit theory scholarship in particular brought a Chicana/o, Latina/o consciousness to CRT in examining racialized layers of subordination based on immigration status, sexuality, culture, language, phenotype, accent, and surname. Scholars have used this in addition to CRT to strengthen another perspective in addressing educational inequities ([simple_tooltip content=’Alemán, E., Jr. (2009). Through the prism of critical race theory: Niceness and Latina/o leadership in the politics of education. Journal of Latinos and Education, 8(4), 290-311. doi: 10.1080/15348430902973351‘]Alemán, 2009[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’Solórzano, D. G. & Ornelas (2004). A critical race analysis of Latina/o and African American advanced placement enrollment in public high schools. The High School Journal, 87(3), 15-26.’]Solórzano & Yosso, 2001[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’Villalpando, O. (2004, Spring). Practical considerations of critical race theory and Latino critical theory for Latino college students. New Directions for Student Services, 105, 41-50.’]Villalpando, 2004[/simple_tooltip]). LatCrit complements the work of CRT in that it encompasses the underpinnings of CRT but “focuses more specifically on the experiences of and realities of Latinos” ([simple_tooltip content=’Villalpando, O. (2004, Spring). Practical considerations of critical race theory and Latino critical theory for Latino college students. New Directions for Student Services, 105, 41-50.’]Villalpando, 2004[/simple_tooltip], p. 42). “LatCrit Theory calls attention to the way in which conventional, and even critical, approaches to race and civil rights ignore the problems and special situations of Latino people—including bilingualism, immigration reform, the binary black/white structure of existing race remedies law, and much more” ([simple_tooltip content=’Stefancic, J. (1997, Oct.). Latino and Latina critical theory: An annotated bibliography. California Law Review, 85(5), 1509-1584.’]Stefancic, 1997[/simple_tooltip], p. 1510).

Methods

Grounded in CRT and LatCrit, this research reveals Latin@ students’ voices regarding their racialized experiences through their responses to an open-ended questionnaire. Qualitative document analysis (QDA) ([simple_tooltip content=’Altheide, D., Coyle, M., DeVriese, K., & Schneider, C. (2008). Emergent qualitative document analysis. In S. N. Hesse-Biber, & P. Leavy (Eds.), Handbook of emergent methods (pp. 127-151). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.’]Altheide, Coyle, DeVriese, & Schneider, 2008[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’Flick, U., von Kardorff, E., & Steinke, I. (2004). A companion to qualitative research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.’]Flick, von Kardorff & Steinke, 2004[/simple_tooltip]) focused on giving voice to adolescent students ([simple_tooltip content=’Weber, L. R., Miracle, A., & Skehan, T. (1994). Interviewing early adolescents: Some methodological considerations. Human Organization, 53(1), 42-47.’]Weber, Miracle, & Skehan, 1994[/simple_tooltip]). Documents analyzed included transcripts of the questionnaire.

First, 105 racialized experiences were identified, recorded and analyzed. Second, inductive coding and critical thematic analysis (CTA) were applied to develop themes. CTA is a blended inductive process that includes aspects of thematic analysis ([simple_tooltip content=’Miles M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.’]Miles & Huberman, 1994[/simple_tooltip]), constant comparative analysis ([simple_tooltip content=’Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. Chicago, IL: Aldine.’]Glaser & Strauss, 1967[/simple_tooltip]), and critical ethnography ([simple_tooltip content=’Carspecken, P.F. (1996). Critical ethnography in educational research: A theoretical and practical guide. New York, NY: Routledge.’]Carspecken, 1996[/simple_tooltip]). Due to page limitations, the full study, which included focus groups and poetic analysis, is not described in this paper (refer to [simple_tooltip content=’Gabriel, M. L. (2011). Voices of Hispanic/Latina/o secondary students in northern Colorado: Poetic counterstories. Retrieved from https://dspace.library.colostate.edu/handle/10217/70439‘]Gabriel, 2011[/simple_tooltip], for an in-depth look). The partial findings are shared as a first step in building cross-cultural understanding through the analysis of students’ racialized experiences.

