College Readiness and Cultural Capital in the U.S. Pacific Islands

• In Event: 14.045 - Roundtable Session 3
  In Roundtable Session: 14.045-11 - Revisiting Cultural Capital Discourse in Higher Education

Abstract

Previous research on access to college has focused on how cultural capital theory can explain inequitable postsecondary trajectories of students of color (McDonough, 1997). College readiness, typically defined as the level of preparation students need to enter in and succeed in college, considers not just students’ matriculation into postsecondary institutions as previous college access research has, but also their propensity for success (Conley, 2010). However, much of the research on college access and readiness ignores the experiences of the US-affiliated Pacific territories and states and their indigenous and ethnic populations. This study attempts to explore how the determinants of college readiness and cultural capital apply to the Pacific territory of Guam.

Author

• Jenna Sablan, Georgetown University