Abstract
This study explores a story of success at a school where low-income, English language learners (ELLs) comprise a majority of its students. In this paper, we examine Bay Academy’s teaching and organizational practices that make it a place where youth feel they belong and can succeed. Central to this description is its culture of college, community- and family-involvement, and structural components including the leadership team and innovative programming. We approach this research from an ecological perspective of learning, and focus our analysis on the Academy’s success in creating opportunities for students to develop academic resilience. We present our findings in an attempt to share the successes of this school as a model for educating students from similar backgrounds in similar contexts.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Pseudonyms are used to protect the identities of the school, community, staff, teachers, and students.
Although there is teacher turnover, this is not alarming because many of the teachers are young, first-time educators who, after several years of teaching, desire to return to graduate or professional school because they are drawn to increase their level of professional development to work in educational administration or policy.
References
Auerbach, S. (2004). Engaging Latino parents in supporting college pathways: Lessons from a college access program. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 3, 125–145.
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman.
Benson, P. L., Leffert, N., Scales, P. C., & Blyth, D. (1998). Beyond the “village” rhetoric: Creating healthy communities for children and adolescents. Applied Developmental Science, 2(3), 138–159.
Berk, L. E. (2000). Child development (5th ed., pp. 23–38). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Borrero, N. E. (2011). Nurturing students’ strengths: The impact of a school-based student interpreter program on Latino/a students’ reading comprehension and English language development. Urban Education, 46(4), 663–688.
Borrero, N. E., & Bird, S. L. (2009). Closing the achievement gap: How to pinpoint student strengths to differentiate instruction and help your striving readers succeed. New York: Scholastic.
Borrero, N. E., & Yeh, C. J. (2010). Ecological language learning among ethnic minority youth. Educational Researcher, 39(8), 571–581.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1990). The ecology of cognitive development. Zeitschrift fiir Sozialisationsforschung und. Erziehungssoziologie (ZSE), 10(2), 101–114.
Camangian, P. (2010). Starting with self: Teaching autoethnography to foster critically caring literacies. Research in the Teaching of English, 45(2), 179–204.
Doll, B., Zucker, S., & Brehm, K. (2004). Resilient classrooms. NY: The Guilford Press.
Dreams of a City. (2003). DVD produced by the Committee on Black Performing Arts at Stanford University. Palo Alto: Stanford University.
Duncan-Andrade, J. (2007). Gangtas, wankstas, and ridas: Defining, developing, and supporting effective teachers in urban schools. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 20(6), 617–638.
East Palo Alto Charter School (EPACS). (2011). Our mission and history. Retrieved from http://www.epacs.org/school_mission.php.
EdSource. (2008). English learners in California: What the numbers say. Mountain View, CA: EdSource.
Garcia Coll, C., & Szalacha, L. A. (2004). The multiple contexts of middle childhood. The Future of Children, 4(2), 80–97.
García, E., & Jensen, B. (2009). The demographic imperative: educating English language learners. Educational Leadership, 66(7), 9–13.
Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory. Chicago: Aldine.
Kane, T. J. (2004). College-going and inequality. In K. M. Neckerman (Ed.), Social inequality (pp. 319–354). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Kimura-Walsh, E., Yamamura, E. K., Griffin, K. A., & Allen, W. R. (2009). Achieving the college dream? Examining disparities in access to college information among high achieving and non-high achieving Latina students. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 8, 298–315.
Krovetz, M. L. (2008). Fostering resilience: Expecting all students to use their minds and hearts well (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Lee, C. D. (2003). “Every shut eye ain’t sleep”: studying how people live culturally. Educational Researcher, 32(5), 6–13.
Lee, J.-S., & Bowen, N. K. (2006). Parent involvement, cultural capital, and the achievement gap among elementary school children. American Educational Research Journal, 43, 193–218.
Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Luthar, S. S. (Ed.). (2003). Resilience and vulnerability: Adaptation in the context of childhood adversities. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Martinez, R. (2010). Spanglish as literacy tool: Toward an understanding of the potential role of Spanish-English code-switching in the development of academic literacy. Research in the Teaching of English, 45(2), 124–148.
Masten, A. S., & Obradović, J. (2006). Competence and resilience in development. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1094, 13–27.
Masten, A. S., & Reed, M. J. (2002). Resilience in development. In C. R. Snyder & S. J. Lopez (Eds.), Handbook of positive psychology (pp. 74–88). New York: Oxford University Press.
Merriam, S. B. (1988). Case study research in education: A qualitative approach. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Moll, L. C., Amanti, C., Neff, D., & González, N. (1992). Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. Theory into Practice, 31(2), 132–141.
Nieto, S. (2002). Language, culture, and teaching: Critical perspectives for a new century. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Olsen, L. (1997). Made in America: Immigrant students in our public schools. New York: New Press (distributed by W.W. Norton).
Paris, D. (2010). “The second language of the United States”: Youth perspectives on Spanish in a changing multiethnic community. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 9(2), 139–155.
Pressley, M., Gaskins, I. W., Solic, K., & Collins, S. (2006). A portrait of benchmark school: How a school produces high achievement in students who previously failed. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98(2), 282–306.
Pressley, M., Raphael, L., Gallagher, J. D., & DiBella, J. (2004). Providence-St. Mel School: How a school that works for African-American students works. Journal of Educational Psychology, 96, 216–235.
Reardon, S., & Galindo, C. (2009). The Hispanic–White test score gap in the elementary years. American Educational Research Journal, 46, 853–891.
Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. M. (1998). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Taylor, R. D., & Wang, M. C. (Eds.). (2000). Resilience across contexts: Family, work, culture, and community. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Tyler, K. M., Uqdah, A. L., Dillhunt, M. L., Beatty-Hazelbaker, R., Conner, T., Gadson, N., et al. (2008). Cultural discontinuity: Toward a quantitative investigation of a major hypothesis in education. Educational Researcher, 37(5), 280–297.
U.S. Census Bureau. (2000a). Profile of selected social characteristics: East Palo Alto city, California. Retrieved on July 20, 2009.
U.S. Census Bureau. (2000b). U.S. Census Bureau, racial breakdown. Retrieved on January 3, 2009.
U.S. Census Bureau. (2009). East Palo Alto City, California: 2005–2009 American community survey 5-year estimates. Retrieved on July 20, 2009.
Valenzuela, A. (1999). Subtractive schooling: U.S.-Mexican youth and the politics of caring. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Borrero, N., Lee, D.S. & Padilla, A.M. Developing a Culture of Resilience for Low-Income Immigrant Youth. Urban Rev 45, 99–116 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-012-0215-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-012-0215-4