Maria Carreira argues that Spanish-for-native-speakers (SNS) instruction at the secondary level can help narrow the Latino achievement gap by: 1) supporting Spanish-English biliteracy; 2) facilitating learning across subjects; and 3) socializing Latino students and parents to the U.S. education system while leveraging their home culture. She asserts SNS can provide rigorous academic preparation, navigate students through the path to higher education, and build on students' cultural heritage for increased academic success and well-being.

1. SPANISH-FOR-NATIVESPEAKER MATTERS:
NARROWING THE
LATINO ACHIEVEMENT
GAP THROUGH SPANISH
LANGUAGE
INSTRUCTION
BY MARIA CARREIRA
Hannah Baker

2. Thesis
In her paper, Maria Carreira argues that:
Spanish-for-native-speakers (SNS) at the secondary level can play a key
role in narrowing the Latino achievement gap. To this end, SNS curricula and
practices should be configured to:
1) Support Spanish-English biliteracy,
2) Support and facilitate learning across the curriculum,
3)
Socialize Latino students and parents to the American system of
education, and
4)
marshal the resources of students’ home cultures to advance the
educational and social needs of Latino youth.

3. The Latino Educational
Challenge
• The Latino achievement gap is one of the most significant modern
educational challenges.
• In order to close the gap, two main issues must be addressed: 1) rigorous
academic preparation and 2) social and affective needs of these students.
• Latinos who speak English well have a 15% dropout rate while Latinos
who do not speak English well have a 60% dropout rate.
• Tracking: Latinos generally are placed in a “watered-down” curriculum
track that lacks in critical thinking skill development.
• Segregation: Latinos are often placed in a strictly ESL environment which
limits “linguistic input” from native English speakers.
• Departmentalized Instruction: Literacy development falls only on ESL
teacher and other teachers show a “not me” attitude with developing
academic literacy for Latino students.

4. SNS Goals
1) Spanish language maintenance
2) Acquisition of a prestige variety of Spanish
3) Expansion of students’ bilingual range (expansion of
variety of competencies in Spanish, including
grammatical, textual, and pragmatic competence).
4) Transfer of literacy skills from one language to another

5. Rigorous Academic Preparation
• SNS supports learning of core content areas and higher
order thinking skills
• Empower Latino students by creating learning
communities and “subcultures of expertise”
• School-based planning for interdisciplinary curriculum
• Maximize student independence and teacher as
facilitator of learning

6. Socializing Latino Students to
American System of Education
• Latino students believe it is important to go to
college, but don’t know how to navigate the process
• 75% say college would have been a more viable
option if they had known more about the financial
aid process
• SNS courses can provide this information, as well
as provide a community of support in navigating the
American education system

7. Building on Latino Students’
Cultural and Linguistic Heritage
• Latino parents are more likely to participate in SNS
classrooms as they connect to the cultural
atmosphere of the classroom
• Home culture helps Latino students maintain a
sense of identity and connectedness
• Remaining close to home culture shows students
with more academic success
• Physical well-being improves as the more
“Americanized” students become, the more likely
they are to experiment with sex, substance abuse