Perceptions and resilience in underrepresented students' pathways to college

Abstract

Background/Context: Schools have attempted to address stratification in black and Latinostudents' access to higher education through extensive reform initiatives, including thosefocused on social supports. A crucial focus has been missing from these efforts, essential toimproving the effectiveness of support mechanisms and understanding why they have beeninsufficient: how students experience these reforms. Purpose: How can the social context of schools keep underrepresented minority students ontrack to transition to college? This study investigates how students experience the social contextsof their schools in relation to their college ambitions, and the particular attributes ofschools' social contexts that might positively affect their transition to four-year colleges. Research Design: Using a mixed-methods case study design, this three-year study examinedstudents' educational pathways in a Chicago charter high school. Data collection methodsincluded ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, and a longitudinal survey. Supplemental secondarydata sources were utilized to contextualize the case study. Analysis: Interview transcripts and field notes were transcribed and coded to examine variationin students' experience of their social context and their college transition plans. To contextualizethese findings, the author utilized descriptive, associative, and logistic regressiontechniques to analyze quantitative data from the case study survey and corresponding cityand national datasets. Findings: The school's organization facilitated academic, social, and college preparatorysupport through structured relationships. Notwithstanding, there was notable within-schoolvariation in students' transitions to college. Students in this urban charter school often experiencedmultiple obstacles that interfered with the college ambitions they generally sharedwith their families and school peers. School regard is a mechanism identified in this study ascentral to students' transition success. Students' perceptions of their teachers' and their peers'regard for their capacity for educational success was associated with their persistence throughthe transition to college in the face of academic, socioeconomic, and other challenges.Conclusions/Recommendations: This study demonstrates the effort and engagement underrepresentedstudents expend in the effort to become college-ready, and the risk for burnout asa result of both academic and nonacademic hardships during their high school years. Schoolregard may mitigate these effects. Mere expectations for college appear insufficient in the currentaccess-for-all climate. Rather, it is important that students perceive value and esteem fortheir potential from school faculty and peers, sustaining their ambitions through the obstaclesthey encounter in high school and expect in college.