ENLACE National Successful Latina/o Students

Purpose

Latinos are the fastest growing ethnic minority in the US (12.9%).  While their numbers have exponentially grown over the past 30 years, Latina/o student representation in higher education still remains dismal.  Higher education is the primary vehicle to assist these students in improving their economic and social mobility.  Yet, a plethora of psychological, social, and cultural factors have been noted to hinder the college entrance and retention of these students. Considering the disconnection between secondary school and higher education institutions and the growth of Latina/o students, it is noteworthy to identify means of retention and persistence.  Historically, most literature is presented from a deficiency framework emphasizing what Latino student’s lack as oppose to their coping and resilience skills.   The purpose of this project is to identify 30 top students in higher education that have demonstrated resilient coping patterns in their efforts to navigate their educational journeys. 

Procedures

The project consists of multiple levels of implementation. First, a website was created to showcase student stories from across the nation. In the early stages of the project, students from the University of California Irvine and the University of South Florida will be identified to submit a narrative of their college experiences.  These stories will be posted on the website to allow other Latina/o students to visit the web page and learn from the experiences.  The narratives are divided into ten main categories to help student associate their own experiences to those posted. 

Second, the project has the potential to develop a handbook for high schools to use in their efforts to assist Latina/o students in their educational pursuits.  In particular, the handbook can be created for two specific audiences:  (1) students and (2) parents, teachers, and staff at the high school level. Both handbooks, similar to the webpage, will highlight various successful Latina/o student stories.  The student handbook will provide specific directions on what is needed to prepare for college.  As high school students, the handbook will provide an orientation of what they can expect in college but more importantly what others (similar to themselves) have done to persist and ultimately graduate.  The parent/staff handbook will not only provide the narratives but more importantly specific directions on how to guide these students to apply to college and assist in the cultivation of the specific skills necessary to persist in higher education.

The narratives and the handbook could be most effectively followed with a two-day conference at the respective institutions. The conference would invite the students who have submitted narratives to discuss their educational journeys.  The conference target population will be the local Latina/o high school students, parents, teachers, and staff.  All four local high schools can be invited and upper classman (sophomores, juniors and seniors) should be the target.   Aside from allowing college students to share their stories, the conference will also offer workshops on applying to college, financial aid, and developing SAT preparatory skills.  Another recommendation that was offered is also a pre-conference day for parents, teachers, and counselors.  This pre-conference will provide specific techniques that parents, teachers, and counselors can implement to nurture college aspirations and facilitate the college application process.

Parallel to outreach efforts, a natural step to follow-up on the conference is a series of workshops offered to the four high schools invited to attend the conference.  These initial workshops would be for students, parents, teachers, and counselors.  Yet, each of the workshops would be tailored for the individual audiences and their needs.

Last, the culmination of the project will be the publication of a book.  The book will showcase the student narratives by themes and an analysis of the stories will be provided from a theoretical framework highlighting specific consistent characteristics throughout the chapters. The consistent themes and findings will assist the team to develop a model of Latina/o college success to serve as a blueprint for future Latina/o college students. The latter section of the book will provide practical implications in relation to the resilience of Latina/o students and the role of the various constituents that can help facilitate the process (e.g., parents, teachers, and counselors). 

Additional components of this project

An additional component is the assessment of Latina/o high school students and their educational experiences. In particular, a survey packet to all four Santa Ana high schools, examining psychological, social, and cultural factors that influence college aspirations. The packet will include a series of measures addressing the three main identified tenets to better understand the influence of each component on Latina/o high school students’ experiences, their school satisfaction and ultimately their college student aspirations.

Complementing the quantitative component of this proposed research study, the researchers are also recommending the facilitation of focus groups across all four high schools. The focus groups would address the challenges the Latina/o students address in their educational journey and means by which they cope.  It is recommended that two-three focus groups be conducted per high school aiming at attaining 20 students per school.