In education today, Latino populations are growing, but Telles and Ortiz (2013) claim they account for the lowest academic levels and the highest levels of dropouts. Latino transfronterizo (literally border crossing) students and their parents in this study have high academic aspirations in spite of challenges of poverty, second language acquisition, and other difficulties which arise from U.S.-Mexico border contexts. Through dissecting the events of the 1990s and early 2000s, the progression of northern migration from Mexico and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 influenced anti-immigrant sentiment along the border and enactment of laws and policies to limit circumnavigating the international line. Misidentification as illegal immigrants creates borderland perceptions that Latinos are suspects and often results in discriminatory treatment from postcolonial dominant culture. This culture is reflected and perpetuated in schools where home language surveys identify native Spanish speakers to segregate them into Structured English Immersion programs for students with Limited English Proficiency. Ethnographic research from January of 2013 to August of 2015 included over 300 observations and 14 semi-structured interviews with seven transfronterizo students and nine parents revealed language disconnects between school and home. Relationships between teachers and students/parents did not exist and trust was lacking. Latino parents wanted to help students with school, but English only requirements limited their assistance. Through the use of Furman's ethic of community and Yosso's community cultural wealth, educational leaders could create communal process at schools to build the capacity of teachers and parents to create relationships and shared cultural competencies.

abstract: There is tremendous value in bringing fresh voices and perspectives to theory and practice, as it is through these novel lenses that research advances in rich and more equitable ways. However, the importance of first-generation college students being involved in this process has been vastly underestimated and undervalued by researchers and practitioners alike. Extrapolating from interdisciplinary research on counterstorytelling and networked counterpublics, the aim of this study was to explore how the proposed theoretical model of networked counterstorytelling—as presented through a grassroots digital storytelling campaign—could create space for first-generation student voice and leadership to help inform current theoretical understandings of social capital and community cultural wealth. Using a multimethodological approach—combining large-scale network analytics with qualitative netnographic analysis (Kozinets, 2015)—this study (1) produced novel methods for measuring and analyzing social capital within social media communities and (2) demonstrated how grassroots digital storytelling campaigns, facilitated by the affordances of social media platforms such as Instagram, can function as means for inviting the leadership, voice, and perspectives of first-generation college students into the design of higher education research and practice. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2020

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"Living Within and Outside the Margins and Borders…" depicts the lived experiences of eight Latinx high school seniors transitioning from an urban high school categorized by the State as a high poverty, high achieving, Latino majority-minority school in a large, southern Arizona city on the cusp of the U.S. Mexico border. This qualitative study spans the course of an academic school year, and includes an examination of narratives from three educational leaders within the target school. As longtime educators contained and often constrained inside a sizable metropolitan district, educational leaders were challenged to serve these Latinx youth within the limits set by state and national policies related to immigration, achievement testing, and education of emergent bilinguals. A major goal of the study was to understand how educational leaders negotiate educational policy margins to resist deficit-framed approaches and to incorporate socially just action within their schools. As demonstrated by the participants in the present study, many Latinx youth are searching for ways to navigate linguistic, cultural, racial, and class-based borders. Furthermore, many seek to breakthrough prescribed margins characterized by educational policies and practices that seek to track, label, and often marginalize them. These margins can be "more than a site of deprivation…[but] also a site of radical possibility, a space of resistance" (hooks, 1990, p.149). Thus, these Latinx students' narratives, which include descriptions of the capital employed to overcome these barriers, were analyzed via a Community Cultural Wealth lens (Yosso, 2005).

abstract: This study investigates degree perseverance among African Americans who transitioned from an undergraduate music program at a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) to a Predominantly White Institution (PWI). A framework based on Bourdieu’s cultural capital theory and Yosso’s community cultural wealth theory was employed to examine how academic, cultural, and social aspects of participants’ undergraduate and graduate school experiences influenced their perseverance. Because those aspects are intricately intertwined with race, I also employed critical race theory and double consciousness theory, and used Angela Duckworth’s Grit Scale to measure degree perseverance. Eight African American male instrumental music educators participated in this study. Research questions included: What are the experiences of African Americans who have transitioned from undergraduate music programs at HBCUs to graduate music programs at PWIs?; How do these individuals compare academic, social, and cultural aspects of their experiences within two institutional environments?; What are their self-perceptions of their own degree perseverance?; and, What social, cultural, and academic aspects of their experiences influenced their perseverance? After developing a portrait of each participant’s pre-college and college experiences, analysis reveled that participants were very persistent; however, academic, cultural, social, and racial experiences influenced their perseverance. Participants employed dominant cultural capital and community cultural wealth as well as their “Grittiness” to successfully transition from an HBCU to a PWI. Recommendations for HBCUs, PWIs, and the profession are offered toward improving the experiences of African American music students in higher education. HBCUs must hold their faculty and students accountable for developing a broader musical experience beyond marching band, and address colorism on their campuses. PWIs should recognize and accept the capital that African Americans bring, acknowledge that African Americans need access to social support networks, and assess how their environments, actions, and decisions may devalue or discount African Americans. While more research is needed regarding the experiences of African Americans in music programs, African American students must also take active roles in shaping their own educational experiences by seeking assistance that will improve their experiences. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Music Education 2015

