ABSTRACT
Organizing quality literacy instruction requires knowing the sociocultural context of the learner (Freire, 1972; Freire & Macedo, 1987; Street, 1992). The scarcity of literature on the Puerto Rican learner and the complexity of their sociocultural circumstances make knowing about them and organizing quality literacy programs a bit problematic. This is true for Puerto Ricans or any other Spanish-speaking group because the labeling of all Spanish speakers as “Hispanic” in the last few decades and the lack of disaggregated data along the lines of ethnicity (Nieto, 1995a) tend to make more difficult the differentiated comparisons between Latino groups (Vélez-Ibañez & Greenberg, 1992) and analysis of in-group variability. With better statistical data, our ability to explain the differences and complexities of relations between education, occupation, income, and schooling performance and completion would infinitely improve. Yet even if better data were available, Hidalgo (1992) cautioned that, “the statistical profile of Puerto Ricans in the United States does not reveal the rich Puerto Rican cultural traditions, nor how those values undergo modification in the U.S.” (p. 28).
