A significant number of studies focusing on Latino students describe a myriad of challenges that seem to affect their educational opportunities. In the case of Puerto Rican female students, they seem to enter U.S. schools with about the same ability as others to become active learners and successful students, but a significant number of them confront challenges that threaten their academic progress or they drop out before achieving high school graduation. The purpose of this qualitative in-depth phenomenological interview study was to explore the educational experiences of ten Puerto Rican female students in U.S. public secondary schools in order to examine the elements that contributed to their success and frustration in school. The study particularly looked for common experiences and factors affecting their academic achievements, inquired about common problems faced in schools by them, and considered their insights into how to improve the learning conditions for all students. Phenomenological interviewing was the methodology used to gather the data. The first interview centered around participants' life experiences in the United States until secondary school. The second interview concentrated on their present experiences in secondary school. The third interview focused on the meaning of their experiences as students. A thematic analysis of the interviews identified three influential components in the academic achievements of the participants in this study. These are: the significant role parents played in supporting and guiding their daughters; effective teachers affirm participants' culture and language in school; and a college education as the participants' utmost educational goal provided a perspective of achievement for all of them. The study also identified four common problems faced by either most participants or their peers. Moving from one place to another affected their academic progress. The ESL and TBE programs were found to provide effective services for their academic needs, but participants identified limitations of the programs that needed improvement. Dropping out and discrimination were found to be pervasive in participants' academic life. The implications of these findings, recommendations for schools, and gender specific findings are explored in the last chapter.

This qualitative study investigated how alcohol policy education and enforcement influenced student drinking behavior and norms at a large state university. Data collection consisted of semi-structured, in-depth interviews with sixteen traditional-age freshmen and sophomores who lived in two different campus residential areas. One purpose of this study was to gain insight into the actual drinking practices of students who reside in campus residence halls while another focus was to determine how policy education and enforcement influenced students' decisions to drink. The study participants, who served as "informants" for the purpose of the research, were also asked how they made sense of the situation. The findings suggest emergent themes related to the high incidence of student drinking in the residence halls, the lack of University-sponsored education and enforcement of the alcohol policy, and the manner in which the students' developmental stage influenced their drinking behaviors. In their observations, students talked about a "If we don't see it, hear it, or smell it" enforcement policy and openly criticized the University for its hypocritical stance. Students also revealed strong feelings of disappointment and remorse because their residence hall drinking had negatively impacted their academic standings and their overall well-being. The data suggest that the lack of policy education and enforcement creates an environmental press that encourages student drinking and actually impedes student development. The study concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings and suggestions for future research.

This dissertation, based on an ethnographic study, seeks to identify and understand the gendered subject positionings of six working class girls enrolled in the Computer Shop of a rural vocational high school in the Northeastern United States. Since local law and Federal law clearly state that no person can be discriminated against in either schooling or employment, a continued lack of gender balance within the trades is puzzling to parents, educators, and researchers. This study contributes to a paucity of research focused upon gender and vocational education. Theoretical perspectives of feminist poststructuralism informed the collection, analysis, and reporting of data for this study. Data for this study included structured ethnographic interviews, feminist poststructuralist analysis of salient texts, and four school terms of participant observation. Analysis of the interrelatedness of these discrete strands of data yielded multiple, often contradictory, layers of gendered subject positionings. Discourses related to gendered positionings in personal relationships and schooling/career were fundamental. Feminine discourses related to nurturing were primary in analyzed texts. In the girls' lives, caring for others competed with schooling. Most of the girls worked long hours in minimum wage jobs and skipped school to meet the needs of boyfriends and children. For some of the girls, pervasive discourses of beauty meant a battle with anorexia. Discourses of heterosexual romance imbued the girls' textual preferences. In ways befitting characters in the soap operas, books, and films they loved, the girls commonly jeopardized their safety to find and keep boyfriends. At school, the girls navigated an environment that privileged boys and men through gendered shop selections, sexist texts, and male authority. Excessive regulatory practices contributed to three of the girls not graduating with her class. Understanding the multiple subjectivities of adolescent girls challenges educators and researchers to move beyond simplistic solutions in equity issues. Through multi-layered research, the impacts and synergy of gendered discourses become visible, and thus subject to interruption.

