A Delicate Balance: High-Achieving Latinas Negotiating Academic Demands, Family, and Individual Aspirations

• In Event: 56.018 - Negotiating Academic Spaces

Abstract

Utilizing data from a study on high achieving Latinas in the Los Angeles Unified School District and another study on the learning habits of high achieving Latinas at Cal State Northridge, this paper explores factors that influence positive schooling outcomes and examines the strategies employed by academically successful Latinas. Data from both studies reveal that parents and families (especially mothers), peers and the exchange of social capital, and school as well as community agents remain consistent influences in the academic lives of Latinas in high school and college. Also impacting their success are the conflicts and challenges Latinas experience as they struggle to maintain a sense of responsibility to themselves, their families and communities.

Author

• Monica G. Garcia, California State University - Northridge