Toward a theory of<i>critical care</i>in urban small school reform: examining structures and pedagogies of caring in two Latino community‐based schools¹

Abstract

Abstract Using in‐depth interviewing, participant observations, and the collection of historical and curricular documents, this article describes two Latino community‐based small high schools—the Dr Pedro Albizu Campos High School (PACHS) and El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice (El Puente). The authors focus on ways in which these two schools create a culture of high academic expectations for their students, value high‐quality interpersonal relationships between students and teachers, and privilege the funds of knowledge that students and their respective communities bring to school. The authors advance a theory of critical care that embodies this important combination, which is crucial if small high schools created for and by communities of color are to succeed. Finally, the implications for a theory of critical care and its impact are discussed within the framework of small urban high school reform. Notes 1. The authors contributed equally to the production of this article. 2. Popularized by Nuyorican Poet Mariposa, the term DiaspoRican connotes the increasingly diverse and evolving nature of Puerto Rican identity within the United States (Valldejuli & Flores, Citation2000). 3. Our own experiences in US schools (both as students and educators) motivated our interest in research at these two schools, which represent a compelling counter‐narrative to traditional, large public high schools. Each project originated from dissertation research. As Puerto Ricans, our identity as cultural insiders and relationships with key leaders facilitated entry into these communities; however, as institutional outsiders (doctoral students in mainstream institutions of higher education) we also possessed perspectives uncommon to most participants within these learning communities. Lofland and Lofland (1995) describe this duality well: 'most fieldworkers adopt a stance that is somewhere in the middle of the continuum: trust combined with a heady dose of skepticism; suspicion mixed in with large portions of faith' (p. 55). 4. For example, a New York Daily News reporter observed, 'through years of riots, shootings, stabbings, parent protests and facility crises, Eastern District became synonymous with the wilder aspects of the decline of urban education' (Williams, Citation1998). 5. By transformative, we mean the extent to which students perceive that their educational experiences (not necessarily outcomes) are better than their experiences would be elsewhere. 6. This term is adapted from Fry (2002) who, from his analysis of Latino dropout data, argues that a substantial number of Latino immigrant students never dropped out of school because they never had the intention of attending school (dropping in) when they arrived in the US, rather they sought workforce participation. 7. In Latin America (as within US‐based Latino/a communities), use of the term educación and 'ser educado/a' can relate to social class and race‐based differences and strongly implies racial inferiority toward persons of African and indigenous descent. Notwithstanding this limitation, we argue that, within the US schooling context, Valenzuela's usage of the term provides a useful distinction in understanding Latino/a communities' orientations toward education and expectations from public schools. 8. We want to emphasize that our articulation of hard caring is not to be confused with 'tough love,' a notion characterized by harsh disciplinary approaches and often invoked in the 'treatment' of substance‐abusing adolescents and to break other dependencies. In our view, 'tough love' may be thought of as a technique employed by professionals to solve a human problem whereas hard caring is a way of thinking about human practices rooted in a consideration of the best interests of the individual. 9. El Puente's 12 principles are Creating Community, Holism, Development, Love and Caring, Mentoring, Collective Self‐Help, Peace and Justice, Unity through Diversity, Respect, Mastery, Creativity, and Safety.