This collection examines the ongoing social dynamic between peer relations and academic achievement, bringing together the latest thinking from prominent scholars in anthropology, psychology, sociology, and education. These expert contributors: Address two key questions overlooked in the literature on Mexican-descent youth: In what ways do peers and peer relationships influence the school performance of Mexican-origin high school youth? In what ways do schools participate in structuring these peer relationships? Provide a theoretical discussion of the concept of "peer social capital" and the ways in which relationships among students can help to promote school achievement. Present six new studies that analyze the diverse types of peer interactions and influences in various school settings between Mexican-descent youth and their non-Mexican peers as well as among Mexican-descent youth themselves. Link prior analyses with recommendations for policy and practice, indicating where findings may be applied to the critical issue of raising the school achievement of a significantly underachieving portion of the American youth population.

"A new version of the old 'immigrant success' story is circulating in America. It implies that the apparent academic progress of recent arrivals to our schools is the result of simple head work, opportunity, and a good attitude. Margaret Gibson has given us a complex antidote to this myth in a carefully researched and fully documented two-year study of Sikh children in a rural California educational setting. In addition to giving the reader the necessary cultural and religious background to understand this little known ethnic group, which originated in the Punjab area of northwestern India, the author details the context of their adjustment to life in America, particularly the factors that affect their progress in school.

"The micro-ethnographic detail on economic adaptation, home life, and family values is skillfully linked to both larger societal issues (immigration policy, assimilation, minority-majority relations) and to educational theory on school performance. The result is a holistic portrait which reveals why Sikh high school students, despite language barriers, prejudice, and significant cultural differences, often outperform their majority peers and other United States minority groups.

"One need not examine only the Japanese approach to education to find models to emulate. There are some immigrant patterns much closer at hand that arc at least as relevant. This study of 'accommodation without assimilation' is a very timely case in point and deserves a wide and critical readership." Journal of American Ethnic History"

This collection examines the ongoing social dynamic between peer relations and academic achievement, bringing together the latest thinking from prominent scholars in anthropology, psychology, sociology, and education. These expert contributors: Address two key questions overlooked in the literature on Mexican-descent youth: In what ways do peers and peer relationships influence the school performance of Mexican-origin high school youth? In what ways do schools participate in structuring these peer relationships? Provide a theoretical discussion of the concept of "peer social capital" and the ways in which relationships among students can help to promote school achievement. Present six new studies that analyze the diverse types of peer interactions and influences in various school settings between Mexican-descent youth and their non-Mexican peers as well as among Mexican-descent youth themselves. Link prior analyses with recommendations for policy and practice, indicating where findings may be applied to the critical issue of raising the school achievement of a significantly underachieving portion of the American youth population.