Creating an Opportunity to Learn Environment: Rethinking Caring-Oriented Intervention for Systemically Labeled “At-Risk” Latina/o Students

• Other Authors: Villena, Breanna Marie (Author)
• Format: Doctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: Education; Action research; At risk; Care; Latina students; Latino students; Opportunity to learn
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.I.38528

abstract: This action research study (a) explored how institutionally labeled “at-risk” Latina/o students described their experiences in an opportunity to learn environment within an academic intervention program, (b) examined how these students experienced caring relationships with their teachers in an opportunity to learn environment when compared to their other core academic classes, and (c) investigated how school leaders created conditions to further support these students’ academic success on a larger scale. This action research study utilized a sequential phenomenological qualitative approach. Critical Race Theory, Critical Pedagogy, and Care theory served as the theoretical frameworks for this study. The blending of these theories worked to push Latina/o students’ narrative reflections to emerge as constitutive and instructive voices speaking back against the inequalities in the educational setting, and offered counterstories about the caring dynamics of Latina/o students in the classroom. Participants included high school students identified as “at-risk” and in an academic intervention class === Dissertation/Thesis === Doctoral Dissertation Leadership and Innovation 2016