Less than 5% of former foster youth in America graduate with a bachelor's degree. The goal of this phenomenological research was to use student voices to identify or better understand promising practices that support the success of former foster youth. Two California State University (CSU) campuses were chosen as research sites because the California Education Code has language indicating CSUs responsibility to recruit, serve, and graduate former foster youth. Through purposeful sampling, eight students who were successfully approaching graduation were selected. The data collected through two interviews, a biographical questionnaire, and a photo review were subject to thematic identification and analysis of the use or lack of use of the types of capital outlined in the community cultural wealth theory. Five themes and the abundant and lacking types of capital were identified. Identified themes were student services and programs, mentorship, financial challenges, family dynamics, and self-determination. The participants were found to have abundant aspirational, navigational, resistance, and certain aspects of familial capital. They were found to be largely lacking in cultural, social, spiritual, linguistic, and other aspects of familial capital. Through the identification of the themes and the evaluation of capital, promising practices and next steps were identified and additional research needs brought to light.

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Upward Bound (UB) projects provide educational support services to high school students in order to address inequalities in college access for low-income (LI) and first-generation students (FGS). However, access alone does not eradicate systemic barriers to positive collegiate experiences and degree attainment. As a federally funded program, UB regularly collects mandated outcome data; however, little is known about the specific academic, social, and emotional supports these programs provide. Especially lacking are in-depth qualitative studies that follow students into college and focus on students’ own stories. To address this gap in research, this study used in-depth interviews to capture the stories of LI, FGS first-year college experiences. Thematic analysis was used to identify challenges, successes, and commonalities in how participants described impacts of their UB participation. The research questions included: 1) What are the academic and social experiences of Upward Bound alumni in their first year at a four-year postsecondary institution, and 2) What is the perceived relationship between Upward Bound participation and the first-year college experience of Program alumni? This research leveraged Yosso’s (2005) Community Cultural Wealth framework to elevate diverse forms of capital involved in students’ UB participation and college experiences. Analysis revealed significant themes related to expectations, belonging, the pressure to succeed, mental health, the impact of the UB experience, and the power of voice, concluding that, through UB participation, students’ existing capital/cultural wealth is honored, leveraged, and ultimately multiplied. Recommendations for addressing pervasive obstacles to success in college are provided for Upward Bound projects and higher education.

Gifted programs, designed to enhance engagement and rigor for students exhibiting talent or potential beyond their peers in the general education classroom, are not equitably identifying and serving Hispanic/Latino students. This qualitative study explored gifted programming at a Title I elementary school located in a largely Hispanic/Latino community. Very few students received gifted services at the school, despite equity measures in place. Using a framework of educational capital, this study highlighted the cultural capital and community cultural wealth of gifted Hispanic/Latino students and provided suggestions for enhancing programming for this historically underidentified population of learners. Data were collected through semistructured interviews of parents and teachers of students receiving gifted services. Questions were aligned with concepts of capital, and a priori codes were used to analyze participant perspectives. Findings identified embodied cultural capital as the dominant gifted paradigm, but inequitable opportunities to learn hinder students’ ability to embody giftedness. Also, the linguistic capital of other cultures has been unrecognized by gifted testing, impacting access for gifted emergent bilingual students. Finally, barriers to success (e.g., low levels of rigor and engagement at the school, lack of opportunity to test for the gifted program, and lack of navigational capital for parents and teachers) threaten the vibrant hopes and dreams parents and teachers have for these students. Findings support the need for increased gifted programming in Title I schools and updated gifted policy to reflect culturally inclusive values.