Data Sources

Setting. Data was collected in a public PK-12 mountain region school district from 2006 to 2009. In 2011 (time of completion of the full study), the district served approximately 15,000 students in a tri-city area. Social and economic changes impacted the demographics and needs of students. For example, the percentage of free and reduced eligible students increased significantly, from 21% in 2002 to 32% in 2010; the school district’s portion of Hispanic student population doubled between 1998 and 2010, from 8% to 16%. One district response included a culturally responsive leadership program (CRLP). As the Latina Program Director of the CRLP, I collected handwritten data as part of the application process.

Participants. The 105 applicants to the CRLP filled out the open-ended questionnaire responses on the application. They were Hispanic and Latin@, male and female, students in eighth through twelfth grades, and were all between the ages of 13-19 at the time of the study.

Open-Ended Questionnaire. Analysis for this study focused on 105 responses to the open-ended item on the above-mentioned CRLP application, “Describe a time when you or someone you know confronted an issue because of their race or ethnicity.” Attributes such as age, gender, and grade level were included.

Results

The coding analysis of the archival data revealed there were 100 references to racialized experiences provided by 94 of the 105 students. Ninety percent of the students reflected back on an experience in which they or someone they knew were racialized, defined as having endured discrimination based on their race ([simple_tooltip content=’Cavanagh, T. (2009). Restorative practices in schools: Breaking the cycle of student involvement in child welfare and legal systems. Protecting Children, 24(4), 53-60.’]Cavanagh, 2009[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’Duany, J. (2011). Race and racialization- historical background, how Latinas and Latinos became racialized in the United States: Contemporary trends. Retrieved February 19, 2011 from http://www.jrank.org/cultures/pages/4366/Race-Racialization.html‘]Duany, 2011[/simple_tooltip]). Markers included a range of experiences along a continuum of negative treatment and are described as two main types of experiences: those done (an action) to respondents or someone they knew, and those said (a verbal interaction) to the respondents or someone they knew. Table 1 demonstrates the types of verbal racialized situations that students experienced and described. Thirty of 105 respondents describe their racialized experience with the term “racial comment” or “slurs,” or use of specific derogatory terms or slurs, and 32 other verbal interactions were described on the bases or perceptions of national origin, language spoken, skin color, and income level. Comments were made by teachers, students, and community members. Some of the types of verbal experiences are deconstructed further below.

National origin. The described experiences in Table 1 reflect the anti-immigrant sentiment rampant across the United States. Anti-immigrant legislation throughout the 2000s has continued to fuel the sentiment that plays out in school communities ([simple_tooltip content=’Markon (2011). Latino education in the United States: A narrated history from 1513-2000. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.’]Markon, 2011[/simple_tooltip]). An article reported answers to the question posed to understand what was fueling this opinion in the United States ([simple_tooltip content=’Dizikes, P. (2010, February 19). Understanding anti-immigrant sentiment. MIT News Office. Retrieved from http://news.mit.edu/2010/anti-immigrant-sentiment-0219.’]Dizikes, 2010[/simple_tooltip]), suggesting that “a fair amount of the anti-immigration sentiment is driven by deep-seated cultural factors that are difficult to change with policy tools” (p. 1). Sadly this sentiment is not limited within certain sectors of communities, it is being heard and felt by students in this study as illustrated in the descriptions of racialized experiences. Perceived national origin and what was found to be an endemic anti-immigrant sentiment in the community included a further step of biased language as described in the following category.

Table 1

Verbal Racialized Experiences with Frequency and Examples

What was said Frequency Example
Racial comments 30 “…that guy turned and yelled ‘beaners’ with anger, like hating Hispanics.”
National origin 13 “A problem I had confronted was when a student at my school thought it was funny to make fun of immigrants.”
“Go back to…” 8 “A white student made the comment of all Mexicans, illegal or not, should go back to Mexico.”
Language 6 “My teachers said I couldn’t do the work because I talked Spanish.”
Skin color 4 “…we were picked on and called black because of our skin color. They would tease us for being darker skinned then them.”
Income 1 “…my teacher answered the student saying, ‘Most Hispanics don’t have money to spend on little things like glasses’.”
Source: [simple_tooltip content=’Gabriel, M. L. (2011). Voices of Hispanic/Latina/o secondary students in northern Colorado: Poetic counterstories. Retrieved from https://dspace.library.colostate.edu/handle/10217/70439‘]Gabriel, 2011[/simple_tooltip].

“Go back to…”. Eight examples were provided where students reflected on this phrase being stated against them in a variety of locations in their community. These comments are threatening, scary, and reflect the anti-immigrant sentiment rampant across the United States as described in the previous category.

