Institute for the Study of Societal Issues

This study was undertaken to assist a group of educators in assessing the factors influencing the academic achievement of Latino students in the Lockwood Unified School District (LUSD) and to prescribe a strategy for intervention. Utilizing an inductive approach to the research and a variety of qualitative data collection methods, this study also attempts to test the relevance and validity of existing theory and to explore new ways of conceptualizing the issues influencing school performance. Our goal in this paper is to use Lockwood as a case study for analyzing issues related to the academic performance of Latino students in California and throughout the United States, where patterns of underachievement continue to prevail as the norm.

Note: This paper was originally published in 1994 by the Chicano Latino Policy Project, which evolved into the Center for Latino Policy Research, one of the centers of the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues