Utah Latino Students Trail in Reading

Tests find Utah Latino students trail in reading

December 06, 2012 3:13 pm

Utah eighth-graders scored higher in National Assessment of Educational Progress reading tests in 2011 than counterparts in 20 other states.
But the Salt Lake Tribune reports ( http://bit.ly/YSDkTe) the so-called nation's report card also shows Latino student reading scores in Utah averaged 24 points lower than white student scores in 2011.
The findings come while Utah ranks fourth-lowest nationally in graduation rates for Latinos, at 57 percent.
The state's overall graduation rate was 76 percent in 2010-11.
State Office of Education accountability chief John Jesse says that's not a new problem.
Utah Multicultural Affairs director Claudia Nakano is going to chair a state panel looking into ways to boost minority education.
NAEP exams are administered to a cross-section of Utah students.
They don't give specific results for schools or districts.
___
Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com

The info below gives insights about how we could address the issue. 

 From VOXXI

Hispanic young readers lacking relatable book characters

Posted on December 7, 2012By Hope GilletteEducation

There is one important factor missing from children’s literature, and Hispanic young readers are taking notice. According to a report from the New York Times, there are few exceptions to the lack of Hispanic characters in children’s books, and the ones there are—books by authors such as Gary Soto and Julia Alvarez—rarely make it into the classroom.
As one of the fastest growing minorities, Hispanics make up a significant portion of the school population, and the Pew Hispanic Center indicates more than 12 million Hispanics enrolled in public schools around the nation, making up approximately one-quarter of students in the public school system.

Hispanic young readers might find puzzling and challenging the lack of Latino characters in literature (Shutterstock photo)

As a growing portion of the school population, Hispanic young readers lacking relatable characters in school literature may miss out on understanding the deeper aspects involved with reading, such as character development and motivation, as well as building up reading stamina.
According to experts, children need to be able to relate to a character in order to understand many situational learning lessons placed in books for young readers.
“Kids do have a different kind of connection when they see a character that looks like them or they experience a plot or a theme that relates to something they’ve experienced in their lives,” Jane Fleming, an assistant professor at the Erikson Institute, told the New York Times.
Learning from reading is important, explains the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), because it provides children with a means to expand on basic skills such as communication, listening, and learning to associate visual images with words.
“… A child may access the enormous literary resources, he must, of course, learn to read, and this in the broadest meaning of the word,” explained Denise von Stockar from IBBY. “Because reading, from a global point of view, is a very complex activity which is not limited to decoding a text, but it entails too the child’s capability to understand what he has read, to integrate it in his own context and personal experiences by analyzing it in a critical way so he is able to take a stand on what he has read. Only this kind of complete and deep reading education will take children toward a real, integrated literacy.”
That reading experience may be lessened for young reader Latinos in the United States because only a small percentage of books available are written by Latino authors or are about Hispanics. Only slightly more than 3 percent of children’s books fall into that category.
Not only will Hispanic children miss out on fully developing important skills that come with the exercise of reading, but it is also possible this is related to them lagging behind in school.

As one of the fastest growing minorities, Hispanics make up a significant portion of the school population, and the Pew Hispanic Center indicates more than 12 million Hispanics enrolled in public schools around the nation, making up approximately one-quarter of students in the public school system. (Shuttertock photo)

A new study from the University of California indicates Latino children tend to enter school seven months behind their peers when it comes to oral language and proficiency skills. Young readers of Hispanic background, who also speak Spanish at home, might find school especially challenging if they do not perceive themselves as part of the equation.
“Their oral language use is going to be quite different from what they encounter in their books,” Catherine E. Snow, a professor at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, told the New York Times. “So what might seem like simple and accessible text for a standard English speaker might be puzzling for such kids.”
There is currently not enough research on the connection between cultural relevance in books and reading achievement. However, education and Hispanic advocates are concerned Hispanic young readers might be affected by a lack of relatable stories and characters.
“If all they read is Judy Blume or characters in the ‘Magic Treehouse’ series who are white and go on adventures,” Mariana Souto-Manning, associate professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College told the New York Times, “they start thinking of their language or practices or familiar places and values as not belonging in school.”


Read more: http://www.voxxi.com/hispanic-young-readers-book/#ixzz2EYDvsl4D

Three Education Metaphors

I listened this morning to the BYU Devotional Speech Dr. Nancy Wentworth gave on November 27, 2012.  She shared some great metaphors related to education. 

