Building Bridges to College Success with Latino First Generation College Students

1. Building Bridges to College Success with Latino First Generation College Students Innovative Educators June 23, 2010

2. Jessica Dennis, Ph.D. California State University, Los Angeles

3. Overview • Characteristics of Latino FGCS • Obstacles to success and retention for Latino FGCS • Challenges faced by faculty and administrators working with Latino FGCS • Providing better services to Latino FGCS at critical junctures: • Pathway to college • Transition to college • Transfer from 2-year to 4-year institutions • Completing college • Summary and future directions

4. “When referring to Latino culture, there is no such thing as ‘one Latino culture.’ Given the array of countries of origin that Latinos identify with, culture is internalized and expressed differently from person to person, family to family, and community to community.” (Torres, 2004)

5. Diversity among Latino College Students • Latino students are diverse demographically with regard to country of origin, language fluency, and generation in the United States. • 60% are female • 44% are over the age of 26 • 48% are of Mexican heritage • 86% are U.S. citizens • Most are 2nd generation (born in US, parents born in the country of origin) Excelenciain Education and Institute for Higher Education Policy (2005). How Latino students pay for college: Patterns of Financial Aid in 2003-04.

6. How many Latino college students are first generation college students? • In 2003-04, 49% of Latino undergraduates were the first in their family to go to college (compared to 35% of all undergraduates). • Only 29% of Latino undergraduates had a parent who had graduated from college (compared to 41% of all undergraduates). Excelenciain Education and Institute for Higher Education Policy (2005). How Latino students pay for college: Patterns of Financial Aid in 2003-04.

7. Achievement Gaps for Latino/Hispanic College Students Most reports using large-scale datasets such as the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS) or the Integrated Post-secondary Education Data System (IPEDS) describe statistics for Hispanic Students in general, not just those who are FGCS. These various sources indicate large gaps in educational achievement for Hispanic youths.

8. Latino Youth and the Pathway to College • Swail et al. (2004) used the NELS dataset which followed students for 12 years beginning in the 8th grade. • Despite the generally high aspirations of Latino youth and their parents, they face many challenges in making it to college: • Low academic preparation- 59% of Latinos were classified as “not qualified” for college based on an index of GPA, SAT scores, etc. (compared to 44% of the overall cohort). • Less likely to have a high school degree (86% vs. 92% of the overall cohort). • More likely to complete high school with low-level math courses. Swail, W. S., Cabrera, A. F., & Chul Lee, C. (2004). Latino youth and the pathway to college. Washington, DC: Pew Hispanic Center.

9. Latino Youth and the Pathway to College • 66% of Latinos went onto some form of higher education (vs. 73% of overall cohort). • However: • 61% enroll at 2-year institutions (vs. 44% of overall cohort) • 51% attend on a part-time basis (vs. 39% overall cohort) • 57% are not continuously enrolled (vs. 37 of overall cohort) • 23% obtain Bachelor’s degrees 8 years after schedule HS completion (vs. 43% of overall cohort) Swail, W. S., Cabrera, A. F., & Chul Lee, C. (2004). Latino youth and the pathway to college. Washington, DC: Pew Hispanic Center.

10. Underperformance among High Achieving Latinos • Those Latinos who are the most prepared for college are less likely to attend less selective institutions that have higher rates of retention overall (Fry, 2004). • College graduation rates are consistently between 6-8% lower for Latinos than Whites even at highly selective institutions (Kelly, Schneider, & Carey, 2010). • Gandara (2005) found that these high-achieving Latino students were more likely than White and Asian students to come from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

11. “While some Latino students who are consistently high achievers may be ‘on track’ for college, their academic careers can be derailed by the same factors that are often associated with low-achieving students. If they are among the few who are invited into a college access program, it will not likely be designed with high achievers in mind, and the support offered may not be appropriate for their needs.” Gandara, P. (2005). Fragile futures: Risk and vulnerability among Latino high achievers. Policy Evaluation and Research Center. Educational Testing Center

12. A Web of Responsibilities • Gandara (2005) suggest that even high performing Latino students experience a large number of “wholly unanticipated events” associated with SES disadvantages that may prevent them from following through with commitments: • Transportation, childcare, and health care problems • Finding money to pay for expenses and buy books • Necessity of conducting routine business in circuitous ways due to being undocumented or having family members who are • Needing to be available as a translator or cultural broker for members of the family • Strong responsibility to put the needs of family members ahead of their own immediate commitments

14. Discussion • What are some examples of responsibilities and stressors reported by Latino college students you’ve worked with? • What were they doing to cope with these problems? • How did these stressors affect their ability to complete academic tasks? • What was some of the advice you gave to these students?

