Exploring the Nexus Between Community Cultural Wealth and College Transitions Among Systems-Involved Students

• In Event: Mobilizing Students' Community Cultural Wealth in Transitions to College and Career: A Community Discussion

Abstract

Children and youth in the U.S. foster care system are considered one of the most educationally underserved populations in both K–12 and higher education (Government Accountability Office, 2016). While previous researchers (e.g., Courtney et al., 2011) have highlighted the complex challenges and educational deficits faced by young people with foster care experience, considerably little is known about the college pathways of academically successful foster youth. Given the need to improve educational outcomes for underrepresented populations, this critical qualitative study explored how 37 foster care alumni cultivated postsecondary goals and leveraged multiple forms of capital to navigate the complexities of the enrollment process at selective institutions. Informed by two asset-based theories, Yosso’s (2005) community cultural wealth framework and Harper’s (2012) Anti-Deficit Achievement Framework, I explored two central research questions: How were aspirations for postsecondary education cultivated by high-achieving students with foster care experience currently enrolled in college? And how do high-achieving students with foster care experience leverage cultural wealth to enhance their access to selective four-year institutions?

This study found that internal and external influences were catalysts for participants’ postsecondary aspirations. Despite enduring significant disadvantages and unforeseen obstacles in the educational system, self-reports from respondents reflected resiliency and optimism for the future. Academically successful foster youth acquired essential support from institutional agents in schools and social services agencies. Respondents shared several examples of how significant others—including social workers, elementary and secondary school teachers, guidance counselors, and extended family members—served as sources of inspiration, guidance, emotional support, and stability during pivotal moments in the educational system. Notwithstanding their first-generation background, participants in this study achieved college admission by employing at least five categories of capital, namely, aspirational, social, resistant, familial, and navigational.

Author

• Mauriell H. Amechi, New America
  Presenting Author