First Metaphor:  Education is like a race

Wentworth said. “In the classroom there are some students who feel that they can never be the best student in the class, the winner, so why should they continue? As teachers we try to encourage growth in our students, not just winning.”

Wentworth went on to explain that personal improvement is a victory in and of itself, and that through working hard any student can improve.  Wentworth advises to help one another, “coach” one another, and work together.

 

Second Metaphor:  Education is like a garden 

 

When Wentworth related education to a garden, she compared the gardener to a teacher. Teachers create an environment in which children, or seeds, can learn and grow into their full potential.
“It is the responsibility of the gardener to create an environment where the seed can grow (and) where the students can thrive and develop,”

Third Metaphor:  Education is like a family

The final metaphor Wentworth related to education was family. She talked about how loving parents teach their children correct principles, and encourage them to constantly improve.
“At school, children learn many things beyond skills and knowledge,” Wentworth said. “They learn to share, to work hard, to experience new things, to ask questions (and) to explore new ideas. Like a loving parent, good teachers point out the small successes of their students so the students want to keep trying, keep working and keep growing.”
 

Better Teacher Tomorrow

Inspiring Others

5 simple ways to be a better teacher tomorrow

By Annette Breaux on November 28th, 2012 |                    

14
inShare

In today’s fast-paced, ever-changing world — often mirrored in our schools — it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and wonder if you’re making a difference. All teachers want to be better, don’t they? And since no one has ever finished learning to teach, continued improvement is a priority of any effective teacher.
Remember that to be better does not mean to be perfect. And becoming more effective does not always mean doing something complicated or time-consuming. Oftentimes, small changes make the biggest difference.
Would you like to make a few small changes and see immediate results? Here are five things you can do tomorrow — without spending money, without learning new programs and without adding stress to your life — that will improve your effectiveness, thus improving student learning and behavior.

1. Say hello and goodbye. The old saying “Students won’t care how much you know until they know how much you care” is as true today as it has always been. The simple act of greeting all students daily can set a positive tone for the entire class period. The simple act of telling students goodbye can help them look forward to returning tomorrow. It takes no extra time, money or preparation — but it sends an important message that you care. When students believe you care, they’re more apt to try harder and behave better.
2. Appear happy and enthusiastic. As teachers, as role models, we are often actors on a stage. Is everything we teach the most exciting and interesting thing we’ve ever taught? No. But the students shouldn’t know that. Would you sometimes rather be doing something else — say, being on vacation — than teaching? Sure. But the students can’t know that. If students don’t believe that you’re happy to be teaching them and enthusiastic about what you’re teaching, they won’t buy into your lessons. You can’t expect them to be any more enthusiastic than YOU are. Unenthusiastic teachers have classrooms of students who are every bit as unenthusiastic. The good news is that the opposite is also true. So teach enthusiastically, and your students will respond fantastically!
3. Provide a kind reminder about rules and procedures. It is a fact that teachers who set clear rules and procedures and follow them consistently have the fewest discipline problems. Contrary to what some believe, good classroom management is not a question of how nice you are versus how mean you are. It’s about how CONSISTENT you are. You do want to be nice, of course. But if you’re nice and inconsistent, you’re going to have management problems. So if you have been remiss in being consistent, start over tomorrow. Simply provide a kind reminder of your rules and procedures. Tell your students you just want to remind them in case they may have forgotten. And then be consistent.
4. Make lessons meaningful. Students don’t want to learn what they can’t relate to. Period! You don’t have to change your content. Just change the way you teach your content. For instance, instead of having students identify nouns in sentences, have them attempt to speak without using nouns. It’s a fun activity, and they quickly learn just how important nouns are to language. When teaching anything, simply ask yourself, “Why is this skill important to the students?” Then teach that way.
5. Play games. Students love to learn through play. So take one activity you’ve already planned and turn it into a game. Instead of asking review questions before a test, play a review game. Instead of having students solve a set of problems at their desks, put them into groups and turn it into a competition. Games don’t have to be elaborate to be fun. Students like to compete, and they enjoy the activity that games provide. When students are “playing,” they forget that they’re learning, and they’re more likely to give the activity their full attention and best efforts.

