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Association of Mexican-American Educators (AMAE) Journal ©2012, Volume 6, Issue 3 30

Connecting the Interpersonal, Instructional, and Institutional Contexts

Sonia Nieto
University of Massachusetts—Amherst

Melissa Rivera
Hunter College - City University of New York

Sandra Quiñones
University of Rochester

 As discussed throughout this paper, many institutional and instructional strategies can facilitate higher 
achievement among Latino/a students.  Many of these are effective partly because of the relationships they 
foster.  But we also want to point out a few concrete examples of supportive constructive relationships.  The 
common thread in these examples is how the school affi rms the students’ home cultures and ethnicity.  When 
students witness the validation of their culture within the educational process, they connect their home or 
community identities with an academic identity.  Most importantly, the cultural substance of their identities feeds 
and sustains an academic persona, which in turn promotes strong school-oriented relationships among peers, 
teachers, and parents.  The outcome is engaged and interested students who feel their culture is not a defi cit 
but a benefi t to their academic achievement.

These examples demonstrate how student learning is not only a matter of positive interactions between 
some teachers and their students; institutional arrangements also help create the circumstances and the strategic 
support that may be available for learning.  Conchas (2001, 2006) and Conchas and Rodríguez (2008), for 
example, have analyzed the connection between particular school programs, or academic groupings, and the 
variability in Latino/a student engagement and learning.  As part of a detailed, comparative case study analysis 
of different school programs in an urban high school, Conchas (2001) showed how the social organization and 
routines of different programs, which he refers to as their institutional “subcultures,” mediate the nature of 
students’ school engagement, the types of support networks available to them, and their perceptions of and 
relations with each other, all with implications for their formation (or not), of academic identities, and the effort 
expended on schoolwork. 
 The program in which Latino/a students were most successful was less individualistic than others, and it 
fostered not only a common academic vision and goals, but also positive social relations with teachers and fellow 
students, instilling the program with a sense of community.  Latino/a students in the program experienced close 
relations with high achieving peers both within and outside of their own ethnic group, thus establishing a peer 
network, who along with the supportive teachers formed a community of learners to help mediate schoolwork 
and success. 

In contrast to the other high achieving programs, Conchas (2001) points out that this program, which 
had a medical theme, also helped students assess critically the status quo, refl ecting upon the role of race, 
gender and ethnicity in their schooling and future professions, but without inhibiting their educational and 
personal achievement.  The Latino/a students in this program, Conchas writes, “did not suppress their critical 
consciousness in favor of academic success”; they “affi rmed that they expected to become medical professionals 
despite the racial, class and gender obstacles they would confront along the way” (p. 49).  Hence, the program 
successfully enacted principles of culturally engaged schooling, acknowledging the ways that race and ethnicity 
bear on students’ lives.  It is the nature of the culture of the program as defi ned by its daily practices, along with 
academic rigor, strong social relations among students and teachers, and individual sense of agency that offers 
the institutional support and social capital necessary for academic engagements and success. 

The Funds of Knowledge approach (González, 1995; González, Moll, & Amanti, 2005; Moll, González, 
Amanti, & Neff, 1992; Vélez-Ibáñez & Greenberg, 1992) exemplifi es how institutional practices can facilitate 
the types of interpersonal relationships that account for and privilege students’ cultures, thus increasing their 

Connecting the Interpersonal, Instructional, and Institutional Contexts



Association of Mexican-American Educators (AMAE) Journal ©2012, Volume 6, Issue 3 31

likelihood of academic success.  In this approach, teachers learn ethnographic research methods and then visit their 
students’ households to document the cultural practices or “Funds of Knowledge” that families use for everyday 
survival. Families might share their knowledge about informal economic systems, home-based manufacturing, 
agriculture, construction, or herbal remedies for illness.  Once teachers observe and learn how students and 
their families “live culturally,” they are able to initiate more meaningful relationships with their students.  This 
engagement can facilitate the types of interpersonal relationships that allow students to compensate for discord 
between their school and community environments.  Teachers can also integrate their observations into the 
curriculum and create lessons that are relevant to students, increasing their academic engagement. 

Successful schools often engage students in community-based projects that encourage them to analyze 
their life circumstances and conditions in their communities, such as poverty, gangs, and housing conditions.  
They provide familial-like school environments, a safe school, and space in which students are encouraged to 
affi rm their racial and ethnic pride (Antrop-González, 2003).  For example, Antrop-González (2003) compiled 
a review of research on successful small, culturally centered charter schools that have become sanctuaries for 
students, or a “third space,” in urban education.  These schools provided meaningful interpersonal relations 
between students and teachers, community support, and a rigorous curriculum that set high standards of 
students’ achievement (Antrop-González & De Jesús 2006). 

Some have suggested alternative school options, such as charter schools or public funding for private 
school vouchers, as a way to right the problems that Latino/a and African American students encounter in the 
public school system.  A number of prominent Latino/a and African American leaders have supported public 
funding for private school vouchers or school choice, arguing that low-income students assigned to failing 
inner-city schools should have the ability to choose schools that can provide successful school environments.  
Cumulative research suggests, however, that just as with public schools, charter and private schools have the 
potential to fail urban youth who live in poverty, particularly students of color (Antrop-González, in press). 
 While many small, community-based schools have been successful in re-engaging students, charter or 
voucher schools that are not associated with a school district often must charge tuition to compensate for 
the high cost of educating students.  These schools must also be accredited by several federal, state, and local 
agencies and are sometimes forced to comply with the same accountability standards that create structural 
barriers for public schools.  While alternative schools have potential to offer successful schooling environments 
that can counter some of the structural barriers found in traditional public schools, they also face additional 
barriers such as lack of capacity, inconsistency in quality across campuses, and high tuition rates. 

Connecting the Interpersonal, Instructional, and Institutional Contexts