The problem explored in this study is that African American, Hispanic American, and Native American students have a tendency to experience much lower levels of academic success in United States public schools than do European American and Asian American students. With such a problem defined, the purpose of the study becomes clear; to facilitate increased academic success of African American, Hispanic American, Native American, and other minority youth not experiencing academic success. The problem is shown to be pervasive by examining indicators of academic success and ethnic group membership on both the national level and on the level of the researcher's data from some of his teaching experiences in multicultural classrooms (N = 39) and from surveying experienced ESL teachers in a MAT program (N = 23). A survey was also given to middle and high school teacher interns being trained at a major U.S. university (N = 62). It was found that although these interns were well aware of how ethnic differentials in academic success were manifest in the U.S., they had little factual knowledge as to why these differentials exist and are a serious problem in need of speedy solutions. Hence, this study proposes that one way to facilitate minority academic success is to educate future teachers about the true reasons for ethnic differentials in academic success and about why these differentials are indeed a serious problems. Also generated from the teacher intern survey were data identifying some proposed teacher, school administrative, and teacher training program initiatives that were seen by the teacher interns as being potentially highly effective in facilitating the academic success of minority youth. The study concludes with suggestions for teacher, curriculum, school administrator, and teacher training program initiatives to facilitate increased academic success of African American, Hispanic American, and Native American youth, mainly by reducing the need to adopt alternation models of behavior in order to do well in school. It is proposed that such a goal can be accomplished through the inclusion of minority cultures and knowledge in the curricula, pedagogy, evaluation, and governing of schools.

This dissertation examined the relationship between educational environments and academic achievement of Chinese-American college students—a conspicuous ethnic group with above-average academic records. A two-step sequential interview and survey questionnaire were employed as the primary methods for data collection. In-depth interview was applied to 12 Chinese-American college students with GPA equal to or above 3.5, 10 equal to or under 3.0, and two between 3.0 and 3.5. The analysis of the empirical data indicates that: (1) The participants had higher than average GPA and SAT scores and their selected majors concentrated on sciences and engineering. With an overwhelming majority being first and second generation, the participants had typical bicultural characteristics. Their parents were relatively well educated and had higher than average family income. (2) Familial emphasis on education and the tendency to maximize educational resources contribute to the high academic achievement of Chinese-American college students. (3) Derived from the reciprocal obligations between generations, stable family relations, secure family environment, and consistent parental concern and involvement erect a psychological safety island for Chinese-American college students and encourage high achievement. (4) High educational level and handsome income of the parents, and mindfully rehashed degree sagas, influence and motivate Chinese-American college students and materialize their educational goals. (5) Their determination to realize their goals along an often predetermined educational course drives Chinese-American students to work hard maximizing their capabilities and even stretching beyond their limitations. The goal is so definite or tangible that they seldom digress into other concerns such as racial discrimination or social status as a minority. In conclusion, although there may be many factors that have direct or indirect impact on educational achievement, two are prominent: traditional cultural values and economic status or goal. These two factors interact to promote educational achievement of Chinese-American college students. Traditional cultural values, economic goal, and education, as both means and ends, form a dynamic circle in motion.

Immigrant children who experienced mass trauma are likely to experience deep emotional and psychological issues. These issues affect their development and adjustment. It is compounded when they are relocated to another culture especially significantly dissimilar to theirs. The Somali immigrant children who experienced mass trauma bring with them complex traumatic and adaptation issues. These emotional and psychological issues will affect their total development at school, family, and community settings if not adequately addressed. Therefore the purpose of this study is to explore how indigenous Somali cultural knowledge could be used to develop a culturally sensitive school based curriculum to ameliorate the socio-emotional issues of these children. Using a qualitative research approach, immigrant adult Somalis' cultural knowledge will be investigated to learn how they conceptualize trauma or life threatening experiences and their cultural knowledge on healing and coping that could be integrated to develop a culturally sensitive curriculum.

