What teacher education programs can learn from successful Mexican-descent students

Bilingual Research Journal, Summer 2003 by Hughes, Craig A

Abstract

This study explored the high school experiences of 32 Mexican-descent students who had successfully graduated and were enrolled in institutions of higher learning. By conducting extended interviews with these students, the author sought to identify teachers' actions that the students found helpful or harmful to their learning experiences. These observations can be used to make recommendations for better preparing preservice teachers for the changing classroom demographics that are resulting from the rapidly rising percentage of Mexican-descent students in public schools. Better-prepared teachers may make a difference in increasing the low high-school completion rate for these students. One recommendation is that preservice teachers be aware of cultural differences and include these different cultures in the curriculum. It is also important that they avoid stereotypes. Preservice teachers need to realize that all students are capable of academic success. In addition, preservice teachers must be prepared to include and challenge Mexican-descent students in all aspects of their educational experience. Teacher education programs can assist by providing training specifically targeting these areas of need.

Introduction

Teacher education programs often face the question, "Are we preparing future teachers for what they will experience in the classroom?" When their future classrooms include students of Mexican descent, the answer is often "No!" This article presents thoughts, from the perspective of successful Mexican-descent students, on how teacher education programs could better prepare preservice teachers to serve their population.

The Hispanic student population has grown at a much more rapid rate than other ethnic groups (National Center for Educational Statistics [NCES], 2000). The non-Hispanic White population made up 75.6% of the public school population in 1978. Black students were listed at 15.9%, while the Hispanic population was reported at 6.4%. Almost 30 years later, these statistics have changed. The percentage of non-Hispanic White students has dropped to 62.7% of the total public school population, with the Black student population showing a slight increase to 17.1%. On the other hand, the Hispanic population has more than doubled in size to 15.1% of the total population (NCES, 2000). This growth is even more visible in the West, where the non-Hispanic White population fell from being nearly 75% of the population to slightly more than 50%, and Hispanics moved from 15% to 30%. This is of particular importance when you consider that the vast majority of Hispanic students in the West are of Mexican descent (NCES, 2000).

Mexican-descent students are often lost in the larger ethnic groupings of "Hispanic" or "Latino." While these larger groupings do share many commonalties, such as language and basic religious orientations, strong differences exist among groups in areas such as educational and economic attainment. Mexican-descent students, those who can link their heritage directly to what is now or was Mexico, tend to achieve at lower levels than other Hispanic groups, such as Cubans and South Americans (Valdivieso, 1990). Nonetheless, more Mexican-descent students remain in school than leave (LeCompte & Dworkin, 1991; NCES, 1995; Rumberger, 1991).

Teacher Education and Linguistic Diversity

Research on teacher education programs has documented the need for training in diversity. Goodwin (1997) noted that the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) required institutions applying for accreditation to show evidence of multicultural education in their curriculum as early as 1979. Yet, Gollnick (1992) found that only 56% of institutions sufficiently addressed diversity issues in their curriculum.

NCATE made revisions in the accreditation standards in 1993. One of the modifications made was the need to address multicultural and diversity issues across all of its standards (Melnick & Zeichner, 1997). Among other issues, Melnick and Zeichner noted that through the curriculum design, teacher candidates encounter "courses and experiences in professional studies [that] incorporate multicultural and global perspectives" (p. 24). Such experiences enable candidates to develop meaningful learning experiences for students within the context of students' "cultures, language backgrounds, socioeconomic status, communities, and families" (p. 24).

Much recent work has focused on the need for teacher education programs to address multicultural needs and issues (King, Hollins, & Hayman, 1997; Sikula, Buttery, & Guyton 1996). This research provides little regarding the needs of linguistically diverse students. One example of this can be found in the second edition of the Handbook of Research on Teacher Education (Sikula et al., 1996). Issues dealing specifically with "language minority students" appeared in only one chapter, which focused strictly on the preparation of "specialist" teachers (Garcia, 1996). The chapter did not address what teacher education programs could do to prepare all teachers for linguistically diverse students. This article provides feedback from successful Mexican-descent students on how teachers could be better prepared to address their specific needs.