Abstract Summary/Description
If schools and teachers are underprepared to support and empower the growing population of Latinx students, inequity may increase; students will experience a loss of cultural identity and potential discrimination, have lower grades, graduation rates, and college attendance rates, and face larger systemic obstacles. This paper will review the existing literature to examine ethnic/racial education gaps in the changing landscape of U.S. school systems, this work will identify cultural strategies to academically empower Latinx youth. The aim of this project is to identify motivators of academic self-efficacy among Latinx students by critically examining five empirical papers and creating an annotated bibliography. Four of these studies sample students ages 5-19, and one is a longitudinal study spanning into mid-adulthood. These papers suggest that a strong ethnic-racial identity is a main contributor to the students’ feelings of trust, security and motivation in school. Additionally, they indicate that students’ awareness of positive public regard to their ethnic/racial identity contributes to their sense of belonging in school and the community. Mentorships founded on cultural competency are essential in the empowerment process; faculty, staff and adult mentors are key facilitators of success. Thus, it is critical that we demand culturally relevant curricula, youth mentoring programs, and positive dialogues about ethnic and racial Latinx identities in schools, communities, and on a wider scale. Latinx empowerment and access to comprehensive education is imperative to boost equity and challenge harmful narratives about the Latinx community in the years ahead.
