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Expanding upon Yosso’s theory of community cultural wealth , this interview-based qualitative study finds that Mexican youth in an urban two-year English immersion high school here referred to as Literacy High are assisted academically by what Yosso would call their aspirational capital and what the present article theorizes as their linguistic social capital , or their ability to utilize a Spanish-speaking student network to understand assignments and instructions. Among these students, opinions regarding the need to develop oral English proficiency vary widely, with some students choosing Spanish as a form of resistance while others feel anxiety regarding their lack of fluency in spoken English.

Within global education policy, the role of multilateral agencies in pushing crossnational policy borrowing is increasingly being complemented by efforts from private international networks within civil society, such as Teach For All. This introductory article summarizes the scarce extant literature on Teach For All, highlighting the contributions to this growing area of inquiry within this special issue. Especially provocative and fruitful lines of further inquiry surrounding Teach For All and similar policy networks are also highlighted and explored.

Building upon previous research on how personal and demographic characteristics of teachers are correlated with larger issues in teacher recruitment and retention, this study contributes unique insight into the personal attributes, characteristics, and career aspirations of new teachers brought into teaching in Los Angeles through the Teach For America program. Drawing from ethnographic interviews with 25 current Teach For America teachers, this study finds that teachers in this study perceive themselves as embodying personal characteristics that prior research would support as less common among teachers in urban schools: That is, they see themselves as being competitive, high-performing, and enthusiastically committed to ending educational inequality. However, these participants tend to come from privileged backgrounds and colleges and consequently view their time teaching in urban schools as an interim period before pursuing other more “high prestige” careers. Implications of these findings are discussed.