Language spoken. The example is representative of the deficit model implying limited future access and opportunity based on beliefs and perceptions. A deficit perspective is described as one in which people are “defining students by their weaknesses rather than their strengths” ([simple_tooltip content=’Gorski, P. (2008). The myth of the “culture of poverty”. Educational Leadership, 65(7), 32-36.’]Gorski, 2008[/simple_tooltip], p. 34) and becomes the way of understanding them. Additionally, the teacher’s inability to support their students’ ability to learn more than one language is an example of subtractive schooling. If the child’s culture and language are not valued or honored in their school, this essentially subtracts their “social and cultural resources” ([simple_tooltip content=’Valenzuela, A. (1999). Subtractive schooling: U.S.-Mexican youth and the politics of caring. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.’]Valenzuela, 1999[/simple_tooltip], p. 3), leaving the students at great risk for non-persistence of high school.

Skin color. Another manifestation of cultural identity includes phenotype, a specific observable characteristic as seen in skin color. This is one such aspect that is noticed and sometimes becomes a source of racialized experiences ([simple_tooltip content=’Omi, M., & Winant, H. (1998). Racial formations. In P. S. Rothenberg (Ed.), Race, class, and gender in the United States: An integrated study (4th ed., pp. 13-22). New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.’]Omi & Winant, 1998[/simple_tooltip]). Four of the responses included experiences described with the words “skin color.” These types of experiences are racial microaggressions, understood to produce “feelings of degradation, and erosion of self-confidence and self-image” ([simple_tooltip content=’Pierce, C. M. (1969). Is bigotry the basis of the medical problems of the ghetto? In J. C. Norman (Ed.), Medicine in the ghetto (pp. 301-312). New York, NY: Meredith.’]Pierce, 1969[/simple_tooltip], p. 31). Another important note is that the middle and high school age students who responded to us were often reflecting back on experiences that have haunted and troubled them to the date of response to these questions. This was true for the example in Table 1 related to skin color.

Income level. This specific example displays a teacher’s use of deficit theorizing. Instead of examining the structure or functions of schools, comments made by school staff often point the proverbial finger at students or their families’ perceived internal deficiencies for educational failure ([simple_tooltip content=’Valencia, R. R. (Ed.). (1997). The evolution of deficit thinking: Educational thought and practice. Washington, DC: The Falmer Press.’]Valencia, 1997[/simple_tooltip]). This perspective and line of thinking limits students’ opportunities and places them in boxes they may never escape. It becomes a systematized way of limiting access and opportunity.

Each of the findings in Table 1 support a body of research describing like incidents as racial microaggressions (Pierce, [simple_tooltip content=’Pierce, C. M. (1969). Is bigotry the basis of the medical problems of the ghetto? In J. C. Norman (Ed.), Medicine in the ghetto (pp. 301-312). New York, NY: Meredith.’]1969[/simple_tooltip], [simple_tooltip content=’Pierce, C. M. (1988). Stress in the workplace. In A. F. Coner-Edwards & J. Spurlock (Eds.), Black families in crisis: The middle class (pp. 27-35). New York, NY: Brunner/Mazel.’]1988[/simple_tooltip], [simple_tooltip content=’Pierce, C. M. (1995). Stress analogs of racism and sexism: Terrorism, torture, and disaster. In C. V. Willie, P.P. Ricker, B. M. Kramer, & B. S. Brown (Eds.), Mental health, racism, and sexism (pp. 277-293). Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.’]1995[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’Sue, D. W., Capodilupo, C. M., Torino, G. C., Bucceri, J. M., Holder, A. M. B., Nadal, K. L., & Esquilin, M. (2007, May-June). Racial microaggressions in everyday life: Implications for clinical practice. American Psychologist, 62(4), 271-286. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.62.4.271‘]Sue et al., 2007[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’Yosso, T. J., Smith, W. A., Ceja, M., & Solórzano, D. G. (2009, Winter). Critical race theory, racial microaggressions, and campus racial climate for Latina/o undergraduates. Harvard Educational Review, 79(4), 659-690.’]Yosso, Smith, Ceja, & Solórzano, 2009[/simple_tooltip]).

