The Educational Experiences of Second-Generation Dominican High School Students in a Diverse Suburban Context

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Abstract

This paper examines second generation Dominican high school students and their parents in a diverse, middle-class suburb. I consider how one sub-group of Latinx high school students, with at least one parent born in the Dominican Republic, are making sense of their experiences within their community, school and family, and how these experiences influence their ideas about future success. I also explore how the parents’ experiences in this community inform their definitions of success for their children and the role that education plays in achieving it. I examine the parents’ accounts through in-depth interviews and the students’ accounts through pre and post in-depth interviews two years apart, as well as photo elicitation interviews, bringing previously unheard voices to the forefront.

Author

• Jacquelyn Nely Duran, Teachers College, Columbia University