The construction of parental involvement as it was introduced into American schools over 90 years ago marginalizes Latina/o students and families. While research exists on the positive impact of Latina/o parental involvement as well as cultural parenting practices unique to Latina/o culture that foster academic success, much remains to be learned. What teachers and administrators in K-12 and higher education settings have not yet widely considered are how Latina/o students bring with them six forms of cultural capital transmitted to them via their parents to persist in hostile environments such as predominantly White institutions (PWIs). This qualitative study addresses what can be done to accommodate and support a growing Latina/o population by amplifying student narratives on how, and under what circumstances they employ each of the six forms of capital. The findings reflect my research with 37 Latina/o college students at different types of higher education institutions (a selective all-women's college, a large co-educational University, and a community college) to examine how students: describe and interpret parental involvement, employ cultural messages regarding education, and how they utilize cultural capital to persist at these PWIs. This study has implications for policy and practice for teachers and administrators in K-12 and higher education settings. It challenges these institutions to adopt asset-based approaches that propose to work with whole Latina/o families to support the whole Latina/o student. Findings from this study also provide recommendations for how Latina/o students can take active roles in advocating for themselves in higher education.

This year-long participant observation qualitative case study draws together five social practices of mid-career elementary school educators in the Mexican southeastern state of Oaxaca: a protest march, a roadblock, the use of humor, a school-based book fair and alternate uses of time and space in school. The title terms charros, tlacuaches and mapaches represent some of the diverse sites of friction within witch teachers interact. Additionally, movements of diverse inquiries is derived from the definition Michel Foucault gives to critical which leads to the primary guiding question of: how have Oaxacan teachers engaged in critical pedagogical practices? The study finds that contemporary commonsense dimensions of critical pedagogy which involve developing teacher awareness toward relations of power and facilitating direct interventions in community realities of inequity prove insufficient for teachers and others engaged in a multi-sited, decades-long protest movement. The five social practices showcased here demonstrate ways teacher navigate in and out of the State Secretariat of Education and the radical union, proving that the messy life of teaching proves complex. The practices show how activities often disassociated with pedagogy and political projects: eating, drinking, gossiping play help teachers and other school-based actors enact and sustain their critical projects. It concludes that discourses often associated with acritical humanism are important additions to critical pedagogy taken on in places of intensified conflict.

The primary purpose of this study was to explore social perceptions among African-American community college transfer students at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, a predominantly white institution. A secondary purpose to pictorialize students' social perceptions through a series of storyboards. The methodology for this study was qualitative, and required in-depth interviewing to explore the social perceptions of participating students. Once the interviewing process was complete, the individual profiles of participating students' were developed and grouped into categories that reveal thematic connections. Consistent with research on Black students at predominantly White colleges universities, this study reveals that the extent to which African-American community college transfer students become integrated into the academic and social communities of a campus environment is affected by a number of social adjustment issues. Included among these adjustment issues are conflicts involving: (a) racial identity development; (b) orientation to the campus environment; (c) peer relationships; (d) perceptions of racism in the classroom; (e) racial stereotyping; (f) cultural prejudice; (g) self-segregation on campus; (h) faculty-student interactions; and (i) family encouragement and support. From the personal narratives of students who, for the purposes of this study, were identified as the “Main Characters,” pictorials or graphic illustrations of their social perceptions and experiences were developed into storyboards. While the students' personal narratives allowed them to tell their stories in their own words, th storyboards were the researcher's attempt to provide a visual interpretation of students' social perceptions and experiences within the campus environment. Quite often, in a predominantly white college environment, the social perceptions and experiences of African-American students are invisible to those who are responsible for enrollment management or the quality of campus life. Therefore, the fundamental premise behind the development of the storyboards as an illustrative analysis of the research data is that “seeing is believing.”

This study is a survey of sixty Native Americans between 12-24 years of age. Thirty were graduates and thirty were non-graduates. The four sets of variables examined were: early pregnancy, drug and alcohol use, cultural values, and mentoring. The reliability of three factors (mentors, substance abuse and cultural factors) were consistent with what might be expected in a random scale of 60 participants with a researcher developed scale. It was, however, the category developed to address having or not having children that proved to be of the most statistical significance.