Probably the most grievous of offensive mechanisms spewed at victims of racism and sexism are microaggressions. These are subtle, innocuous, preconscious, or unconscious degradations, and putdowns, often kinetic but capable of being verbal and/or kinetic. In and of itself a microaggression may seem harmless, but the cumulative burden of a lifetime of microaggressions can theoretically contribute to diminished mortality, augmented morbidity, and flattened confidence. ([simple_tooltip content=’Pierce, C. M. (1995). Stress analogs of racism and sexism: Terrorism, torture, and disaster. In C. V. Willie, P.P. Ricker, B. M. Kramer, & B. S. Brown (Eds.), Mental health, racism, and sexism (pp. 277-293). Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.’]Pierce, 1995[/simple_tooltip], p. 281)

Herein lies the importance of listening to the voices of students who are racialized in schools. We cannot shy away from the stark reality that exists for our students of color. Educators often buy into a myth that encourages the dismissal of a conversation of race ([simple_tooltip content=’McKenzie, K. B., & Scheurich, J. J. (2004). Equity traps: A useful construct for preparing principals to lead schools that are successful with racially diverse students. Educational Administration Quarterly, 40(5), 601-631. doi:10.1177/0013161X04268839‘]McKenzie & Scheurich, 2004[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’Gabriel, M. L., Martinez, J., & Obiakor, F. (2015). Dismantling deficit thinking through teacher preparation. In A. Rieger, F. Obiakor, and A. Rotatori, (Eds.), Critical Issues in Preparing Effective Early Child Special Education Teachers for the 21st Century Classroom: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Pub.’]Gabriel, Martinez, & Obiakor, 2015[/simple_tooltip]), but this does not change the outcomes for our racialized students. Denial of their experiential reality further marginalizes them from learning environments. In this study, an additional way that students were marginalized is encompassed in behavioral responses to their race and ethnicity.

Sixty-two of 105 students in this study described examples of being recipients of racialized experiences that were described as a negative action or behavior such as being discriminated against, excluded, judged, or labeled in ways that impeded their access and opportunity in their schools communities. Table 2 shares the frequency and examples of racialized experiences that are considered actions or behaviors received by respondents. Some examples of these actions are deconstructed further below.

Table 2

Behavioral Racialized Experiences with Frequency and Examples

Action/Behavior Frequency Examples
Discriminated against 34 “We noticed the staff only confronted colored kids about the dress code, never the Caucasian kids.”
Excluded 12 “The guy would not sell me a ticket because I was Latino.”
Judged 9 “One of my friends was being judged because he was Mexican.”
Labeled 7 “My friends get called names all the time and it makes me sad that we are always getting stereotyped.”

Source: [simple_tooltip content=’Gabriel, M. L. (2011). Voices of Hispanic/Latina/o secondary students in northern Colorado: Poetic counterstories. Retrieved from https://dspace.library.colostate.edu/handle/10217/70439‘]Gabriel, 2011[/simple_tooltip].

Discriminated against. “Discrimination is the denial of justice and fair treatment by both individuals and institutions in many arenas, including employment, education, housing, banking and political rights. Discrimination is an action that can follow prejudicial thinking” ([simple_tooltip content=’Anti-Defamation League. (2005). Resource guide: If we could end hatred, imagine what more we could do… Philadelphia, PA: Author. Retrieved from http://archive.adl.org/npfh_philadelphia/schools/npfh%20school%20resource%20guide.pdf‘]Anti-Defamation League, 2005[/simple_tooltip], p. 11). Thirty-four students described examples in which an action was followed by prejudicial thinking by someone in the student’s community. The example presented in Table 2 supports the research related to disproportionality in school discipline ([simple_tooltip content=’Gregory, A., Skiba, R. J., & Noguera, P. A. (2010). The achievement gap and the discipline gap: Two sides of the same coin? Educational Researcher, 39(59), 59-68. doi:10.3102/0013189X09357621‘]Gregory et al., 2010[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’Skiba, R. J., Horner, R. H., Chung, C., Rausch, M. K., May, S. L., & Tobin, T. (2011). Race is not neutral: A national investigation of African American and Latino disproportionality in school discipline. School Psychology Review, 40(1), 85-107.’]Skiba et al., 2011[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division & U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (2014, January 8). “Notice of Language Assistance Dear Colleague Letter” on the Nondiscriminatory Administration of School Discipline. Retrieved June 9, 2014 from http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201401-title-vi.html‘]U.S. Department of Justice & U. S. Department of Education, 2014[/simple_tooltip]).