By taking these five steps, you should see immediate results. Realistically speaking, will all students behave perfectly because you reminded them of rules and procedures? Not likely. But you should see an improvement. Will all students grasp a new concept because you made it relevant or made an activity more enjoyable by playing a game? Probably not. But by doing so, you have increased the likelihood of their understanding and enjoyment. Will all students care that you cared enough to say hello and goodbye? Absolutely!
Wouldn’t you prefer to be in the classroom of a teacher who greets you each day, who appears happy to be teaching you, who is consistent with rules and procedures, and who makes lessons meaningful and fun? Students deserve teachers who teach this way — not only tomorrow but every day!
Annette Breaux (@AnnetteBreaux) is an internationally renowned author and speaker. She is the author of “101 Answers for New Teachers and Their Mentors.” She has also co-authored books with Harry Wong and Todd Whitaker.

How to create a multicultural, and inclusive classroom.

I found this article very interesting. It is about some tips for teachers and how  to create a diverse, multicultural, and inclusive class environment. I love the suggestions I found in this article. I believe that as a teacher we can empower our students through multicultural education. I am posting part of the article. The whole article if you want to read it, it is found in this link:

  http://www.understandingprejudice.org/teach/elemtips.htm.

Creating an Inclusive Environment

• Make sure that classroom posters, pictures, books, music, toys, dolls, and other materials are diverse in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, age, family situations, disabilities, and so on. Varied representations are not only important for making diverse student populations feel included; they are important for teaching homogeneous student populations about the world beyond their classroom.
• Avoid having only one or two tokens of a particular group, and vary the roles depicted for each group. For example, show women and men doing jobs both inside and outside the home. Likewise, show different family configurations, including single-parent families, extended families, multiracial families, adopted families.
• Make sure your school library, corridors, and other public spaces are also diverse and inclusive, either by buying new materials that show people from a variety of backgrounds and situations, or by adding people to existing materials (e.g., by having students paint them in).
• Try to involve other supportive teachers, administrators, staff members so that you are not the only one modeling a concern for inclusive classrooms and school settings.
• If biased materials remain visible, use them as opportunities to teach children to think about issues of bias. For example, you might ask students to tell you how the item in question would make a target of bias feel, or you might use the item to explain how to identify instances of bias.
• Make a special effort to use language that is unbiased, inclusive, and does not divide students unnecessarily. For example, "Okay everyone..." is less likely to reinforce gender divisions than "Okay, boys and girls..."
• Be careful not to unwittingly contribute to gender discrimination. If girls are complimented on appearance and boys on achievement, girls will soon learn that female achievement is of secondary importance.

Ways to ReWire Your Brain

From Jesse Lyn Stoner's BLOG.  Reminder:  Teachers are leaders so this is helpful for all of us!

