Learning from Latino Teachers. Gilda L. Ochoa. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2007. Pp. 267. $24.95, cloth. ISBN: 978-0-7879- 8777-0. TEL: 415-433-1740 • FAX: 415-433-0499

After decades of struggle, Latino students attend more segregated schools than they did 30 years ago, they are vastly underrepresented in honors and advanced placement courses, and over 40 percent of them do not complete high school.

This book offers insightful stories and visions in the movement for equitable schools. It is based on Resources for Educators December 2007 79 the author’s interviews with Latino teachers who have a range of teaching experience in schools with significant Latino populations. The book offers an insider’s perspective on the educational challenges facing Latinos. The teachers’ stories offer insights gained from their experiences coming up through the K-12 system as students, and then becoming part of the same system as teachers.

The book focuses on the stories of eight teachers to highlight issues facing schools and the practices that will better serve the students who are struggling within them. Their stories juxtapose disturbing memories of humiliation and ridicule with the strength and wisdom infused in them by their mothers, fathers, teachers, and friends. Their stories focus particular attention on the current trend of curriculum tracking and high stakes testing, and the devastating effects these practices have on they students they are teaching.