Excluded. While unjust and unfair treatment is defined as discrimination, a further consideration included when someone was directly removed from an opportunity or excluded from one altogether. This demonstrates the variety of ways students report being excluded from membership in their community. Exclusion is a violation of human dignity, and when one person has more rights to access and opportunity, it impacts others’ sense of community, whether classroom, school, neighborhood, or recreational or entertainment events.

Judged. Due to the nature of the data, follow-up questions were not available and hence the continuation of the full study not reported here (consult [simple_tooltip content=’Gabriel, M. L. (2011). Voices of Hispanic/Latina/o secondary students in northern Colorado: Poetic counterstories. Retrieved from https://dspace.library.colostate.edu/handle/10217/70439‘]Gabriel, 2011[/simple_tooltip]). The example in Table 2 is a students’ description and realization that it happens to people they know. The results in this study demonstrate that judgment placed on students’ status in schools is alive and well, and it impacts a sense of self-worth (Pierce, [simple_tooltip content=’Pierce, C. M. (1969). Is bigotry the basis of the medical problems of the ghetto? In J. C. Norman (Ed.), Medicine in the ghetto (pp. 301-312). New York, NY: Meredith.’]1969[/simple_tooltip], [simple_tooltip content=’Pierce, C. M. (1988). Stress in the workplace. In A. F. Coner-Edwards & J. Spurlock (Eds.), Black families in crisis: The middle class (pp. 27-35). New York, NY: Brunner/Mazel.’]1988[/simple_tooltip], [simple_tooltip content=’Pierce, C. M. (1995). Stress analogs of racism and sexism: Terrorism, torture, and disaster. In C. V. Willie, P.P. Ricker, B. M. Kramer, & B. S. Brown (Eds.), Mental health, racism, and sexism (pp. 277-293). Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.’]1995[/simple_tooltip]).

Labeled. Similarly to the theme of being judged, students state their understanding and realization that they are being labeled and stereotyped in school settings. They have a sense of their surroundings and the level of acceptance they have (or have not) achieved. This influences their level of participation in activities and if they see themselves as belonging to a school community. These results resonate with research that has shown the ethnic identity of adolescents has been problematized by dominant culture and in systems, it often goes unexamined, but proves useful when young people have a strong ethnic identity ([simple_tooltip content=’Martinez, R. O., & Dukes, R. L. (1997). The effects of ethnic identity, ethnicity, and gender on adolescent well-being. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 26(5), 503-516.’]Martinez & Dukes, 1997[/simple_tooltip]). It’s an oxymoron to expect students to have a strong ethnic identity when they continually receive overt negative messages based on their ethnicity and race.

These findings illustrate the depth and breadth of racialized experiences and racial microaggressions experienced by middle and high school students, illuminating the unique aspects of what it means to be Latin@ in schools in the U.S. today. Students described the specific ways that skin color, language spoken or perceived to be spoken, perceived Mexican origin, and perceived immigration status limited their access and opportunity to be full participants in school settings. They described experiences in which teachers and other community members used aspects of their racial and ethnic identity as means to label, judge, exclude, or discriminate them and people they know. Racialized perceptions and beliefs about the students in this research consistently impacted their self-esteem and self-worth, and at times lent to exclusion from learning opportunities and disproportionate consequences and discipline.

