The purpose of this paper is to present an argument for understanding the factors that support or constrain the development of Chicana/o students' academic identities and consequently, their academic resiliency in high school. The article draws on a larger study investigating ways that schooling structures and teacher mind-sets can sustain students' ability to complete high school requirements. A subset of findings from a five-year ethnographic study in a high school in Colorado serves as the basis for a conceptual framework that honors what Chicana/o students identify as critical to their ability to succeed. Using observational data, interviews and an ethnographic perspective the article examines participating adolescents' understandings of key elements that fostered their academic resilience. These key elements are respeto (respect), confianza (mutual trust), consejos (verbal teachings) and buen ejemplos (exemplary models). Findings suggest that teachers who practice a humanizing pedagogy are instrumental in fostering healthy educational orientations among Chicana/o adolescents, which in turn results in their academic resiliency against all odds.

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This article argues that teacher-education programs often promote surface conceptions of inclusivity that limit preservice teachers' ability to understand and build upon the lived experiences of culturally and linguistically diverse youth. Conventional wisdom implies that teachers of color are native informants of these lived experiences; however, teacher educators should create opportunities for all teacher candidates to challenge prevalent myths about communities of color. Using critical race theory (CRT) and Latino critical race theory (LatCrit) the authors discuss a framework whereby teacher educators invite their students to construct counterstories through practices such as eliciting autonarratives, providing opportunities for reflective writing assignments, and coaching for equity.

A significant portion of the US population has serious problems with both literacy and understanding how to effectively use and understand health-related information. An understanding of the breadth and significance of this problem and its impact on health outcomes is now clear. Interventions and strategies for effectively working with patients with limited literacy must be developed and evaluated. An agenda for medical and public health workers, health educators, and researchers is suggested.

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Border pedagogies recognize citizenship as a contentious privilege afforded to some but not others. In reconciling the multiple and often conflicting renditions of citizen/citizenship, this qualitative single case study found that preservice teachers benefit from examining the great civic divide between home and school and in confronting spaces that value citizens/citizenship differently. In doing so, we argue that dislodging a teacher education candidate’s previously held assumptions works to broaden understandings of a community of wealth and the importance of linguistically and culturally diverse experiences as preservice teachers embody opportunities for participation in a democracy.

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