Higher Education as a Mechanism to Promote Civic Engagement of Latina/o College Students

• In Event: Roundtable Session 30
  In Roundtable Session: Postsecondary Experiences to Promote Social Agency

Abstract

Civically engaged students are more academically successful and attain higher levels of education (Astin & Sax, 1998; Astin, Vogelgesang, Ikeda, & Yee, 2000). However very little is known about the civic engagement of racial/ethnic minority college students. Using the Civic Learning Spiral model (Musil, 2009) as a guiding framework, this study examines the curricular and co-curricular approaches to promoting social agency among Latina/o college students using a national dataset. The preliminary findings suggest service learning is an approach to promote social agency. It is important to examine civic engagement as a means to improving educational outcomes, but also our democracy as a whole.

Author

• Cynthia Maribel Alcantar, University of California - Los Angeles