Significance

To examine the significance of the study described in this paper, it is important to situate the context. “Using a Critical Race framework allows us to specifically place race and racism at the center of the analysis and focus on those educational inequalities that impact Latina/o and African American students inside and outside the schools” ([simple_tooltip content=’Solórzano, D. G. & Ornelas (2004). A critical race analysis of Latina/o and African American advanced placement enrollment in public high schools. The High School Journal, 87(3), 15-26.’]Solórzano & Ornelas, 2004[/simple_tooltip], p. 11). CRT is a recommended tool to address inequities in education ([simple_tooltip content=’Gabriel, M. L. (2013). A practical and hope-filled tool to address the “achievement gap.” In J. Brooks and N. Witherspoon-Arnold (Eds.), Anti-racist school leadership toward equity in education for America’s students (pp. 93-111). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.’]Gabriel, 2013[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’Ladson-Billings, G., & Tate, W. F. (1995, Fall). Toward a critical race theory of education. Teachers College Record, 97(1), 47-68.’]Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995[/simple_tooltip]). Key findings shared in this paper illustrated three core tenets of CRT and the importance of LatCrit as a lens to understand the racialized experiences of middle school and high school Latin@ youth. First, the sheer numbers and descriptions of the students’ negative experiences demonstrated the depth and breadth of racialized experiences by Latin@ students in middle and high schools in a part of the country that is not often discussed in the academy. The volume and spectrum of such experiences create a clear example of intercentricity of race and racism ([simple_tooltip content=’Yosso, T. J. (2006). Critical race counterstories along the Chicana/Chicano educational pipeline. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis Group.’]Yosso, 2006[/simple_tooltip]) and the permanence of racism ([simple_tooltip content=’Bell, D. (1992). Faces at the bottom of the well: Permanence of racism. New York, NY: Basic Books.’]Bell, 1992[/simple_tooltip]). Further, the permanence of racism is demonstrated through the racial microaggressions endured by the students. Undergraduate college students’ experiences with racial microaggressions have been researched ([simple_tooltip content=’Yosso, T. J., Smith, W. A., Ceja, M., & Solórzano, D. G. (2009, Winter). Critical race theory, racial microaggressions, and campus racial climate for Latina/o undergraduates. Harvard Educational Review, 79(4), 659-690.’]Yosso et al., 2009[/simple_tooltip]), but reporting of 8th-12th grade middle and high school students’ experiences is newer to research. This is significant given the concern about the short and long-term effects of being racialized and the specific racial microaggressions on people of color ([simple_tooltip content=’Duany, J. (2011). Race and racialization- historical background, how Latinas and Latinos became racialized in the United States: Contemporary trends. Retrieved February 19, 2011 from http://www.jrank.org/cultures/pages/4366/Race-Racialization.html‘]Duany, 2011[/simple_tooltip]; Pierce, [simple_tooltip content=’Pierce, C. M. (1969). Is bigotry the basis of the medical problems of the ghetto? In J. C. Norman (Ed.), Medicine in the ghetto (pp. 301-312). New York, NY: Meredith.’]1969[/simple_tooltip], [simple_tooltip content=’Pierce, C. M. (1988). Stress in the workplace. In A. F. Coner-Edwards & J. Spurlock (Eds.), Black families in crisis: The middle class (pp. 27-35). New York, NY: Brunner/Mazel.’]1988[/simple_tooltip], [simple_tooltip content=’Pierce, C. M. (1995). Stress analogs of racism and sexism: Terrorism, torture, and disaster. In C. V. Willie, P.P. Ricker, B. M. Kramer, & B. S. Brown (Eds.), Mental health, racism, and sexism (pp. 277-293). Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.’]1995[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’Sue, D. W., Capodilupo, C. M., Torino, G. C., Bucceri, J. M., Holder, A. M. B., Nadal, K. L., & Esquilin, M. (2007, May-June). Racial microaggressions in everyday life: Implications for clinical practice. American Psychologist, 62(4), 271-286. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.62.4.271‘]Sue et al., 2007[/simple_tooltip]).

