Andrea Hegna

EDFD 460
Research Report #1

1. Marx, S., Larson L. L. (2011). Taking Off the Color-Blind Glasses: Recognizing and

Supporting Latina/o Students in a Predominantly White School, Educational

Administration Quarterly, Volume 48 (issue 2), 259-303.

2. Sherry Marx was an assistant professor of Multicultural Education and ELS Education at Utah

State University. She was interested in finding a place where she could conduct research on

multicultural issues that were taking place in schools. The second author of the article is Larry

Larson who was the principle of a school named Valley Secondary School. While he was the

principle, dramatic increases of Latina/o students were added to his school population. He was

unprepared to handle the poor achievement and social isolation of his new students. Larson

decided to reach out to Marx to help solve the Latino problem, as he called it, in his school.

From this a 5-year research project was conducted in which Marx and Larson worked together

to better understand the experiences of these students and make changes for the better.

3. Sherry Marx and Larry Larsons main purpose for writing this article is to bring awareness to

the fact that Latinas/os account for the largest ethnic minority group in the United States

and yet their academic needs as a group continue to be unmet. Latina/os have not only the

highest rates of dropping out of school but also are more likely to test poorly in core school

subject matter and live in poverty. They are also less likely to attend and gradate from any

other forms of higher education. They took a look at these issues and decided to conduct a

research project at the school that Larson was a principle at. The goal was to better understand
 the Latina/o experience at the Valley Secondary School and make changes accordingly so that

a positive, accepting environment could thrive.

4. Both Marx and Larsons central argument is that most school administrators and teachers in

the United States are products of and proud reproducers of traditional, White-centric school

experiences, curricula and ideologies. They are often quite proud of the color-blind glasses

they wear and believe these glasses prevent them from seeing any differences among children

of varying racial, ethnic, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds. The change project at VSS

shows that positive results can come from taking off the color-blind glasses and recognizing

children for who they are: diverse people with diverse backgrounds, experiences, strengths,

and weaknesses, qualities that can be built on only when they are recognized.

5.

Significant Points the author(s) makes about Relationships the author(s) make between the
the ethnic or racial student groups culture in points at the left and some of the academic
relation to the academic learning environment: indicators listen in my Social Construct
Lecture located in D2L.

1) Point 1: What are some of the attitudes 1) I think that the authors of the article did a
and beliefs the author(s) identify as good job pointing out the attitudes and beliefs
important to members of the ethnic or racial of the Latina/o students and families in regards
group? to both their academic learning environment
and success. It was showcased that they, as
-Racial segregation and inequality have their own ethnic group at Valley Secondary
many detrimental effects on students of school, believed that they felt less welcomed at
colorincluding a sense of inferiority acquired the school and felt less confident in their
through experiencing lesser schools, materials academics than their white peers. This
and programs. (263). information was gathered through surveys so
the school was really able to hear out their
-The importance of language assistance: in students and their feelings in regards to their
the early years of Mexican American school atmosphere. It was noted that everyday
citizenship and Latina/o immigration, the racism was prevalent in their school. It was
school system routinely refused to also shown that another huge belief and need
accommodate children who did not speak
English (263).
-Latina/o students were understood as racial
and ethnic beings who, although unique
individuals, have a shared history of
experiencing racial discrimination in the
American education system, including
segregation, unequal opportunities, the lack of Latina/o students had about their learning
quality language assistance and the burden of
societys low expectations and deficit thinking school wasnt providing quality language
(264).
-In a survey that was taken, it was indicated
that Latina/o students and their families felt success at Valley Secondary School were heard
less welcome at VSS than White students
(270).
-Latina/o students felt less prepared for and
confident about their school success than
White students (270).
-Helping Latina/o parents become more aware
of and involved with their childrens education
at VSS (278). This allowed the school to
discover that parents truly did care about the
education of their children (282).
-The prevalence of ESL classes and ESL
teachers to help students in their academics.
(281-282)
2) Point 2: What are some of the values the
author(s) identify as important to members
of the ethnic or racial student group?
-It is valued that teachers include their home
and language in the classroom (288).
-It is valued that their home culture and
language are valued by the school (288).
-A student stated in a survey that they are
interested in making our family proud and
interested in graduating and having a good
was helping Latina/o parents be involved in
their childrens education. The school was able
to provide classes to parents about technology
and was able to get the schools automated
messages to be translated into Spanish as well
so that students and their parents would be able
to effectively receive the schools messages
and information. Another strong belief that the
environment and school experience, is that the
assistance or ESL teachers to help assist in
classrooms. All of these attitudes and beliefs
about their school environment and academic
and throughout the article the authors describe
how the school was able to make positive
changes throughout the school for the Latina/o
students. That was the best part of this article;
it showed how the school was able to make this
group of students feel more welcomed and
successful.
2) The most important value that the authors
discussed in this article when it comes to the
Latina/o students, in regards to their academic
learning environment, was that they wanted the
teachers to not only value their home language
and culture in the schools but also use it in
their classrooms. Another really important
value that was discussed was that they wanted
it to be known that they, as a group of students,
did take their educations seriously and do aim
to make their parents proud. It was discussed
how they wanted the school administrators and
teachers to look past stereotypes of them being
 education regardless if they are seen as troublemakers and not caring about their
troublemakers due to their stereotype (289). education and instead believe that they do have
great academic potential.

3) Point 3: What are some of the cultural
traditions the author(s) identify as
important to members of the ethnic or racial
student group?
3) The specific article that I chose didnt
discuss any traditions that were identified as
important to the Latina/o students in regards to
their academic learning environment. It mostly
focused on how the school could improve its
learning environment based off of how the
students felt they were being treated there.

6. I grew up in a predominantly white suburb and went through schooling

with mostly white students so I have not always been entirely exposed to a

diverse learning environment. I think that because of this, I was not as

aware of the feelings of students of other races in my schools. However, as

I continue getting my education to be a teacher, I want to learn as much

as I can about having classrooms where all students feel as though they

are welcomed and getting the best education there is to offer, regardless

of their race. No group of people or individual deserves to feel less than

another, especially in a place that is supposed to be safe and encouraging

such as a school.