15. Three Types of Gaps Experienced by Latino First Generation College Students • Although these stressors may be experienced by any students, what is unique about the experiences of Latino FGCS? • Gaps in achievement between actual performance and potential for success • Gaps in knowledge and expectations between the students and faculty • Gaps in cultural expectations between the students and their parents

16. Gaps in Knowledge • Latino FGCS enter college students must gain access to the “culture of college” (Cabrera & Padilla, 2004; Gofen, 2009). • Knowledge about resources for managing barriers • Information on managing college life • Modeling of literacy, setting high academic standards, help with schoolwork • Values regarding the importance or prioritization of education • This knowledge is often taken for granted by those in middle-class families or by schools that serve middle-class families.

17. Gaps between Latino College Students and their Parents • The acculturation gap is the gap between the cultural values and expectations of less acculturated parents and their more acculturated children (Dennis, Basanez, & Farahmand, 2010). • As Latinos students reduce their gaps in college knowledge, the gaps between themselves and their parents may be increasing.

18. The Challenge for Educators • How can educators give Latino FGCS access to the culture of college without further separating them from the protective features of their heritage culture? • Critical junctures: • Pathway to college • Making the transition to college • Making the transfer from 2-year to 4-year • Completing college

19. Resources • Hispanic Serving Institutions Program provides grants to assist HSIs in expanding the opportunities of Hispanic students: http://www2.ed.gov/programs/idueshsi/index.html • Summaries of interventions: U.S. Department of Education (2000). What works for Latino youth. White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans. The College Board (2008). Resources for Increasing Latino Participation and Success in Higher Education.

20. Pathway to College: Pre-college Outreach Programs • Advantages- Increase college readiness and parent involvement • Examples of Programs • High School Puente Project • AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) • GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Reading for Undergraduates Program) • EAOP (Early Academic Outreach Program) • MESA (Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement)

21. High School Puente Project • High school teachers provide intensive college‑prep English classes on Latino literature in 9th and 10th grades. • Bicultural counselors guide students toward college through high school. • Latino community professionals provide mentoring. • Families become involved with students' pathways to college. • Peer networks of Puente students support each other's college goal. Cooper, C. (2002). Five bridges along students' pathways to college: A Developmental blueprint of families, teachers, counselors, mentors, and peers in the Puente Project. Educational Policy, 17, 607-622.

22. Pre-college Outreach: Getting Started • Integrate programs within K-12 schools, making long-term investments in students (Gullat & Jan, 2003). • Suggestions from Clark and Dorris (2006): • Identify and recruit bilingual community members who can serve as cultural home-school liasons. • Leaders must take time to understand their community well and form partnerships with others in order to get families involved. • Effective marketing and delivery is key. Clark, A. A., & Dorris, A. (2006). Welcoming Latino parents. Principal Leadership, 7, 22-25.

23. Pre-college: Building Academic Skills and College Knowledge • Put students on the college track with a rigorous curriculum for English, math, and science. • Teaching by qualified teachers that engages students in work of high intellectual quality and opportunities to learn. • Provide intensive academic support with tutoring, SAT preparation, coaching about college admissions, and financial aid. • Teach note-taking, higher-order thinking, time management, and other self-advocacy skills.

24. Pre-college: Inspiring Students • Latino FGCS students are bicultural individuals who must balance multiple worlds. • Pre-college programs must help them to develop a multicultural, college‑going identity. • Confidence and skills to negotiate college without sacrificing their identities and connections with their home communities. • Advisors and interventions should encourage introspection and goal setting so that students clarify and focus their motivations. • Ginorio and Huston (2001) discuss helping students to cultivate and develop “possible selves”. • Ceja (2004) discusses how successful Latino students are inspired by their parents’ struggles to work harder.

25. “I’ve seen my dad, how he struggles to get ahead. I don’t want to go through that struggle. A big factor for him is that he didn’t have an education. That’s why I want to get higher than high school. I know I want to go to college and get somewhere further than high school.” Ceja, (2004). Chicana college aspirations and the role of parents: Developing educational resiliency. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 3, 338-362.

