Latino Demographics, Democratic Individuality, and Educational Accountability: A Pragmatist’s View

Abstract

In an era of heightened teacher and school accountability, what are the implications of standards-based reform for individual Latino children and their democratic self-realization? The educational demography of the fastest-growing and largest ethnic group in the United States suggests that the future of Latino self-realization is in jeopardy. This commentary posits that the true malfeasance of accountability policies is the loss of the individual and the erasure of individuality and that, given the realities of Latino educational trajectory and population growth, the Latinization of America is effectively compromised.