A Study of Optimism Among Latinos in a Successful Urban School

This quantitative study investigated the levels of optimism and self-concepts of 76, fourth-sixth graders who attend an academically successful, Englishimmersion, private school serving a majority Latino and urban population. Two instruments measured the students‟ self-perceptions with expected and unexpected results. Although academically successful and functioning as the majority, these Latinos were not particularly optimistic. Gender, language proficiency, and grade level were all factors related to the significant findings. The related discussion challenges educators to explore the various aspects contributing to positive self-concepts and to better understand how to develop and sustain optimism among students often considered academically at-risk. Drawn by the affluence and democratic ideals of the United States and Canada, immigrants come seeking opportunities for themselves and their children. They hope that touted democratic processes will, in fact, tangibly afford many chances to develop their potential, maintain their cultural values, and allow them to successfully participate within a diversified populace (Bruner, 1997). Their conceptions of democracy generally include availability of an education that will give them access to a better life. They come with hope about their futures, but often face numerous challenges that can erode their optimism and diminish their efforts to make their dreams come true (Chaudron, 1988; Delgado-Gaitan, 1992). In fact, as representatives of marginalized populations realize that there are strong structural barriers that can prevent them from taking advantage of economic opportunities, hope can fade and there is often an increase in depressive symptoms (Katragadda & Tidwell, 1998.) Seligman (1998) has studied optimism and pessimism and describes the difference in these perspectives as how people perceive negative events. Pessimists view unfortunate happenings as pervasive, permanent, and they take failures very personally. If this perspective continues, pessimists can learn to be helpless, feeling that their actions have no effect. Optimists perceive misfortune as temporary, relating it to themselves in a minimal way, and not necessarily as their fault. With such a perspective, optimists do not readily give up hope that things will change and that good consequences are likely. Optimism has also been defined as “the anticipation of best possible outcomes based on actions and events that facilitate such positive desired results” (Rossatto, 2005, p. 11). Work and school contexts entail the potential to enhance and hinder learner success. To ward off helplessness, it is important to help learners offset a sense of Mohr et al.: A study of optimism among Latinos in a successful urban school 2 The Tapestry Journal 1(1) fatalism—“the belief that we as humans are unable to influence the events and circumstances of our lives” (Rossatto, 2005, p. 12). Thus, although schools are responsible for developing academic skills, an integral factor in school success is the motivation to work on established goals for a more productive future. Despite the growing numbers of Latino immigrants in the United States, many U.S. educators consider their Latino students at risk for failure because of their differences (Berg, 2003; Reese, 2002). Their language, cultural, and socioeconomic disparities are often considered as deficiencies and educators struggle with how to respect differences and provide equal access to educational systems that assume and value a mostly white, middle-class perspective (Cummins, 1986). Effective schools and teacher research have recognized that programs and teachers are integral in bridging or connecting students to the educational system and equipping them with the skills and strategies necessary for academic achievement within and beyond compulsory school classrooms (Delgado-Gaitan, 1992; Díaz & Flores, 2001; Reyes & Halcón, 2001). According to Seligman (1998), school success is typically considered to be a result of talent and desire (Seligman, 1998); but, minority students can begin to feel as if they do not belong or that academic achievement is too painful a process to endure. Educators often fail to communicate the hidden rules for success that would give students opportunity and access (Delpit, 1995). Thus, although they might be willing, some students do not learn how to effectively access the system and find their place within it. One interesting aspect of school success is a student‟s openness or receptiveness to the school environment (Fisher, 1974.) Being different should not mean being unable to function in educational systems that afford learning opportunities. Being different does, however, challenge students‟ sense of self in both social and academic ways. A key aspect of successful schools is efficacy—the belief that one‟s efforts can make a difference. Teacher efficacy, both individual and collective (Goddard & Goddard, 2001), is correlated to student achievement (Alderman, 2002). Student efficacy (Baker & Wigfield, 1999; Schunk, 1991) fosters agentive actions, engagement (e.g., attendance and productive on-task behaviors) and persistence. Unfortunately, the drop-out rate among Latinos in the United States is high, often between 40 and 50% (Fitzgerald, 1995; Rivera-Batiz, 1996). There are numerous reasons why students leave school, but one factor is that they often feel marginalized within the system while job prospects offer an immediate opportunity to help their families and to obtain funds needed to attain at least an attenuated version of the American dream. Successful schools for linguistically diverse students do exist, however, and understanding the characteristics of successful schools and successful students may help us better understand the skills and dispositions that can be promoted among students often considered at risk for leaving school early (Abi-Nader, 1990). In effective programs for linguistically diverse students, engagement is high and students feel empowered to achieve (Feuerstein, Klein, & Tannenbaum, 1991; Williams & Burden, 1997). In fact, in successful schools, minority student success is similar to that of mainstream populations. The students are generally confident, hopeful, and persistent. They see difficulties as escapable and classroom discourse is positive and influences their thinking constructively (Seligman, 1998). Effective teachers see students as capable learners; they challenge students to challenge themselves, to problem solve at high levels, to use strengths to excel, to be future-oriented, to achieve despite setbacks. High-achieving schools are characterized by classrooms that reflect cooperative work and a problem-solving approach to Mohr et al.: A study of optimism among Latinos in a successful urban school 3 The Tapestry Journal 1(1) learning. As Moll (1988) noted, “students are as smart as allowed by the curriculum” (p. 467), and effective programs promote positive perceptions among students. Unfortunately, programs exemplifying those characteristics are too few. Analyses of successful programs for Latino learners are limited and, in the United States, generally describe only bilingual programs. However, in reality, the majority of Spanish-dominant students in American schools receive their instruction in monolingual English programs (Schirmer, Casbon, & Twiss, 1996). As a matter of fact, some states now mandate that minority language students be educated in English-only programs. Scrutiny of existing and extremely successful English-immersion programs serving predominantly Latino students could thus provide a model for other programs, as well as identify best educational practices for implementation elsewhere. There is a need to determine ways to export school success, if appropriate, beyond local borders and the traditional approaches that have been used in the past. The school that served as the context for this study seeks to promote success among its minority populations and works to provide a model for others concerned about equality and excellence in education. The school administration asked a university research team to help profile the school program and to investigate the salient aspects or combination of components that contribute to its success, offering a channel to communicate these components for implementation elsewhere. The research team collaborated with the school for two years and combined preliminary qualitative data with quantitative assessment and attendance data to describe and analyze the school‟s effectiveness. The research inquiry guiding this portion of the investigation is whether the students attending a high-achieving, urban, private school in a Latino community are optimistic about their futures and have positive self-concepts.