Networks of Encouragement: Who’s Encouraging Latino and White Students to Enroll in Honors/AP Courses?

• In Event: 566 - Section on Latino/a Sociology Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 09. Latina/os and Education

Abstract

Using affiliation network data collected at a large high school in Southern California, this paper examines differences between who encourages Latino students and who encourages White students to enroll in advanced courses. Previous research has found a positive association between emotional support and academic achievement, and thus, this study shifts the foci from who informs students to who encourages them. This study found that Latino students and White students have different networks of encouragement. These results provide evidence for disaggregating large network clusters (family, school, peers) into smaller more nuanced network roles in order to identify new network clusters that are associated with diverse student populations.

Authors

• Vanessa Witenko, University of California-Santa Barbara

• Victor M. Rios, University of California-Santa Barbara

• Rebeca Mireles-Rios, University of California-Santa Barbara