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Urban Education
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DOI: 10.1177/0042085913485958
2014 49: 728 Urban Education
Laurie A. Garo
Education of Adolescent Boys
Streetsmart Schoolsmart: Urban Poverty and the Book Review:

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Urban Education
2014, Vol. 49(6) 728 737
The Author(s) 2013
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Book Review
Book Review
Conchas, G. Q., & Vigil, J. D. (2012). Streetsmart Schoolsmart: Urban Poverty and
the Education of Adolescent Boys. New York, NY: Teachers College Press. 197 pp.
$76.00 (cloth). $33.95 (paperback).
Reviewed by: Laurie A. Garo, UNC-Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, USA
DOI: 10.1177/0042085913485958
Gangs and gang-related violence is a recurring predicament among adoles-
cents in the United States, and increases annually. In 2010, the National Gang
Center provided the following data:
. . . 32.4 percent of all cities, suburban areas, towns, and rural counties . . .
experienced gang problems in 2008. This represents a 15-percent increase from
the 2002 figure. Approximately 774,000 gang members and 27,900 gangs are
estimated to have been active in the United States in 2008. The number of gangs
increased by 28 percent, and the number of gang members increased by 6 percent
from 2002 to 2008. (Egley, Howell, & Moore, 2008, p. 1)
Gangs are diverse in race/ethnicity. Gang members average age typically
ranges between 12 and 24 years old. To date, research (Egley et al., 2008;
Howell, 1998; Orlando-Morningstar, 1997) has noted the strong correlation
between gang membership and conditions of urban poverty. Much of the
existing research has focused specifically on males. These studies generally
conclude that the decision to join a gang is a way to ensure safety among the
violent streets. Gang membership inevitably leads to involvement in violent
crime and delinquency (Orlando-Morningstar, 1997) that negatively impact
school behavior and academic achievement (Howell, 1998). Crucial tasks
among urban educators include a deep understanding of issues leading to
gang involvement, and development and implementation of effective inter-
vention strategies.
Streetsmart, Schoolsmart: Urban Poverty and the Education of Adolescent
Boys, by Gilberto Q. Conchas and James Diego Vigil (2012) is a timely con-
tribution to our knowledge of urban education particularly as it relates to
485958UEX49610.1177/0042085913485958Urban EducationBook Review
research-article2013
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Book Review 729
gangs, crime, and violence. Using the theory of street socialization which
states that . . . a person learns the behaviors and norms of a given social
group and is molded into an effective participant . . . [and that] poverty and
marginalization lead to a cohort of youth being principally raised in the
streets (p. 12), the authors explore the complexity of social mobility for low-
income boys living in poverty. They make the points that joblessness and
economic deprivation continue to inflict damage on communities and their
populations, (p. 2) and that young men of color tend to perceive school . . .
as a place of conflict and racism, not of support (p. 6). The authors aim is to
. . . suggest recommendations and/or solutions to help break the insidious
conditions of poverty that lead to disengagement and impact the educational
and social mobility of ethnic minority youth (p. 7). They successfully deliver
the message that youth from concentrated poverty, high crime rates, and gang
activity are resilient and can indeed develop into successful students and pro-
ductive adults with the help of school and community-based interventions.
An Introduction to Streetsmart Schoolsmart
Conchas and Vigil open their book by proficiently explaining the issues fac-
ing adolescent males from urban poverty. Further, they discuss how these
issues impact their urban education experience. Although they do not for-
mally define the terms streetsmart and schoolsmart, the reader is led to
understand these terms to mean street-socialized youth or youth endowed
with street capital versus youth enabled via school with the social capital for
educational attainment and career viability. The authors make a strong case
for the need to address school performance of adolescent males from urban
poverty, analyzing varied issues facing three marginalized groups,
Vietnamese, African Americans, and Latino boys. Through their experiences,
the reader comes to understand the devastating effects of joblessness, resource
inequity, poverty, racism, and street violence, overcome through the attain-
ment of social capital, or the knowledge, relationships, and networks youth
need to do well in school and larger society. Social capital as intervention
forms one of the authors chief contributions to the urban education literature.
Their assessment of the implication of social capital brings about new knowl-
edge to aid in understanding how such young men as these can thrive, through
positive relationships and healthy social networking, despite their impover-
ished circumstances.
