Latina/o Students in STEM: An Examination of Navigational, Cultural, and Social Capital

• In Event: Employing a Community Cultural Wealth Framework to Analyze the Complexities of Latina/o Educational Attainment

Abstract

As the United States seeks to increase the number of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) degrees awarded to domestic students in order to ensure economic security, technological advancement, social justice and global competitiveness, the underdevelopment of human capital for traditionally underserved students in higher education is a critical barrier. Coupled with the need to increase the STEM workforce, recent projections indicate that the United States will be undergoing a dramatic population shift with an increase in minority representation over the next few years. Of interest is the Latina/o population, which is currently the youngest and fastest growing minority population. Not only is the Latina/o population the fastest and soon to be largest minority group, but also one that has been historically underserved throughout the educational pipeline: institutional tracking, under-resourced schools, limited access to higher education, low transfer rates at the community college level, and high attrition rates within four-year universities.

This presentation will explore the use of Yosso’s (2005) community cultural capital framework, specifically navigational, social, and aspirational capital to examine Latina/o student’s experiences within STEM. This perspective on capital sheds light to the valuable, but often cited as “deficit”, culture of minority communities. Preliminary quantitative findings from a student survey collected at 16 public research universities in 2010 suggest that Latina/o parents play a significant role in influencing their decision to attend college. Furthermore, Latina/o students indicate that family support has been instrumental to their success in college which can be seen through parent’s encouragement to persist, expectations to do well and serving as a role model for siblings and peers (78.5%). While findings indicate that students’ families and communities play a significant role in developing Latina/os aspirational, navigational, and social capital; results are limited by survey items and are unable to fully capture the community cultural framework. Thus, this presentation will highlight the importance of mixed methodologies to further explain the role of students’ families and communities in navigating higher education.

Many researchers have noted that Latina/o students face many unique challenges that impact student’s persistence within higher education: financial difficulties (Seymour & Hewitt, 1997; Vela, 2003), academic under preparedness, hostile racial campus climate (Hurtado & Carter, 1997), and lack the social resources (O’Brien, 1993) needed to effectively navigate the higher education system. These challenges are exacerbated within STEM fields given tuition differentials (Nelson, 2008), dismal minority participation (Chapa & De La Rosa, 2006), and the racially hostile atmosphere within STEM departments (Rincon & George-Jackson, 2010). Given both the low participation rates of Latina/os within the math and sciences (Chapa & De La Rosa, 2006; Taningco et al., 2008; Vela, 2003) and high attrition rates out of STEM (National Science Board, 2010), it is of critical importance to explore the factors that contribute to the retention and success of Latina/o students within STEM.

Authors

• Lorenzo DuBois Baber, University of Illinois

• Blanca E. Rincon, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Mariana Garcia Martinez, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign