AERA fellow Alvarez, Jackson schools partners on ESL program

Leticia Alvarez is helping Teton County teachers and school administrators understand the unique needs of students of Mexican origin by going to the source – the young people themselves.

Alvarez is in the first year of a three-year American Educational Research Association-Institute for Educational Science postdoctoral fellowship. Based at the University of Wyoming College of Education, she is the first Latina to receive the prestigious national award.

The longitudinal study “deconstructs the relationship processes between adults and youth in schools for newcomer Mexican youth.” Research will explore cultural influences and everyday experiences of this population group, including their relationships with peers and teachers, that affect their potential for academic success.

The first year of Alvarez’s fellowship focuses on building relationships with students and comprehending the issues and challenges through their eyes

“As adults and as researchers, we often just assume we know what the needs are, basing it on our own experience, without really looking at different cultural, social and political aspects that are influencing how youth perceive their experiences and what their needs are,” Alvarez says.

Uncovering students’ deeper needs and motivations requires asking different types of questions.

“What is it that these kids need to succeed academically? What is it that they actually aspire to do?,” Alvarez asks. “It takes a lot to be able to answer those questions.”

Building relationships with students in and outside of the classroom is critical to her research. She says young people are anxious to share.

“The kids are thirsty for that,” Leticia says. “We need to be informing teachers and adults who are working with them to be able to meet these needs.”

The simple act of showing an interest is powerful, according to Alvarez.

“No one has ever asked them, ‘What is life like for you now, being in this new school, coming from a different country, not really knowing the language? What are your experiences in the school?,’” she says. “They don’t see it (their experience) as anything important. They don’t feel like they are valued in that sense. For me to be up there, and to be up there for them, is really nice.”

When in Jackson, most of Alvarez’s official work takes place in the classroom, particularly the English as a Second Language classes. After the school day ends, though, she finds other opportunities to connect to students and their community. Leticia volunteers at the Latino Resource Center. She also offers to tutor students and is a frequent presence in the lunchroom and at soccer practices. Students and their families have been gracious in extending invitations to their homes and other settings where she has extended opportunities to interact.

In the second year of her fellowship, Leticia will work with school staff to identify ways in which they might use information gathered from students to adapt instruction and interactions to enhance youths’ academic success potential. Year three will examine community/school partnerships and policy.

While her research has curricular and policy-level implications for the Teton County School District, Alvarez says it offers the potential to inform a broader audience.

“I’m hoping that this work will be generalizable to any community, to show how youths’ experiences can inform adults on how to be more supportive – not just in a general sense but more in a specific cultural context,” she says.

Alvarez received her PhD in educational psychology, with an emphasis in adolescent development, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison last year. She is collaborating with University of Wyoming professor of educational studies Francisco Rios, whom she first met while working on her bachelor’s degree from California State University-San Marcos.

AERA fellow Alvarez, Jackson schools partners on ESL program

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