University of Minnesota
Chicano Studies
chicstud@umn.edu
612-624-6309


Chicano Studies' Home Page

Home > Online Resources > K-12 Educational Research : Bridging the Gap

Bridging the Gap: Strategies for Academic Excellence

Latina/o Parents and Family Support

College Knoweldge (PDF)
What Latino Parents Need to Know and Why They Don't Know It
Cutler, Richard, Ph.D.; Jonaho Lee, Ph.D.; Louis G. Tornatzky, Ph.D. Tomás Rivera Policy Institute. April 2002.
The Tomás Rivera Policy Institute (TRPI), founded in 1985, provides information on key issues affecting Latino communities. 2002 research project revealed that more Latino parents need to become involved in their student's decision to pursue postsecondary education in order to provide them with support and encouragement. Resulting from a two-part research approach involving 1,054 telephone surveys and 41 in-depth case studies of Latino parents in Chicago, New York City, and Los Angeles. Results yielded that parental advocacy is key when encouraging Latino youth to make successful transitions between high school and college.

Educational and Occupational Aspirations of Latino Youth and Their Parents (PDF)
Professors from Prude and Utah State University develop research on the pursuit of higher education goals and aspirations in relation to the trajectory of their parents. From the results of 10 in-depth interviews compiling responses from rural Latino families composed of a mother, father, and adolescent student help form investigations around the politics associated with the educational and occupational aspirations, often times diminished by several barriers to achieving higher education and the ability to obtain successful professional status.

Engaging Latino Parents in Supporting College Pathways (PDF)
Lessons from a College Access Program
Susan Auerbach. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, Vol. 3, No. 2, April 2004.
This article summarizes three years of data collected from a group of Latino parents, who participated in a study outlining the importance of enhancing and maintaining family social networks. The article also serves as a way to encourage and advise Latino parents to challenge the academic inequality their children face in K-12 schools. By becoming involved in their children's education, they can help better influence their children's plans to continue their education, while increasing Latino enrollment on college campuses around the nation.

Focus on Families! (PDF)
How to Build and Support Family-Centered Practices in After School
Kakli, Zenub, Holly Kreider, and Priscilla Little. Harvard Family Research Project and Build the Out-of-School Time Network (BOSTnet ). 2006.
This research is based on the positive affect parents can have on their children when they are involved in their children's school life and after school activity interests. This study conducted by the Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP) demonstrates the importance of creating and maintaining a solid connection between families and schools in order to ensure their child's success. The guide has three sections detailing ways to encourage involvement both in and outside of school. Families can use the included evaluation as an assessment to document their practice and engagement strategy progress.

How to Succeed in Postsecondary Education

Inclusiveness, Ethnic Diversity, and Pathways to College in Multicultural Democracies (PDF)
Within academic pipelines are guidelines originally designed to help students keep on track with their educational phases leading to graduation. Within these frameworks, loopholes develop, creating the Pipeline Problem. Research by the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, uncovers an international dilemma within the academic world. As students of industrialized nations receive education through advanced access to necessary academic resources, other students labeled as the children of poor minority working-class families, immigrants, guest workers, and refugees are denied access to important academic resources.

It's All About Choices (PDF)
Activities to Build Identity Paths to College and Careers
2001 research conducted by the Cabrillo Advancement Program and a group of professors in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, analyzes survey results and activities completed by both youth and their family members. This information uncovers the power behind mapping out goals, aspirations, strengths/weaknesses, origins, support systems, as well as leadership skills in order to form successful study habits.

Latino Achievement in America (PDF)
The Education Trust. Washington D.C., 2003.
Achievement gaps between groups of students can tell us a lot about which students are provided the preparation they need to succeed in college and professional careers. This report focuses on the advancement of students in regards to reading comprehension and mathematical ability achievement among Latinos, which increased substantially throughout the 1970s and 1980s, although progress stopped during the next decade. Analysis of these patterns are included in this report.

Latino Youth Finishing College (PDF)
The Role of Selective Pathways
Fry, Richard. Pew Hispanic Center. 23, June 2004.
This report assesses the dimensions of the gap in bachelor's degree completion between Latinos and whites and factors that contribute to it by focusing on the differing fates of young people who graduate from high school with similar levels of academic preparation. Much attention has been placed upon the very serious problem of high school dropout rates among Latinos and the poor preparation they receive in high school. This report finds that the gap between white and Hispanic bachelor's degree completion could be substantially closed if more Latinos were accepted to same type of colleges, or if they were as similarly prepared as white students in regards to graduating well-prepared and at the same rate. 

