Overview

While high school drop-out rates have steadily declined among white and African American students over the last twenty years, a constant 35 percent of Latino students continue to quit school before graduation. In this pioneering work, Harriett Romo and Toni Falbo reveal how a group of at-risk Latino students defied the odds and earned a high school diploma. Romo and Falbo tracked the progress of 100 students in Austin, Texas, from 1989 to 1993. Drawing on interviews with the students and their parents, school records, and fieldwork in the schools and communities, the authors identify both the obstacles that caused many students to drop out and the successful strategies that other students and their parents pursued to ensure high school graduation. The authors conclude with seven far-reaching recommendations for changes in the public schools. Sure to provoke debate among all school constituencies, this book will be required reading for school administrators, teachers, parents, legislators, and community leaders.

Full Product Details

Author:   Harriett D. Romo ,  Toni Falbo ,  Charles M. Bonjean
Publisher:   University of Texas Press
Imprint:   University of Texas Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 1.80cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.454kg
ISBN:  

9780292724952

ISBN 10:   0292724950
Pages:   342
Publication Date:   01 March 1996
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Foreword by Charles M. BonjeanPrefaceAcknowledgments 1. The Goals and Methods of This Book2. The Tracking of Hispanic Students: You're not college material. 3. Caught in the Web of School Policies: Why me? 4. Gang Involvement and Educational Attainment: My own gang. 5. Teen Motherhood: I wanted him. 6. Immigrant and Second-Generation Students: Well, she's Mexican. She's going to drop out. 7. Going for the GED: I didn't want to be 20 when I graduated. 8. Bureaucratic Glitches: I guess no one wants me. 9. Cultural Boundaries, Family Resources, and Parental Actions: Don't be like me--stay in school. 10. What Schools Must Do to Improve Graduation Rates: What would I change? Everything. Appendix 1: Parent QuestionnaireAppendix 2: Student Questionnaire Appendix 3: Ethnographic Interview #1--Parent Appendix 4: Ethnographic Interview #1--StudentAppendix 5: Ethnographic Interview #2--ParentAppendix 6: Ethnographic Interview #2--StudentAppendix 7: Telephone Interview--ParentAppendix 8: Telephone Interview--StudentNotesIndex

Reviews

The authors focus on stories of 'students who graduate from high school against the odds'--especially gratifying since Hispanic youth drop out at about twice the rate of non-Hispanic whites. Romo and Falbo emphasize strategies the students, their parents, and the schools used to achieve graduation... The longitudinal data and combination of qualitative and quantitative data strengthen the study and give it significance. Choice This book ...tells stories about Hispanic community life, family life, gang life, and about what it means to be an at-risk kid trying to make it... I have yet to read a similar book attempting this magnitude of diversity with the skill found here. Nestor Rodriguez, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Houston

Author Information

Harriett Romo is Associate Professor of Sociology at Southwest Texas State University. Toni Falbo is Professor of Educational Psychology and Sociology at the University of Texas at Austin.

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