Dolores Delgado Bernal, Associate Professor
Enrique Alemán, Assistant Professor
Octavio Villalpando, Associate Professor
Judith Flores, Graduate Research Assistant

Goals

• To prepare students and their families for college by integrating higher education into their school experience and into their personal lives, and

• To help establish a college-going culture within the school and to support the school’s efforts to promote college awareness and the idea that every child has the potential to attend and succeed in college

Most research on college student success suggests that the earlier students and their families begin to consider college as an option, the more likely students are to pursue a higher education.  Based on this important premise, we are implementing a college awareness program at Jackson Elementary School for students and their families starting at the earliest academic level--kindergarten.  Specifically we started the program with the kindergarten classrooms in the Spanish dual immersion program and each year we are continuing to work with the previous students while bringing in the new kindergartners.  While we are only working within the dual immersion strand right now, a long term goal is to institutionalize the partnership with the entire school.

Vision
We believe all young people in this largely Latina/o community should be prepared for, enroll, and succeed in college.  We believe college preparation must emphasize students’ intellectual development in relation to community and culture.

As educational researchers and Jackson parents our vision for the partnership is really grounded in our collective belief that rigorous academics must go hand in hand with developing the consciousness of students who will understand 1) who they are as cultural beings, 2) be proud of where they come from, and 3) how to draw upon their family and community knowledge. Research supports the idea that if students have good academic preparation and are well grounded culturally they can succeed where ever they go in higher education. So the vision of this project is based on our roles as educators immersed in the research on Latina/o education and as parents of children in this school.  The vision is closely aligned with the goals of dual language immersion programs in which culture is a crucial element of language development

Key Players In The Partnership

• University—College of Education Faculty, University Neighborhood Partners, Academic Affairs, Continuing Education, Office of Youth Education, MEChA Student Organization, and Graduate & Undergraduate Students
• School—Dual Language Immersion Teachers, Principal, Assistant Principal, Students, and Families/Parents
• Community—Families/Parents, United for Kids—Community Advocate Training, and Hispanic Dance Alliance

Many individuals make up these three categories, and there is much overlap between the categories.  For example, most of the university students that work with us are also connected to the community and either grew up on the Westside and/or are currently living on the Westside.  We’ve specifically targeted University Latina/o students to mentor/tutor the kindergarten students because of our emphasis on students’ intellectual development in relation to community and culture.  Most of the mentors/tutors are first generation college students, bilingual individuals, come from working-class families, and many are immigrants. We’ve also worked hard to have well-placed allies in the university and school district for a strong foundation of support.

We’ve had incredible family/parental involvement.  For example, we had nearly 100% participation at the kindergarten orientation ice cream social, approximately 20 parents attended the first campus visit,  parent volunteers attended each day during the week of summer camp, 12-15 parents attended the weekly ballet folklorico classes, two parents completed the Community Advocate Training, all parents have signed a release form for participation in the evaluation of Adelante, one parent created a CD of the students’ campus visits, approximately 20 parents participated in individual and group interviews regarding the Adelante program and the education of their children.

Three Interrelated Components of the Adelante Partnership

In some ways the college awareness and preparation is the core of our partnership, but we see all three components as closely interconnected.

• College Awareness and Preparatory—Students participate in two University of Utah visits per semester with hands on activities and one week of summer camp on campus. Parents/guardians are strongly encouraged to attend university trips.  In addition, university undergraduate and graduate student mentors/tutors are assigned to each classroom and volunteer a minimum of one hour once a week.  This past year the kindergartners have been on three university visits and two full weeks of university science camp.  During each visit they have been involved in hands-on projects ranging from digging for dinosaur bones at the Museum of Natural History to doing science experiments with a university biology professor.  On each visit we have had parents and mentors/tutors join us and do activities with the students.  During the year approximately 20 university students have participated in various capacities at different times. A core of 10-12 students has contributed about 110 hours each throughout the year for a total of  1110 volunteer hours.

• Cultural and Academic Enrichment— While we are clear that this partnership is not about food, fun, and festivals, research shows that culture and language go hand-in-hand especially in successful dual language immersion programs.  Teachers have expressed interest in incorporating more culturally relevant content into the curriculum, and we are interested in doing more to support this effort.  This year we offered ballet folkloric classes after school on Fridays for 21 students.   Next year we would like to provide instruction in topics such as Aztec Myths & Legends, Cesar Chavez and the United Farmworkers, Mexican/Latino history through music.

• Oral History & Community Memory—We want our community to be involved in the research process and to be able use the research in meaningful ways that can inform educators, our children, and other community members.  One way of doing this is to begin recording, documenting and incorporating the stories, practices and pedagogies of the home through oral histories.  This year undergraduate students enrolled in the La Chicana course presented their research on 10 Adelante moms to the moms, the kindergartners, and school community members.

The Challenges and Lessons We’ve Learned

• Maintaining genuine, reciprocal, respectful, and non-hierarchical relationships is key to a university-school-community partnership.
• Communication is key to keeping all partners involved and invested.  We need suggestions on the best ways to keep school staff up-to-date, but not overburdened with information about Adelante.
• Inclusion of parents and community leaders must also be enhanced. Although we had excellent turn out on our U field trips, a more cogent parent communication strategy is essential for participation and empowerment.
• A commitment to collect and use data in strategic planning should guide the vision of the partnership. We are in the process of analyzing data we have collected from many different individuals in the partnership, and we’d like to share the findings with the partners at the beginning of the next academic year.  We have interviewed the 46 kindergartners twice, approximately 20 parents (some more than once), the two dual immersion kindergarten teachers, three U administrators, and have conducted two mentor focus groups (which included 7 U undergraduate and graduate students).  Below are some of the important preliminary findings.
  • All the parents we interviewed expressed a deep concern for their child’s education and placed a high value on education.  Most of them defined what education means to them and talked about what they do to support their child’s education.
  • A pressing issue for all the Latino parents we interviewed is the immigration reform debate.  For many of these parents there was concern about whether or not their child will be eligible to attend higher education based on the family’s immigration status.
  • Most parents we interviewed would like to have more Latino culture (history, dance, music, art) included in their child’s education.
  • Most parents spoke of their desire to see the Adelante program and opportunities be made available to the whole school.
  • Most parents mentioned the importance of continuing the Adelante program in each of their child’s public education school years.
  • U mentors described their commitment to Jackson students, parents, and the community. Despite attending classes full-time and, in many instances, being employed outside of their campus activism, the mentors shared their positive experiences gained as a result of their service. All stated that they would continue in their volunteering roles.
• The experiences, knowledge bases, languages, and identities of Latina/o communities must inform the university-school-community partnership.
  • Given the shifting demographics of the state’s population and the increasing diversity of Utah public school enrollment, the U must recognize the importance of building relationships with fast-growing communities on the Westside of Salt Lake.
  • The partnership must also embrace different ways of knowing – namely dual immersion programs, culturally-relevant curriculum and pedagogy strategies – as ways of closing the gaps in recruiting, admitting and retaining students of color in higher education generally and at the U specifically.
  • University-school-community partners should continue to foster a working relationship that will allow for the co-creation of knowledge and an improvement of institutions, policies, and programs affecting the realization of Adelante’s goals.
  • Recognizing their role as partners, enablers of critical-thinking, bilingual students, and facilitators for change, the U, Jackson Elementary, and residents of Rose Park could play a significant role in positively affecting the social, political and economic future of the state of Utah.