This paper reports findings from ongoing research partnerships with inclusive classrooms and with selective, competitive outreach programs that seek to bridge school, college, and college-based occupations for Latino youth and other underrepresented youth. The findings are based on qualitative methods (interviews, field observations, and case studies) and quantitative methods (surveys, grades, test scores, and statistical analysis) involving more than 850 students. This study sought to answer the following questions:
has. What are the parents’ immigration and education history/stories?
b. What challenges do students’ families, peers, schools, and communities present, and what resources do these different “worlds” provide?
vs. What are the pathways for students through the classes required for college eligibility? Y
d. How do family backgrounds, resources, worldwide challenges, and students’ school trajectories predict college eligibility and enrollment?
Answering these questions uncovered five key findings about how Latino children build pathways to college.
Finding 1: Demographics are not destiny, but democracy requires vigilance
Demographic profiles of students participating in competitive outreach programs revealed very different patterns for African Americans and Latinos. The African-American students in the competitive program sample, all but one born in the United States, likely had college-educated US-born parents. Latino students, more than 19% of whom were born outside the country, likely had immigrant parents with a high school education or less. Thus, African American youth in the sample were following their parents’ path to college, and Latino youth were beginning to outgrow their parents’ education. However, other research studies have consistently found different participation rates by social class, immigration generation, and gender in college outreach programs among African American and Latino youth, who are similarly underrepresented in four-year colleges throughout California. ; and there is concern about why more low-income African American youth and second- and third-generation Latino youth were not participating in outreach programs. One possibility is that the extension programs’ Saturday and summer academies conflicted with student work schedules; another is that the distribution of information and the recruitment of outreach programs do not reach all families equally.
When factors that predict students’ long-term school trajectories were examined, little predictive power was found in family demographics for African American or Latino families. Other research shows correlations between parental education and children’s academic success, so why was none found here? One possibility is that parental education generally predicts activities like getting children to participate in programs like the ones in this study. Focusing only on students in such programs may have obscured the impact of parent education. But the actions of families may matter more than demographic background.
Finding 2: Ethnically diverse youth begin to develop career and college goals in childhood from challenges and resources unique to their worlds
One hundred and sixteen sixth graders of Mexican descent who applied to the selective community college extension program described their dreams of becoming doctors, lawyers, nurses, and teachers, as well as secretaries, police officers, firefighters, and mechanics. The challenges the children saw in achieving their dreams included not having enough money to pay for school, as well as expectations from family members and peers. The children saw their families (parents, siblings and cousins); their teachers, school counselors, and coaches; his friends; and themselves as their greatest resources.
Finding 3: Math pathways to college diverge early, but some return to normal
Math classes and grades are useful indicators of college eligibility and career opportunities. In the competitive program sample, slow-down, fast-down, up- and “back-on-track” (decreasing then increasing) pathways were found. Youth who stayed or got back on track for college eligibility and enrollment found resources from families, teachers, coaches, tutors, or youth workers and reported the challenges of their siblings’ and parents’ modest levels of education.
Finding 4: Challenges and resources in students’ lives affect program participation, college eligibility, enrollment, and progress
Addressing the realities of students’ lives—at home, at school, in the community, and with friends—is crucial to both improving the program and making it profitable. In the inclusive classroom sample, parents considered their primary role to be moral guidance for their children and sought to protect their children from negative peer influences. For these parents, a strong moral education includes support for academic achievement. However, not all parents are aware of the academic rigors their children face. For example, Mexican immigrant parents had high aspirations for their children to be doctors, lawyers, or teachers; however, many were unaware that these goals required a college education.
Teachers and school counselors can act as institutional gatekeepers when assessing students against standardized performance benchmarks that determine eligibility for college preparatory, vocational, or remedial classes. When elementary school teachers and counselors disproportionately place Latino students in special education classes and low-ability reading and math groups, they send these students to remedial courses in middle and high school. But teachers and counselors, of any ethnic background, can also act as cultural brokers helping Latino children succeed in school and achieve their dreams.
Students report that religious, sports, and extension organizations and leaders influenced them to take jobs that would help their communities. For these reasons, underrepresented youth and their families often benefit from the instrumental support of community organizations that bridge school, college, and college-based occupations.
Finding 5: Ingredients of Effective Bridging Programs
Beginning in elementary school, teachers can discuss the links between career dreams and college, define GPAs and scholarships, and explain practical college issues that would be meaningful to school-age children. Such an education can get young children excited about college and help them set realistic goals for getting there. At the middle school level, college student tutoring, parent involvement activities, and academic counseling can help “at risk” students stay on track for college. Continuing these programs in high school, as well as increasing minority enrollment in college preparatory classes, will also help increase the number of students who go on to college.
By helping Latino youth find pathways to success, programs can build cross-generational bonds that span leadership, young adults, and the families they serve. These loosely knit networks can foster new leadership with the cultural skills that today’s children need to succeed in an increasingly diverse world.
The young adult staff also gives children the opportunity to speak and write about their dreams for careers, education, families, and their communities. The young adults value the students’ home communities and many share a common language and family history with the children. Many have learned to be bicultural and can pass on their understanding of how to preserve community traditions by entering and succeeding in schools, universities, or local government. In the screened program sample, it was found that, like Latino parents, young adult staff defined success in life both in moral terms and in terms of school success. In mentoring the youth, the staff drew on the positives and negatives of their past experiences. They understood the importance of grades, helped children with homework, and provided a broad view of leading schools, colleges, and other institutions that helped children connect their family, school, and community with their personal dreams and fears for the future. future.
Our common goal is to improve access to higher education for children from diverse ethnic, racial, and economic communities. America’s ability to be a nation “where diversity works” rests on customizing outreach programs for communities while serving common goals and collaborating among many diverse stakeholders: students, families, schools, organizations community, legislators, the business sector and the media. These objectives will be achieved by building clear conceptual models of change, testing them with evidence, and strengthening communication between stakeholders. Students’ progress through the academic pipeline from kindergarten through college and careers is often depicted as a ball rolling straight through a sturdy pipeline. Rather, unlike the ball, which remains the same as it moves through the pipe, students change as they progress through elementary, middle, and high school toward college and adulthood. Indeed, students’ developmental paths are more like those of explorers navigating through unmapped territories, here the worlds of families, peers, schools, and communities; As students pursue their school, career, and other personal goals, they encounter barriers that can deter or halt their progress. Finally, unlike the resilient pipeline, programs that provide bridges across gaps or barriers in students’ pathways are changing in response to funding sources, pressures and losses, as well as changing political arenas.
