Beyond Racialized School Barriers: Latinx (Im)migrant Families Navigating and Reimagining Dual Credit Access

• In Event: Construyendo Caminos: Expanding Access and Pathways for Latinx/a/o/e Students

Abstract

This study examines how Latinx (im)migrant farmworker families in a rural high school navigate racialized barriers to dual credit participation as a pathway to college access. Guided by Chicana feminist epistemology, racialized organization theory, and LatCrit, the research reveals how school structures, such as normative expectations of parent involvement and racialized ideologies among educators, marginalize families. Through culturally rooted pláticas, families emerge as agentic knowers who propose transformative strategies, including peer-led testimonios, early-grade advisories, and culturally responsive staff training. These community-driven solutions collectively reimagine postsecondary access on families’ own terms. Ultimately, this study reconceptualizes college preparation not as an individual or institutional endeavor, but as collective, relational, and justice-oriented work led by the communities most impacted by educational inequities.

Author

• Henedina Tavares, University of Washington