Abstract
Latino students comprise the largest number of minority students in California schools and hold the lowest performance in standardized test performance of all groups. The dismal Latino academic performance framed the premise of this qualitative study that investigated Latino teenagers' value of literacy. Five case studies representing high, middle, and low achieving Mexican Americans were conducted inquiring on Latino teenagers' perceptions and value of literacy. A holistic understanding of the five students' literacy views was gained through student interviews, teacher surveys, transcript analysis, and observations of students in literacy rich environments, the classroom. The study's findings revealed that the five case studies valued their English literacy and were struggling with achieving English literacy while maintaining their Mexican identity in an Anglocentric school system.