7 Ways to ReWire Your Brain and Become a Better Leader 

Posted on July 29th, 2012 |

Over the last few decades, studies in neuroscience have shown that we can actually physically rewire our brains. We can change the “default network” we were born with, the one that ensured the survival of our primitive ancestors who lived in a very different world.
Our “fight-flight” reaction and strong memory for painful experiences are hardwired from birth. Our brains detect negative information faster than positive information and are drawn to bad news. This hardwiring is further reinforced as we grow up because our negative experiences leave an indelible trace in our brain. The brain continues to learn and change itself throughout our life.
The good news is we are capable of over-riding our primitive reactions that don’t serve us well, and creating new neural pathways that reduce stress and irritability and generate more happiness and wisdom in our lives.
These 7 practices create incremental, accumulative changes in the neural structure of your brain and can improve the effectiveness of your leadership and the quality of your life.
1. If someone on your team disappoints you or lets the team down, allow your feelings to dissipate before you say or do anything.
Pay attention to what you are feeling, without reacting further until it dissipates to limit the amount of epinephrine and cortisol stress hormones released by your brain. Acting out when you are upset creates a temporary discharge, but ultimately prolongs your stress because eventually you will need to deal with the fall-out from your behavior. Some people think the solution is to cut off their feelings. However, this is also only a temporary solution as your feelings go underground and continue to drive you unconsciously.
2. If you feel angry, hurt or annoyed, don’t overlay meaning onto it.
We don’t think rationally when feeling a strong negative emotion. Instead we draw conclusions that reinforce our negative views. Sweeping generalizations like “He can’t be trusted because he always let us down” or “She really doesn’’t really care about our team and our work” reinforce the current neural pathways.
Rational thought will be more quickly available if you allow yourself to stay with the feeling without making assumptions about what the event means. Wait until the feeling has passed before you analyze what it means or decide what you will do.
3. If you are in a tense meeting, check your breathing.
When feeling tense, notice if your breathing is shallow. Activate your calming parasympathetic nervous system by taking a few long breaths, inhaling deeply and slowly exhaling.
4. If you find yourself replaying an upsetting scenario in your mind, stop.
If reviewing a scenario does not bring insight or resolution, don’t keep replaying it in your mind. You are reinforcing negative neural pathways. Instead, create a new pathway by associating it with a positive memory. When the unpleasant memory arises, recall a similar experience where you experienced success or recall an experience with someone who appreciated you. This will gradually infuse the disturbing memory with a positive feeling. The memory won’t go away, but the strong bite will.
5. Choose words and actions that benefit others.
The more you consciously choose actions and words that benefit others, the further your prefrontal cortex develops. This is the part of your brain that sets goals, makes plans, shapes emotions and that enables you to over-ride your primitive instincts. Compassion for others, and for yourself, is the motivating force that drives the desire to benefit others. When you are having difficulty feeling compassionate, remember someone for whom you do feel compassion, perhaps a child or someone you love. This memory will increase your ocytocin (associated with blissful closeness and love) and your ability to access compassion more fully.
6. Savor your positive experiences.
Positive things are happening all the time, but our brain is wired to focus on the negative. We notice something positive and then our attention quickly shifts away. Counteract that by consciously paying attention to the small things like the smile of someone who passes you, the taste of your breakfast, or the beauty of a sunset. Extending your attention on pleasant experiences increases your level of the neurotransmitter dopamine and your ability to control your attention.
7. Focus your attention on what is happening in the present moment.
Your brain learns from what you attend to. The best way to shape new neural circuits is to stay present with whatever is arising in your awareness. It is only in the present moment that we experience real happiness, love and wisdom.

* For more information on neuroscience studies and the application of neuroscience to daily life and leadership, I recommend the book Buddha’s Brain by Rick Hanson, the blogs of Ellen Weber and Robyn McMaster and Outsmart Your Brain by Marcia Reynolds.

5 Children's Books That Teach About Latino Culture

We definitely need these 5 books in our Esperanza school library!  I will definitely place them on my Amazon wishlist.  They would also be a great suggestion for any Esperanza stakeholder who wants to donate a "birthday book" to our Esperanza library. 

 

• 5 Children's Books That Teach About Latino Culture

  By Mónica Olivera

  Published January 30, 2012

  Fox News Latino

 

 

 

 

 

 