Making the Grade in College Prep (PDF)
A Guide for Improving College Preparation Programs
The Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis Rossier School of Education. University of Southern California.
Growing population diversity, struggling public schools, and increased competition for admission to selective postsecondary institutions have made college preparation programs an emerging feature of the nation's higher education landscape. The ultimate goal of these programs is to help students, particularly underrepresented students of color, to enroll and succeed in college. While many programs focus on strengthening students' math and reading skills, familiarizing them with college entrance exams, and demystifying the college admissions process.

Paving the Way to Postsecondary Education (PDF)
K-12 Intervention Programs for Underrepresented Youth
National Postsecondary Education Cooperative (NPEC). 2001.
This report is a product of the National Postsecondary Education Cooperative (NPEC). NPEC was authorized by Congress in 1994 and is supported by the National Center for Education Statistics. NPEC's overarching mission is to promote better decisions through better data. This report was undertaken as part of NPEC's work in the area of access to postsecondary education. Fifteen individuals with extensive research and/or experiential backgrounds in the issues surrounding access to postsecondary education were brought together.

Putting Ideas to Work: Barriers to College Success and Betraying the College Dream (PDF)
How Disconnected K-12 and Postsecondary Education Systems Undermine Student Aspirations
Antonio, Anthony L.; Michael W. Kirst; and Andrea Venezia. Bridge Project. Stanford University. 2003.
A six-year study released by Stanford University's Bridge Project in partnership with the Pew Charitable Trusts, and the U.S. Department of Education reports 88 percent of 8th graders in the nation attend some form of postsecondary education, while roughly 70 percent of high school graduates attend college within two years of graduating. This report based on information gathered from six states: Texas, California, and Georgia, among others, investigate statistics concluding that many ethnically diverse youth are excluded based on their cultural, racial/ethnic and class group(s) to which they belong.

Ready for Tomorrow: Helping All Students Achieve Secondary and Postsecondary Success (PDF)
A Guide for Governors
National Governors Association. 2003.
The current system of high schools, second-chance institutions, and public colleges and universities leave too many young people unprepared for success as adults, at an unacceptable cost to states' civic, social, and economic well-being. As many as 30 percent of entering freshmen leave school without a regular high school diploma, and gaps in college completion for Hispanics, blacks, low-income adults, and students with disabilities have not narrowed in 30 years. States have a powerful incentive to plug the leaks in the education pipeline. To be competitive and create the conditions for strong economic growth, states need to help all their residents increase their skills and be prepared to pursue postsecondary learning opportunities.

The Diversity Kit: An Introductory Resource for Social Change in Education (PDF)
An Introductory Resource for Social Change in Education
The Northeast and Islands Regional Educational Laboratory. Brown University. 2002.
Due to the growing diversity among cultural and linguistic needs of an increasingly diverse group of people, the United States points out the importance of improving the educational experience of underrepresented student populations. This text defines a quality public education system as one that accepts the challenges of serving its diverse student populations in classrooms, admissions offices, communities, as well as throughout state and district offices.

The Role of Ethnic Identification and Perceived Social Support in Latinos' Adjustment to College (PDF)
Monica E. Schneider and Dahlia J. Ward. State University of New York. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, Vol. 25 No. November 3, 2003.
Examined in this study is the role of perceived social support and ethnic identification of Latinos when adjusting to college. Included in this study were five sources of support and five types of college adjustment. It was found that highly ethnic-identified Latinos were less adjusted to college, in part because they received lower support than less ethnic-identified Latinos. The implications of these findings and major differences found between both groups are further explained in this selection.

What is Success? (PDF)
CAP's First 10 Years and Beyond
Research from Cabrillo Advancement Program and the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, features a blueprint designed to follow the trajectory of an individual's progression throughout their academic and professional careers. This study attributes individual success and their involvement in their cultural background, upbringing, community programs, religious activities, and sports all connect their individually formed identities present in their occupational choices upon receiving higher education.