Gangs and Street Socialization
The focus of Chapter 1 is to set up the theoretical foundation of the book.
Utilizing . . . a social capital framework that sheds light on what works for
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730 Urban Education 49(6)
the social mobility of all low-income populations (p. 7), the authors employ
street and school ethnography to paint the picture of gangs and street social-
ization among adolescent boys growing up in impoverished conditions within
Southern California. Conchas and Vigil make clear the destructive impact of
poverty, racism, and barriers to social equity on the healthy development of
young boys. Their discussion of multiple marginality, . . . a theory-building
framework . . . [that] addresses ecological, economic, socio-cultural, and psy-
chological factors that underlie street gangs and youths participation in
them (p. 11), brings new information to those involved in education policy
and practice, namely, that youth face numerous interrelated difficulties that
can be overcome through schoolcommunity partnerships. Multiple margin-
ality is a concept introduced by Vigil in his prior research on Hispanic Gangs
(Krohn, Schmidt, Lizotte, & Baldwin, 2011; Vigil & Yun, 2002). Conchas
and Vigil further develop this concept by illustrating the myriad forces that
influence young males to adopt streetsmart ways. While the authors did not
clearly explain how they planned to use this theory to guide their street eth-
nography, they make the case that streetwise youth have their own strength
and resiliency, their own rules and code of conduct and that because they are
streetsmart does not mean they are going to join a gang or stay gang involved
and end up in the prison revolving door. For many, a streetsmart character
insures street survival, and does not preclude schoolsmart behavior that may
be kept hidden from street-smart peers. Subsequent chapters illuminate the
findings from Chapter 1.
Through the Eyes of Adolescent Boys of Color
Chapters 2 to 4 illustratively narrate the stories of three young men,
Vietnamese American (Chapter 2), mixed race African American (Chapter 3),
and Chicano (Chapter 4). Their stories capture their vulnerability to gangs
and delinquency and the varied interventions that help transform them from
street-smart boys into youth engaged in education and career placement. The
multiracial perspectives are particularly important in urban school settings
where cultural/racial/ethnic diversity is common. The authors succeed in
revealing similarities and differences within and between the three ethnic
groups. They selected these multiple frames to address the ecological, eco-
nomic, sociocultural, and psychological differences/ similarities, that is, the
multiple marginality, among historically marginalized groups.
Chapter 2 provides background on difficulties faced by two waves of
Vietnamese immigrants and how Southern California Vietnamese gangs
formed out of socioeconomic struggles of the second wave. The model
minority myth is debunked by demonstrating that all youth are vulnerable to
street socialization and the marginalizing impacts of poverty and racism. The
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Book Review 731
chapter describes the story of Jared, the son of Vietnamese refugees, about his
suffering through war-related trauma, domestic violence, gang life, and his
ongoing battle with substance abuse. Drug rehabilitation, made possible
through Proposition 36, and schooling, supported with college financial aid,
served as interventions that eventually helped him turn his life around.
Chapter 3 offers a history of African American gangs in Southern
California. The authors state that these gangs emerged as . . . a defensive
response to White violence in the schools and streets during the late 1940s
(p. 38). Poverty and associated joblessness pressured African American
gangs toward drug dealing, an underground economic activity linked to street
violence and gang homicide. Such street-level activity is described in Chapter
3 through the story of Samuel, a racially mixed young man of African
American and Native American heritage. Although from two ethnicities, his
mother stressed only is African American heritage, denying him the knowl-
edge of his Native American side. His story uncovers aspects of gang life that
leave young men marginalized from schooling and steeped in drugs and vio-
lent crime. A member of the Piru Blood gang, Samuel succeeded for many
years to earn large sums of money through gang-associated drug dealing. The
call of easy cash was louder than that of school and his talent for football.
Inevitably, he was arrested and served time followed by parole and the deci-
sion to change. California Youth Authority reform school, family interven-
tion, and tutoring for the GED enabled Samuel to leave the gang, obtain his
education, and transform into an economically and socially responsible fam-
ily man.
In Chapter 4, Latino street gangs and related criminal activity are traced to
immigrant adjustment issues, multiple marginality, and street socialization.
