Improving Holistic Support for Low-Income First-Generation College Students Through an Action Research Partnership

• In Event: Researcher-Practitioner Collaborations Committed to Improving the Experiences of Marginalized Students Along the Academic Pipeline

Abstract

Low-income FG students of color continue to graduate at lower rates than their counterparts. Although institutions of higher education are increasing support to address this persisting trend, these efforts rarely include inputs from educational practitioners with strong histories of serving FG students. In this talk, we share findings and implications of a research partnership with a charter high school founded on the principle of supporting low-income FG students in transitioning to and through college.
Current efforts to address high attrition rates rarely explore the ways in which longstanding structural inequities affect underrepresented students in implicit and explicit ways despite growing research in this area. For example, research on low-income FG students sheds light on the sociocultural challenges that might contribute to their attrition, such as students’ cultural mismatches with dominant norms of independence (e.g., promoting individual pursuits) prevalent in the university (Stephens et al., 2012). One source of mismatch for FG students arises from having to balance heavy academic demands while also maintaining various roles to support their families (e.g., financially supporting family, translation support; Covarrubias, Valle et al., 2019; Vasquez-Salgado et al., 2015). These mismatches may have negative psychological, social, and academic consequences for FG students as early as the first year in college. Little is known, however, about the degree to which low-income FG students of color anticipate these sociocultural challenges prior to their transition to college, and their own perspective on their preparedness for college.
We partnered with practitioners at a Bay Area charter high school who have supported the holistic success of low-income, FG students of color for nearly 20 years. Together, we drew from Lewin’s (1946) action research model, to understand the high college attrition rates of low-income FG alumni from the charter school. In following Lewin’s (1946) model, we focus on the transition to college as a form of reconnaissance (i.e., developing understanding) of the problem in its entirety. Utilizing a mixed-method design, we administered surveys assessing high school experiences to 86 (40% male, 56% female, 4% nonbinary) college-bound low-income FG students of color. We documented students’ perspectives on college preparedness by asking for recommendations for improved support. Focus groups were conducted with a subset of respondents preparing to attend 2- and 4-year colleges to add context from students’ backgrounds (e.g., social class, culture) and to discuss college transition concerns. Preliminary focus group themes include concerns related to changes in familial communication, roles, and relationships. Student recommendations for the high school varied and included not having recommendations for improvement, needing more counselors for college applications, and needing more preparation for the mechanisms of higher education (e.g., choosing the right school, preparing for college culture of independence). Findings were shared with school practitioners; outcomes include a newly-formed task force of multiple stakeholders to address holistic student support prior to and during college. This action research collaboration highlights the deep-rooted presence of institutional barriers for marginalized students striving for college, and how adaptable educational settings can help them thrive.

Author

• Ibette Valle, University of California - Santa Cruz