Chicano Education Research Project

This ongoing research activity assesses Chicano education from the 1930s to the present, with a focus on California. Research sources include archival collections in UCLA libraries (including the CSRC Library and Archive), monographs, academic journals, newspapers, and Internet publications.

Principal Investigator: Carlos Manuel Haro, Ph.D. (CSRC)

Contributing Faculty: Daniel Solorzano, Patricia Gandara, Jose Luis Santos, (UCLA, Education); Laura Gomez, Stuart Biegel (UCLA Law); Robert Chao Romero (UCLA Chicana and Chicano Studies); Tara J. Yosso (UCSB Education), and Mario T. Garcia (UCSB History).

Undergraduate Research Assistants and Affiliated Students: Crystal Perez, Nancy Guarneros, Melissa Vazquez, Ebelin Castillo, Melissa Francisca Flores, Thien Ninh Huong.

Contributing Graduate Students: Lindsay Perez Huber, Ph.D. candidate (2006-09), Education; Maria C. Malagon, Ph.D. (2008) candidate, Education; Nadine Bermudez, Ph.D. candidate (2004-05), Education; Martha A. Rivas, Ph.D. candidate (2007), Education; Marisol A. Haro-Chianello, USC Law Student (2004); Peggy Fan, doctoral student, Education (2008); Erica Bennett, MA student, Information Studies (2004).

Description: This ongoing research activity assesses Chicano education from the 1930s to the present, with a focus on California. Research sources include archival collections in UCLA libraries (including the CSRC Library and Archive), monographs, academic journals, newspapers, and internet publications. The project has three major sections: 1) an analysis of Chicano students, including immigrants, in the education pipeline from K-12 through graduate education; 2) an analysis of selected court cases, primarily those dealing with the school segregation of Chicano students (Mendez, 1946, and Crawford, 1980) and their access to higher education (Bakke, 1978, and Grutter, 2003); and 3) a history of the Chicano student movement, including student activism at the college level from 1966 to 1977 and the 1968 high school walkouts. The CSRC’s annual Latina/o Education Summit, a conference series coordinated by Carlos Manuel Haro and held on the UCLA campus each spring, explores issues that are critical for improving educational experiences and opportunities for Chicano students. The summits have dealt with critical transitions in the education pipeline (2006), community college education (2007), school governance (2008), and the education of immigrant and undocumented students (2009), funding of K-12 and higher education (2010), utilizing language and culture as educational assets (2011), and law, social policy and education (2012). CSRC Research Reports and CSRC Latino Policy and Issues Briefs, prepared by faculty and graduate students and published by CSRC Press, have been released in conjunction with the summit series.