Biculturalism and Educational Success: The Case of the Social Justice High School in Chicago, Illinois, USA

The aim of this contribution is to present the experience of the U.S. secondary school Social Justice High School (SoJo), part of the larger Campus of Little Village Lawndale High School (LVLHS) located in Chicago, Illinois (USA). This experience can be considered a concrete application of the principles of the educational perspective known, in the United States, as Social Justice Education, aimed at ensuring quality education and educational success for students from disadvantaged groups, particularly those characterized by “biculturalism”, i.e. students with a dual cultural and linguistic background. The contribution will retrace the historical and social events that led to the birth of the SoJo, explaining the principles and methods used by the school to achieve its objectives and giving also some statistical data.

Authors:

• L. Tizzi

Keywords:

• Biculturalism
• educational success
• social justice education
• social justice high school.

References:

[1] Tarozzi, M. (2015). Dall’intercultura alla giustizia sociale. Per un progetto pedagogico e politico di cittadinanza globale. Milano: Franco Angeli.
[2] Friedman, J. (2007). “Contested Space: the Struggle for the Little Village Lawndale High School”. Critical Planning, Vol. 14, Summer.
[3] Http://sj.lvlhs.org/ (Social Justice High School website, About us – Hunger strike history, Mission & Vision, Essential 7 values, last access: 12.12.2016).
[4] Https://www.roosevelt.edu/ (Roosevelt University website, Menu, Why Roosevelt, last access: 12.12.2016).
[5] Https://uchicagoimpact.org/ (UChicago Impact website - a not-for-profit organization dedicated to creating an evidence-based profession for K-12 education – About UChicago Impact, Who we are, last access: 12.12.2016).
[6] Https://uchicagoimpact.org/5essentials (UChicago Impact website - a not-for-profit organization dedicated to creating an evidence-based profession for K-12 education – 5Essentials - an evidence-based system designed to drive improvement in schools - last access: 12.12.2016).