In his recent article, How Global Language Learning Gives Students the Edge, Dan Fost says that in order for our country to regain a competitive edge in our global economy, our education system needs to provide “innovative tools and programs that promote cross-cultural understanding.”
Helping our children to think globally improves their ability to look at a problem from multiple points of view – a definite advantage and valuable skill for academic success. One way to promote a global vision in our children is through reading. Below are five multicultural books that teach children about the Latin culture.
At the top of the list is "A Kid’s Guide to Latino History" by Valerie Petrillo. This fun and educational book is an excellent resource for teachers and parents who are teaching about the history of Latinos in the Americas. Students will get lessons in geography and cultural awareness. Each chapter offers a history of a particular country or people, and also includes directions for creating a craft or recipe from that country. For example, in chapter four, Petrillo highlights Mexican Americans and offers instructions for playing various games such as Lotería, as well as how to make capirotada, cascarones, pan de muerto, and even farolitos. Some of the other chapters focus on Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Dominicans, and Central and South Americans.
It is best suited for children ages 7 and up.
"An Illustrated Treasury of Latino Read-Aloud Stories" is a beautiful collection of 28 stories that truly reflect our Latino history, culture, and traditions. Edited by Maite Suarez-Rivas, this treasury is divided into five sections: Myths & Legends of Pre-Columbian Cultures, Fables & Riddles, Fairy Tales & Stories, History, and Spanish-American Literature of More Recent Times. Each section contains a diversity of material from Latin America that is rich in imagination and steeped in cultural folklore.
Music-loving families will enjoy the new book, "Under the Mambo Moon" by Julia Durango. Inside the pages of this unique story, readers can learn about the various types of Latin American music - from Colombia’s cumbia to the Dominican merengue to the candombé of Uruguay. Interspersed throughout the book, are brief poems told by each customer who enters the store to buy the music of their homeland. João is a fan of bossa nova, while Professor Soto prefers Andean tunes that he has heard played on a zampoña player. Mr. and Mrs. Mayer are tango dancers, but young Gabriel loves the vallenatos of Colombia.
At the back of the book, the author includes a brief history of how amazingly diverse Latin American music and dance are. Durango talks about the influence of indigenous, European, and African cultures on the rhythms – and even the musical instruments – used to create the various styles of music. She also includes a short description of each music style mentioned in the story.
"Shake It, Morena! and Other Folklore from Puerto Rico" by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand shies away from the ubiquitous rhymes found throughout Central and South America. Instead, Bernier-Grand focuses on the unique folklore found in Puerto Rico. Included within the pages of this book are two dozen songs, riddles, games, and much more. Illustrator Lulu Delacre goes beyond the text to develop a visual story line that complements and unifies the passages. Her illustrations are beautiful with a softness that is soothing to children and filled with details. And as an added bonus, children will enjoy searching for the 27 lizards hidden in the illustrations.
"My Havana:Memories of a Cuban Boyhood" by Rosemary Wells with Secundino Fernandez follows the childhood story of Fernandez, a Cuban émigré and architect, forced to leave his beloved island home twice. The book is divided into four sections, which chronicle his early years on the island of Cuba, a year in Madrid, followed by another three years in Havana, and ultimately, his move to New York. The text is rich with imagery and details reflecting the unique properties of each city and time period. Along the way, children are briefly introduced to the infamous historical/political figures of Spain’s Generalissimo Francisco Franco, Germany’s Hitler, and Cuba’s Fulgencio Batista, Fidel Castro, and Ché Guevera. This seems like quite a heavy load for young readers, but Wells presents the characters in bits and pieces as they were seen and understood by a young boy, making them easier for young readers to understand.
Mónica Olivera is the founder and publisher of MommyMaestra.com, a site for Latino families that homeschool, as well as families with children in a traditional school setting who want to take a more active role in their children’s education. She is the 2011 winner of the “Best Latina Education Blogger” award by LATISM (Latinos in Social Media).

Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/lifestyle/2012/01/30/5-childrens-books-that-teach-about-latino-culture/#ixzz2EDEHpJwX

Latino Readers

This is important for us to remember as we build our Esperanza school library and classroom libraries. 

 

For Young Latino Readers, an Image Is Missing

Jessica Kourkounis for The New York Times

Third-grade students at Bayard Taylor Elementary in Philadelphia. Educators say children need more familiar images.

By MOTOKO RICH

Published: December 4, 2012   

PHILADELPHIA — Like many of his third-grade classmates, Mario Cortez-Pacheco likes reading the “Magic Tree House” series, about a brother and a sister who take adventurous trips back in time. He also loves the popular “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” graphic novels.

Multimedia

Multimedia Feature

Books to Match Diverse Young Readers

Enlarge This Image

Jessica Kourkounis for The New York Times

At Bayard Taylor Elementary in Philadelphia, three-quarters of the students are Hispanic.

 

 

But Mario, 8, has noticed something about these and many of the other books he encounters in his classroom at Bayard Taylor Elementary here: most of the main characters are white. “I see a lot of people that don’t have a lot of color,” he said.

Hispanic students now make up nearly a quarter of the nation’s public school enrollment, according to an analysis of census data by the Pew Hispanic Center, and are the fastest-growing segment of the school population. Yet nonwhite Latino children seldom see themselves in books written for young readers. (Dora the Explorer, who began as a cartoon character, is an outlier.)

Education experts and teachers who work with large Latino populations say that the lack of familiar images could be an obstacle as young readers work to build stamina and deepen their understanding of story elements like character motivation.

While there are exceptions, including books by Julia Alvarez, Pam Muñoz Ryan, Alma Flor Ada and Gary Soto, what is available is “not finding its way into classrooms,” said Patricia Enciso, an associate professor at Ohio State University. Books commonly read by elementary school children — those with human characters rather than talking animals or wizards — include the Junie B. Jones, Cam Jansen, Judy Moody, Stink and Big Nate series, all of which feature a white protagonist. An occasional African-American, Asian or Hispanic character may pop up in a supporting role, but these books depict a predominantly white, suburban milieu.

