College for All: Chicana/o and Latina/o Empowerment Agents Working to Increase Latina/o Students' College-Going Opportunities

• In Event: Latin@ Students Navigating Deficit Discourses in Education

Abstract

This one-year study examines the ways in which Chicana/o and Latina/o teachers committed to social justice perceive and enact their roles in their college-going work with Latina/o students. Building on Stanton-Salazar’s (2011) empowerment social capital theoretical framework, the findings provide empirical evidence of teachers perceiving college access as an equity issue and challenging dominant narratives of tracking and deficit-thinking in their college-going practices with Latina/o youth. The findings also reveal various challenges to these teachers’ work with students, such as the lack of schooling funding and work-life imbalance. The results of this study have important implications for school leadership and the reconceptualization of the teacher role in Latina/o students’ college-going processes.

Author

• Leticia Rojas, Brandman University