26. Pre-college: Empowering Parents • Latino parents have high aspirations for their children, but may lack knowledge of many features of the college process. • Barriers to Latino parental involvement • Feeling as outsiders • Language barriers • Discomfort with talking to school personnel • Belief that it is best to leave educational guidance to professionals

27. Pre-college: Empowering Parents • Clark and Dorris’ (2006) suggestions include: • Help parents build their advocacy skills and give parents opportunities to use their new skills. • Parents should gain information about course selection, interpretation of test information, college admissions discussions, college visits, and financial aid planning. • Parent-student activities should encourage students to seek parent input and involvement.

28. Missouri State University’s Hispanic Initiative http://education.missouristate.edu/hi/default.htm

29. Questions?

30. Transition to College Programs Advantages: develop skills, provide early advisement, and increase academic and social integration Examples of first year experience and bridge programs: Summer Bridge Programs At CSULA, students participate in a 6-week program. Learning Communities Courses are linked with common materials and content; students enroll in classes together and share learning and social experiences. Classroom based learning communities (Tinto, 1997) Living Learning programs (Inklas et al., 2007) First Year Experience Programs

31. Transition to College: Getting Started Target those at greatest risk and provide remediation early. Provide incentive for participation such as course credit or requirement to complete remediation in the 1st year. Start the advisement process early and intrusively. Teach study skills, organization, and time management and include personal development. Increase awareness of campus resources and services Build peer support networks.

32. Transition to College: Providing Validating Experiences • Rendon (1994) suggests that non-traditional students often enter college expecting to fail, but “suddenly begin to believe in their innate capacity to learn and to become successful college students.” • Experiences and external agents inside and outside the classroom can play a role in “validating” students. • Validating experiences increase students’ intrinsic motivation for learning and their confidence in themselves. • These experiences promote involvement, which is the time, energy, and effort students devote to the learning process (Astin, 1999).

33. Transition to College: Providing Validating Experiences • Validating Experiences include the following: • Faculty are partners in learning, allow students to have a voice and share their ideas. • Students bring a rich reservoir of experience and are motivated to believe they are capable of learning. • Active learning techniques with collaborative learning, discussion, field trips, demonstrations, etc. • Revision and mastery are a key part of assignments. • Students work together in teams and are encouraged to share information. • Core curriculum is inclusive of minorities and women. • Information is provided on strategies, make the implicit explicit.

34. Transition to College: Creating New Networks of Support • Saunders and Serna (2004) found that some Latino FGCS were able to create new networks of support while maintaining old networks. • Peers can help create and affirm their emerging identity as a college student. • Provide access to information and resources • Academic support and encouragement for studying • Role models of college success

35. Transfer from 2-year to 4-year Institutions • Perez and Ceja (2010) summarize the following factors that are associated with greater likelihood of transfer for Latino students: • Student enrollment directly after high school • Continuous enrollment without “stopping out” • Orientation programs for new students • Dual access programs that allow high school students to take college courses • Transfer articulation agreements between 2-year and 4-year institutions

36. Completing College: Continual Advisement, Counseling, and Support • Advisement and Support Services • Develop early warning, tracking, and advising systems to monitor progress and intervene when necessary, before it is too late. • Be intrusive and provide incentives for participation. • Services must be flexible and remove barriers. • What to include? • Make performance contracts • Advisement must focus on the “whole student”. • Programs and services should “scale down” the college experience. • Dedicated staff should be “first responders” who provide a “road map” to navigate the college environment (Engle & Tinto, 2009).

37. Norfolk State University’s Academic Performance Contract http://www.nsu.edu/access/advisee_hb/performance_contract.html

38. Future Directions • Most research focuses on early intervention for Latino FGCS. • Less is known about: • How to sustain the impact of these interventions and continue to motivate students throughout college and beyond. • How to involve families of Latino first generation college students at the post-secondary level.

39. Rising to the Challenge • Steps for colleges and universities seeking to improve the outcomes of Latino students at their institution: • Develop a strategic plan. • Conduct surveys or focus groups with currently enrolled Latino students to identify what works and what doesn’t. • Establish a coordinating team at the institution to guide your plans and programs. • Create an inventory of programs, activities, and resources currently available. • Tap resources, both internal and external, to boost your efforts. • Conduct pilot programs recommended by your team. • Evaluate results on an ongoing basis to refine programs. The College Board (2008). Resources for Increasing Latino Participation and Success in Higher Education.

