High-Achieving Latinx Students: Navigating Successful Pathways at Elite Colleges and Universities

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

As the largest minority group in the US, Latino achievement is paramount to the prosperity of the nation as a whole. While historically, research has focused on a deficit view of Latinos in schools, this symposium offers asset-based research into three specific groups of Latinos at elite US colleges and universities: second-generation students, male students, and undocumented students. In all three studies, factors contributing to the positive motivation and achievement of the participants is highlighted, providing an understanding especially of the role of connectedness to family and culture in supporting students’ achievement across the educational pipeline. Specific implications for research, policy, and practice are highlighted.

Sub Unit

• Division J - Postsecondary Education / Division J - Section 2b: College Student Success

Chair

• Susan J. Paik, Claremont Graduate University

Papers

• Culturally Rooted Grit: A Framework for High Achievement of Latino Second-Generation Students at Elite Colleges - Stacy Kula, Azusa Pacific University

• Not Only Surviving, but Thriving: High-Achieving Latino Undergraduate Males at Elite Universities - David Perez II, Syracuse University; Victor B. Saenz, The University of Texas at Austin; Jorge Burmicky, The University of Texas - Austin

• An Ecological Perspective of Early Factors That Impact Academic Success of High-Achieving Undocumented Latino Students - Gloria Itzel Montiel, Claremont Graduate University

Discussant

• Carl Cohn, Claremont Graduate University