Research Findings: In this study we analyze how parent and teacher ratings of young Latino children’s social competencies in rural California are associated with children’s oral language development. We find (a) that there is considerable incongruence between parent and teacher ratings of child social competence, (b) that both parent and teacher ratings account for meaningful variation in children’s oral language development, and (c) that incongruence between parent and teacher ratings is associated with oral language above and beyond the effects of parent and teacher ratings alone. Practice or Policy: Young Latino children’s social competencies contribute to their oral language development. These competencies represent an important, though to date underutilized, asset for building stronger academic/language functioning. Part of the paradoxical development of Latino children (i.e., strong social though weak academic/language competence) could be attributable to cultural differences that underlie teacher and parent perceptions of social competence. Teachers of young Latino children should (a) be aware of the cultural nature of social competence and (b) explore culturally responsive ways of interacting in classrooms to build stronger oral language functioning.

The “Latino Education Crisis” not only threatens to dash the middle class aspirations of the nation’s largest immigrant group, it is also an ominous sign for democratic engagement and global competitiveness for U.S. society as a whole. This timely book argues that this crisis is more aptly characterized as a “Mexican Education Crisis.” This book brings together voices that are rarely heard on the same stage—Mexican and U.S. scholars of migration, schooling, and human development—to articulate a new approach to Mexican-American schooling: a bi-national focus that highlights the interpersonal assets of Mexican-origin children. Contributors document the urgency of adopting this approach and provide a framework for crossing national and disciplinary borders to improve scholarship, policy, and practice associated with PreK–12 schooling.

Contributors: James D. Bachmeier, Frank D. Bean, Susan K. Brown, Benilde García Cabrero, Cynthia García Coll, Regina Cortina, Ivania de la Cruz, Guadalupe Ruiz Cuéllar, Claudia Galindo, Francisco X. Gaytán, Edmund T. Hamann, Nadia Huq, Mark A. Leach, Gabriela Livas Stein, Carmina Makar, Mary Martinez-Wenzl, Vilma Ortíz, María Guadalupe Pérez Martínez, Leslie Reese, Rosaura Tafoya-Estrada, Edward Telles, Ernesto Treviño, Víctor Zúñiga

We trace the development and analyze the generalizability of the Classroom Assessment of Sociocultural Interactions (CASI), an observation system designed to measure cultural dimensions of classroom interactions. We establish CASI measurement properties by analyzing panoramic videos of 4th and 5th grade classrooms from the Measures of Effective Teaching project, and argue for its significance in terms of achievement opportunity for minoritized students and needed evidence regarding equitable teaching. We frame ten dimensions of sociocultural interactions within three domains: Life Applications (i.e., connections with what students know and do outside of school); Self in Group (i.e., interdependence to motivate learning and foster social identities); and Agency (i.e., how freedom and choice are managed).

We demonstrate how measurement error is associated with raters, lessons, and lesson segments, and discuss implications for CASI refinement, as well as appropriate instrument uses to enrich learning opportunities for minoritized students across a variety of classroom settings.

We analyze path models of a nationally representative sample of Mexican adolescents in 2008 to explore how migration variables interact with school retention to shape their migration plans, effort in school, and achievement on a standardized measure of Spanish literacy. Among other findings, we discover that more immediate plans are associated with lower performance for students considering migration, and that this relationship varies by family SES. We also find that parent migration exposure negatively affects achievement for some groups. We interpret findings in terms of structural inequalities in Mexico, and conclude with recommendations to enrich academic learning opportunities for children and youth within migrant families and communities.