The story of Pedro, the eldest of three children born to Mexican immigrants,
portrays the life of a Latino/Chicano gang member. Lacking school attach-
ment, Pedro joined a gang by age 9, carried a gun at 13, experimented with
drugs, and experienced multiple school expulsions throughout middle and
high school. His secret childhood dream to be a police officer came true when
the Police Explorers, a program that introduces youth ages 14 to 20 to careers
in law enforcement, took him into the program. As with many intervention
programs, Pedro had to break his ties with the gang and . . . stringently fol-
low a standard of high moral character (p. 54). It would take several more
years of job opportunities marred by his drug troubles and arrest history
before Pedro, now married with three children, finally attended college and
turned his life around.
As informative as the three stories are in illustrating multiple marginality
among urban adolescent boys, and the positive impact of school and community-
based interventions, the participant voices are not as clearly narrated as those
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732 Urban Education 49(6)
of the authors who recount their personal experiences growing up Latino in
Southern California in two separate eras, 1940s and 1950s, and 1970s and
1980s. Through the inclusion of their own narratives within the appendices,
Conchas and Vigil illuminate difficulties particular to immigrant families and
demonstrate the significance of social capital to battle multiple marginality
and street socialization. This enabled each author to attain higher education
leading to their respective professorial careers. While the stories contain
some isolated grammatical errors, and lack direct, first-person voice, they
demonstrate that poverty and racial oppression are not an educational death
sentence; rather, with positive interventions, all young people have the ability
to succeed in school and beyond.
Within their discussions of the impact of multiple marginality, apart from
a brief mention of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among Vietnamese
immigrants exposed to war, Conchas and Vigil offer little related to the trau-
matic impact of exposure to gang and other community violence on student
well being and school performance, nor to relevant mental health interven-
tions. They do mention the short-term use of psychologists to help mainly
female students exposed to domestic violence, but do not extend such therapy
to young males exposed to gang and other street violence. Research has
shown that PTSD, commonly associated with violent traumatic experience,
can inhibit thinking and learning, and result in such neurological, psychologi-
cal and behavioral diagnoses as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
(ADHD), decreased cognitive abilities, substance abuse issues, and external-
izing disorders like aggression, conduct problems, defiant and oppositional
behaviors (Adams, 2010). Given the attention Streetsmart, Schoolsmart paid
to gang membership and associated violence, and school marginalization, a
more detailed discussion of the causes and impacts of violence-related trauma
and related therapeutic interventions are warranted.
School and Community-Based Action
The authors discussed research (qualitative and quantitative) on effective
interventions in schools and communities in Chapter 5 to 8. Each chapter
highlights the remarkable utility of social capital in battling the multiple mar-
ginalizing forces of the streets and opening new possibilities in the lives of
gang involved young men. Schoolcommunity partnerships form a powerful
influence on social and academic engagement (p. 78) among street-
socialized youth, combating the educationally debilitating forces of truancy,
delinquency and detachment from learning. In Streetsmart Schoolsmart, such
schoolcommunity partnerships help to construct success for students; their
successes suggest programmatic intervention ideas for other communities
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Book Review 733
plagued by the disengagement of street-socialized youth. The programs
showcased within the text are AVID (Advancement via Individual
Determination) (Chapter 5), The Club (Chapter 6), and Career
Academies (Chapter 7). Chapter 8 concludes with the powerful impact of
President Barak Obama as role model.
In Chapter 5, Conchas and Vigil make special case for the importance of
racial identity, demonstrating the effectiveness of cultural and linguistic
immersion rather than acculturation into the mainstream. They highlight
AVID (Advancement via Individual Determination), a program that was . . .
tailor-made for the neglected inner-city students who were identified as bright
and capable of rigorous study despite spotty, mostly poor, past academic
records (p. 68). Because of AVIDs focus on those identified as bright and
capable, children more deeply marginalized from school and socialized to
the streets are not recognized for this intervention. For those identified, how-
ever, AVID provided counseling, tutoring and in and out of school academic
experiences that were also culturally and socioeconomically relevant.
Immigrant educational aspirations, for example, were found to be stronger
among those with higher socioeconomic status, thus special focus was placed
on those immigrants living in poverty to assist with acculturation and educa-
tional involvement. Due to the high percentage of children of Latino or
Chicano origins, changes were made to teaching staff and curricula to address
the race and cultural identity of the children and to focus on assimilation and
associated learning difficulties faced by Latino/Chicano immigrants to
Southern California. The Expanded Horizons program was added to help
. . . students regain a sense of identity and stability (p. 74), thus improving
their chances for educational attainment. AVID serves as a powerful example
of what urban schools can do to instill educational social capital that counters
the lure of the streets among those youth from poverty who exhibit academic
potential.