40. Online Resources Relating to Latinos in Higher Education • Excelencia in Education www.edexcelencia.org • Pew Hispanic Center http://pewhispanic.org • National Hispanic Education Alliance http://nhealliance.org • Latino College Dollars- List of Scholarship resources compiled by the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute http://www.latinocollegedollars.org

41. Online Resources Relating to First Generation College Students University Parent www.universityparent.com First in the Family www.firstinthefamily.org National Survey of Student Engagement http://nsse.iub.edu/index.cfm National Academic Advising Association (NACADA): First-Generation College Student Advising email list http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/listserve/C31.htm

42. Suggested Readings Clark, A. A., & Dorris, A. (2006). Welcoming Latino parents. Principal Leadership, 7, 22-25. Cooper, C. (2002). Five bridges along students' pathways to college: A Developmental blueprint of families, teachers, counselors, mentors, and peers in the Puente Project. Educational Policy, 17, 607-622. Gandara, P. (2005). Fragile futures: Risk and vulnerability among Latino high achievers. Policy Evaluation and Research Center. Educational Testing Center Fry, R. (2002). Latinos in higher education: Many enroll, too few graduate. Washington, D.C.: Pew Hispanic Center. Fry, R. (2004). Latinos youth finishing college: The role of selective pathways. Washington, D.C.: Pew Hispanic Center. Ginorio, A., & Huston, M. (2001). Si, se puede, Yes, we can! Latinas in school. American Association of University Women Educational Foundation. Kelly, A., Schneider, M., & Carey, K. (2010). Rising to the challenge: Hispanic college graduate rates as a national priority. American Enterprise Institute. Rendon, L. (1994). Validating culturally diverse students: Toward a new model of learning and student development. Innovative Higher Education, 19, 33-51. Saunders, M. & Serna, I. (2004)., Making college happen: The college experiences of first-generation Latino students. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 3,146-163. The College Board (2008). Resources for Increasing Latino Participation and Success in Higher Education.

43. Other Works Cited Astin, A. W. (1999). Student involvement: A developmental theory for higher education. Journal of College Student Development, 40, 518-529. Cabrera N. L., & Padilla, A. M. (2004). Entering and succeeding in the “culture of college”: The story of two Mexican heritage students. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 26, 152-170. Ceja, (2004). Chicana college aspirations and the role of parents: Developing educational resiliency. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 3, 338-362. Dennis, J. M., Basañez, T., & Farahmand, A. (2010). Intergenerational conflicts among Latinos in early adulthood: Separating values conflicts with parents from acculturation conflicts. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 32, 118-135. Engle, J., & Tinto, V. (2009). Moving beyond access: College success for low-income, first generation college students. Report for Pell Institute. Excelenciain Education and Institute for Higher Education Policy (2005). How Latino students pay for college: Patterns of Financial Aid in 2003-04. Gofen, A. (2009). Family capital: How first-generation higher educational students break the intergenerational cycle. Family Relations: Interdisciplinary Journal of Applied Family Studies, 58, 104-120. Gullatt, Y., & Jan, W. (2003). How do pre-collegiate academic outreach programs impact college-going among underrepresented students? Washington, DC: Pathways to CollegeNetwork Clearinghouse. Inkelas, K. K., Daver, Z., D., Vogt, K. E., & Leonard, J. B. (2007). Living-learning programs and first generationa college students’ academic and social transition to college, Research in Higher Education, 47, 403-434. Jehangir, R. R. (2009). Cultivating voice: First generation students seek full academic citizenship in multicultural learning communities. Innovative Higher Education, 34, 33-49. Perez, P. A., & Ceja, M. (2009). Building a Latina/o transfer culture: Best practices and outcomes in transfer to universities. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 9, 6-21. Tinto, V. (1997). Classrooms as communities: Exploring the educational character of student persistence. Journal of Higher Education, 68, 599–623.

44. Contact information: Jessica Dennis Department of Psychology California State University, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA 90032 323-343-2276 jdennis@exchange.calstatela.edu

45. Questions?