Locked in Sequence and Stuck on Skills in a College-for-All Culture for Urban Latinx Youth

This case study of one small urban California high school enrolling predominantly low-socioeconomic status (SES) Latinx youth and many emergent bilinguals found that a college-for-all school culture, guided by leadership and school vision, was enacted in classrooms as caring, safe, productive spaces promoting college-going comportment. However, support exceeded challenge, with routine scaffolds and formulaic activity. There was less evidence of learning opportunities that challenged intellectual capacities and students’ analytic processes. Instruction overall maintained a sequential format of support, study skills, and content skills before challenging disciplinary work, with basic and intermediate academic literacies seldom embedded in activity that engaged higher order thinking, creativity, and imagination.