Perhaps as the most powerful and informative chapter of the book, Chapter
6 explores community-based organizations that combat truancy and encour-
age school success and college preparation, especially among marginalized,
often streetsmart students. The authors describe community-based organiza-
tions as often times . . . more equipped than schools to combat inequality at
its roots (p. 80). Community-based programs help youth to build self-
esteem, develop social capital, and improve school engagement. The Club
is one such program highlighted within the chapter. The Club kept youth off
the streets by offering a safe social place to gather on a regular basis. Within
walking distance for some, others were transported to The Club in vans to
account for transportation issues. Club staff challenged youth to make
informed decisions about social and academic life. Through critical thinking
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734 Urban Education 49(6)
and community building activities, young people were able to engage in posi-
tive development activities, learn about themselves, and set personal goals.
Development of social capital is inherent in programs like The Club. Youth
advocacy opportunities empowered students with a voice for change in them-
selves and society. Mentoring and social networks supplied marginalized
youth with access to information and relationship building. The chapter illus-
trates that with the right combination of funding, staffing, and program ele-
ments, community-based organizations have great potential to reengage
street-socialized youth.
In Chapter 7, the authors paint a portrait of hope and empowerment via the
discussion of school-based career academies that prepare youth to enter col-
lege and work toward a career. As an innovative contemporary urban educa-
tion reform effort, career academies bring potential significance to school for
streetsmart youth whose experience with traditional school curricula has not
been positive. This is, therefore a vital addition to Conchas and Vigils inter-
vention recommendations. Two career academies are showcased in Chapter
7: the Medical Academy and the Graphics Academy. The Medical Academy
studied was predominantly African American, Asian, and female, serving all
students but, like AVID, focusing more strongly on those already identified
with potential. The academy prepared youth for careers in the health and
biosciences, offering on the worksite learning experiences and internships
along with classroom activities. With a 93% graduation rate, and 98% of
graduates enrolling in college (p. 102), the program was deemed remarkably
successful. The Graphics Academy is designed for computer-assisted graph-
ics technology, attracting students strong in math and science. With compara-
tively lower enrollment, the make-up of the Graphics Academy was
predominantly Asian, middle class African American and White, and male,
and not reflective of the ethnic makeup of the school. The chapter states that
efforts were made to recruit a more diverse population but with emphasis on
high achieving students. As with the Medical Academy, the program was
extremely successful with 100% graduating and enrolling in college (p. 103).
The academies success can be attributed not only to on the career opportuni-
ties, but also to the smaller classrooms, individual student attention, multicul-
tural curriculum and pedagogy, and an engaging and supportive school
culture . . . [that students] share with their peers that validates doing well in
school (p. 103). Perspectives from Asian, African American, and Latino stu-
dents attending career academies further illustrate the utility of the academies
for youth from diverse backgrounds. Each group interviewed spoke of the
value of the academies for enabling interracial understanding and creating a
family-like atmosphere and a culture for academic achievement. Given the
propensity for gang membership to offer the security of surrogate family to
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Book Review 735
youth with street capital, career academies have the potential to intervene in
gang activity and serve that need for family as well as the attainment of
school [social] capital. Again, however, the academies, while magnificently
successful, mainly served those already doing well in school. The concept
needs to be explored further on how to successfully reach those street-
socialized youth who are more marginalized from learning and less endowed
with such social capital.