“Kids do have a different kind of connection when they see a character that looks like them or they experience a plot or a theme that relates to something they’ve experienced in their lives,” said Jane Fleming, an assistant professor at the Erikson Institute, a graduate school in early childhood development in Chicago.

She and Sandy Ruvalcaba Carrillo, an elementary school teacher in Chicago who works with students who speak languages other than English at home, reviewed 250 book series aimed at second to fourth graders and found just two that featured a Latino main character.

The Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education, which compiles statistics about the race of authors and characters in children’s books published each year, found that in 2011, just over 3 percent of the 3,400 books reviewed were written by or about Latinos, a proportion that has not changed much in a decade.

As schools across the country implement the Common Core — national standards for what students should learn in English and math — many teachers are questioning whether nonwhite students are seeing themselves reflected in their reading.

For the early elementary grades, lists of suggested books contain some written by African-American authors about black characters, but few by Latino writers or featuring Hispanic characters. Now, in response to concerns registered by the Southern Poverty Law Center and others, the architects of the Common Core are developing a more diverse supplemental list. “We have really taken a careful look, and really think there is a problem,” said Susan Pimentel, one of the lead writers of the standards for English language and literacy. “We are determined to make this right.”

Black, Asian and American Indian children similarly must dig deep into bookshelves to find characters who look like them. Latino children who speak Spanish at home and arrive at school with little exposure to books in English face particular challenges. A new study being released next week by pediatricians and sociologists at the University of California shows that Latino children start school seven months behind their white peers, on average, in oral language and preliteracy skills.

“Their oral language use is going to be quite different from what they encounter in their books,” said Catherine E. Snow, a professor at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. “So what might seem like simple and accessible text for a standard English speaker might be puzzling for such kids.”

Hispanic children have historically underperformed non-Hispanic whites in American schools. According to 2011 data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a set of exams administered by the Department of Education, 18 percent of Hispanic fourth graders were proficient in reading, compared with 44 percent of white fourth graders.

Research on a direct link between cultural relevance in books and reading achievement at young ages is so far scant. And few academics or classroom teachers would argue that Latino children should read books only about Hispanic characters or families. But their relative absence troubles some education advocates.

“If all they read is Judy Blume or characters in the “Magic Treehouse” series who are white and go on adventures,” said Mariana Souto-Manning, an associate professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College, “they start thinking of their language or practices or familiar places and values as not belonging in school.”

At Bayard Taylor Elementary in Philadelphia, a school where three-quarters of the students are Latino, Kimberly Blake, a third-grade bilingual teacher, said she struggles to find books about Latino children that are “about normal, everyday people.” The few that are available tend to focus on stereotypes of migrant workers or on special holidays. “Our students look the way they look every single day of the year,” Ms. Blake said, “not just on Cinco de Mayo or Puerto Rican Day.”

On a recent morning, Ms. Blake read from “Amelia’s Road” by Linda Jacobs Altman, about a daughter of migrant workers. Of all the children sitting cross-legged on the rug, only Mario said that his mother had worked on farms.

Publishers say they want to find more works by Hispanic authors, and in some cases they insert Latino characters in new titles. When Simon & Schuster commissioned writers to develop a new series, “The Cupcake Diaries,” it cast one character, Mia, as a Latino girl. “We were conscious of making one of the characters Hispanic,” said Valerie Garfield, a vice president in the children’s division, “and doing it in a way that girls could identify with, but not in a way that calls it out.”

In some respects, textbook publishers like Pearson and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt are ahead of trade publishers. Houghton Mifflin, which publishes reading textbooks, allocates exactly 18.6 percent of its content to works featuring Latino characters. The company says that percentage reflects student demographics.

Students should be able “to see themselves in a high-quality text,” said Jeff Byrd, senior product manager for reading at Houghton Mifflin.

But Latino education advocates and authors say they do not want schools to resort to tokenism. “My skin crawls a little when this literature is introduced because people are being righteous,” said Ms. Alvarez, the author of the “Tia Lola” series, as well as “Return to Sender.” “It should be as natural reading about these characters as white characters,” she said.

At Bayard Taylor, another third-grade teacher, Kate Cornell, said that she would love to explore more options featuring Hispanic characters. “It would be more helpful as a teacher,” she said, “to have these go-to books where I can say ‘I think you are going to like this book. This book reminds me of you.’ ”