Second, the results demonstrate a ‘centrality of experiential knowledge’ ([simple_tooltip content=’Yosso, T. J. (2006). Critical race counterstories along the Chicana/Chicano educational pipeline. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis Group.’]Yosso, 2006[/simple_tooltip]) that “Black, Indian, Asian, and Latino/a writers and thinkers may be able to communicate to their White counterparts matters that the Whites are unlikely to know” ([simple_tooltip content=’Delgado, R., & Stefancic, J. (2001). Critical race theory: An introduction. New York, NY: New York University Press.’]Delgado & Stefancic, 2001[/simple_tooltip], p. 9) through these students’ brief descriptions of racialized experiences. Listening to their voices presents a critical element of building cross-cultural understanding when the majority of U.S. teachers continue to be White and female ([simple_tooltip content=’National Collaborative on Diversity in the Teaching Force. (2004). Assessment of diversity in America’s teaching force: A call to action. Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://www.ate1.org/pubs/uploads/diversityreport.pdf‘]National Collaborative on Diversity in the Teaching Force, 2004[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’Palaich, B. Reichardt, R., O’Brien, T., McDaniel, J. Wool, S., McClelland, A. (2014). Keeping up with the kids: Increasing minority teacher representation in Colorado: Executive Summary. Retrieved from http://www.cde.state.co.us/sites/default/files/Keeping%20Up%20With%20the%20Kids_Executive%20Summary_12.18.pdf‘]Palaich et al., 2014[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2012). Digest of Education Statistics: 2012. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d12/ch_2.asp‘]U.S. Department of Education, 2012[/simple_tooltip]). Importantly we find that when given safe spaces, adolescents have a voice to share ([simple_tooltip content=’Furman, R., Langer, C. L., Davis, C. S., Gallardo, H.P., & Kulkarni, S. (2007). Expressive, research and reflective poetry as qualitative inquiry: A study of adolescent identity. Qualitative Research, 7(3), 301-315. doi:10.1177/1468794107078511‘]Furman, Langer, Davis, Gallardo & Kulkarni, 2007[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’Garza, R., Ryser, G., & Lee, K. (2010, January 8). Illuminating adolescent voices: Identifying high school students’ perceptions of teacher caring. Academic Leadership: The Online Journal, 7(4), 1-9.’]Garza, Ryser & Lee, 2010[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’Knaus, C. B. (2009, July). Shut up and listen: Applied critical race theory in the classroom. Race Ethnicity and Education, 12(2), 133-154.’]Knaus, 2009[/simple_tooltip]; [simple_tooltip content=’Weber, L. R., Miracle, A., & Skehan, T. (1994). Interviewing early adolescents: Some methodological considerations. Human Organization, 53(1), 42-47.’]Weber et al., 1994[/simple_tooltip]) and Latin@ students should be viewed as “holders and creators of knowledge” ([simple_tooltip content=’Delgado-Bernal, D. (2002). Critical race theory, Latino critical theory, and critical raced-gendered epistemologies: Recognizing students of color as holders and creators of knowledge. Qualitative Inquiry, 8, 105-126. doi:10.1177/107780040200800107‘]Delgado-Bernal, 2002[/simple_tooltip], p. 106) as they are in this paper.

Third, the findings encourage an “interdisciplinary perspective’ ([simple_tooltip content=’Yosso, T. J. (2006). Critical race counterstories along the Chicana/Chicano educational pipeline. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis Group.’]Yosso, 2006[/simple_tooltip]) to understand the intersectionalities found among the perceptions held by others of students’ ethnicity, race, and perceived national origin, home language, skin color, and family income. Together these findings demonstrate a continued ‘subtractive schooling process’ ([simple_tooltip content=’Valenzuela, A. (1999). Subtractive schooling: U.S.-Mexican youth and the politics of caring. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.’]Valenzuela, 1999[/simple_tooltip]) based in the cultural and linguistic diversity of the students studied. Using a LatCrit lens that uncovers and reveals students’ voice “focuses more specifically on the experiences of and realities of Latinos” ([simple_tooltip content=’Villalpando, O. (2004, Spring). Practical considerations of critical race theory and Latino critical theory for Latino college students. New Directions for Student Services, 105, 41-50.’]Villalpando, 2004[/simple_tooltip], p. 42).

LatCrit Theory calls attention to the way in which conventional, and even critical, approaches to race and civil rights ignore the problems and special situations of Latino people—including bilingualism, immigration reform, the binary black/white structure of existing race remedies law, and much more. ([simple_tooltip content=’Stefancic, J. (1997, Oct.). Latino and Latina critical theory: An annotated bibliography. California Law Review, 85(5), 1509-1584.’]Stefancic, 1997[/simple_tooltip], p. 1510)

Transforming the school environment is our challenge as:

Educational leaders collectively view themselves and the schooling enterprise to be inherently non-racist. In fact their tightly held beliefs and understanding regarding the significance of race makes it difficult for teachers to comprehend, examine, and rectify the very ways in which race dramatically impacts achievement. ([simple_tooltip content=’Singleton, G. E., & Linton, C. (2006). Courageous conversations about race: A field guide for achieving equity in schools. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.’]Singleton & Linton, 2006[/simple_tooltip], p. xv)

When teachers are open to hearing the racialized experiences of Latin@ students, they can understand how race impacts students’ access and opportunity in schools, and this can impact their skills in teaching. Listening and affirming the reality of diverse experiences of Latin@ students in schools is a first step in building cross-cultural understanding to better serve each and every student.

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