In wrapping up the section, Chapter 8 explores the impact of an African
American president on adolescent African American males self-concept and
attitude and performance in school. Given this historic election of a member
of a race (African American) that has long endured social, economic and
educational oppression, Conchas and Vigil set out to explore whether Black
high school males . . . did experience an upward, broadening transformation
in their career aspirations (p. 111). The authors demonstrate that President
Obama has had a strong impact on young African American mens percep-
tions of their educational and occupational potentials, seen as no longer lim-
ited to street violence, or to athletics or entertainment. Through the Obama
presidency, the authors make clear the connection between positive role mod-
els and resiliency in that, by example, this African American man from a
single parent home in a major urban city, overcame oppressive adversities
associated with race and class to achieve academic success and career great-
ness. In so doing he paved the way for African Americans to realize their
dreams, despite the nations long history of racial inequity (p. 117). In the
words of one young man:
People were really proud of that. They say the Black face in the White
House . . . that should motivate you to do better. So maybe . . . you can do
whatever you wanna do. Him [Obama] becomin president kinda raised the
bar on what youre doing . . . he motivated us. (p. 117)
Conchas and Vigil have superbly presented the powerful effectiveness of
schoolcommunity partnerships in engaging youth from diverse backgrounds
in positive educational pursuits. That social capital trumps multiple marginal-
ity among street-socialized youth, enabling education and career attainment
is the major tenet of the book. The interventions highlighted in Chapters 5 to
8 are testament to the power of schoolcommunity partnerships in combating
truancy and other disengaging behaviors. As presented in this book, however,
school-based programs like AVID and career academies have achieved most
success with those students already high achieving, or identified as having
potential to achieve. The Club and other community-based organizations
seemed more tailored for the more marginalized, streetsmart youth. The book
would do well to further explore school-based interventions that specifically
target those most in need of educational social capital.
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736 Urban Education 49(6)
Conclusion
Streetsmart Schoolsmart contributes in important ways to our knowledge of
the impacts of urban poverty on adolescent male development and decision
making and school experience. The authors demonstrate human agency
within difficult environments, lending hope that streetsmart youth can trans-
form to become educated and schoolsmart. The recommended interventions
are clearly tied to the types of marginality and the results that can be achieved.
The stories within the book are valuable as they provide evidence that street-
socialized youth from varied backgrounds subjected to urban poverty and
neglect can indeed overcome the odds and attain educational and career aspi-
rations. The revelations within the book shed light on the education chal-
lenges of immigrant and U.S. born children from urban poverty for increased
intervention effectiveness of teachers, administrators, policy makers, and
practitioners. As such, this enlightening book is an essential text for teacher/
administrator training and professional development in Urban Education pro-
grams, and for courses in Social Work and Criminal Justice that focus on
gangs and juvenile delinquency. It is, as well, a must-read for education pol-
icy makers and researchers, and practitioners involved in law enforcement
and school and community-based programs targeting gang intervention.
Laurie A. Garo
UNC-Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, USA
References
Adams, E. J. (2010). Healing invisible wounds: Why investing in trauma-informed
care for children makes sense. (Justice Policy Institute Policy Brief). Georgetown
University School of Medicine.
Conchas, G. Q., & Vigil, J. D. (2012). Streetsmart schoolsmart: Urban poverty and
the education of adolescent boys. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Egley, A., Howell, J. C., & Moore, J. P. (2010, March). Highlights of the 2008
National Youth Gang Survey. (OJJDP Fact Sheet). Washington, DC: Office of
Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.
Howell, J. C. (1998). Youth gangs: An overview (Juvenile Justice Bulletin J32.10:
Y8/5). Washington, DC: Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.
Krohn, M. D., Schmidt, N. M., Lizotte, A. J, & Baldwin, J. M. (2011). The impact of
multiple marginality on gang membership and delinquent behavior for Hispanic,
African American and White male adolescents. Journal of Contemporary Criminal
Justice, 27(1), 18-42.
Orlando-Morningstar, D. (1997). Street gangs (Special Needs Offenders Bulletin 1).
Washington, DC: Federal Judicial Center.
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Book Review 737
Vigil, J. D., & Yun, S.C. (2002). A cross-cultural framework for understanding gangs:
Multiple marginality and Los Angeles. In C. R. Huff (Ed.), Gangs in America,
(3rd ed., pp. 161-174). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Author Biography
Laurie A. Garo is a doctoral student in the Department of Middle, Secondary, and
K-12 Education (Urban Education) at the University of North CarolinaCharlotte.
She is also a lecturer in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Her research centers
on Education Interventions for Children Exposed to Violence wherein she incorpo-
rates GIS as an analytical tool for observing the spatial interplay of violence risk fac-
tors and impacts on childrens school experience. She has also served as a research
analyst and antigang specialist for the Department of Justices Project Safe
Neighborhoods, using police, corrections, school, social, health, and juvenile justice
data, plus interviews, and site visits with community residents and nonprofit organiza-
tions to study root causes of youth gang and gun violence and to recommend interven-
tion and prevention strategies from culture, gender, and faith-relevant perspectives.
She can be reached via email at lagaro@uncc.edu.
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