“I Knew It Was Gonna Be Hard, but I Always Knew I Had Support From My Parents”: The Role of Family on Undocumented Students’ College Aspirations and Persistence

Literature shows that undocumented students in the United States experience significant challenges to and through higher education. Only a few studies have uncovered the mechanisms that undocumented students use to persist in college; in particular, the role that family plays on their postsecondary success is understudied. In this qualitative study, I examine the role that family plays on undocumented students’ college aspirations and persistence. Findings from a sample of 16 undocumented students attending a four-year public university show that their families are the stimulus motivating them to pursue higher education, as well as the support system they can rely on to manage college barriers. However, the data also revealed that for a few participants, their families are a source of stress, resulting in additional challenges they must manage as they navigate higher education. I present these findings using participants’ vignettes and conclude with implications for higher education research and practice.

Factors Influencing Optimism for Degree Attainment in Latino First-Generation College Students

Latino first-generation college students face a unique set of challenges that are not part of the college experience of their non-first-generation counterparts. Nonetheless, many Latinos remain optimistic about overcoming barriers that might impede their educational pursuits. The present study was aimed at exploring factors that contribute to Latino students’ positive expectations for degree attainment. Utilizing data from a large online survey administered at a four-year Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI), we found that competency beliefs and persistent determination to overcome challenges significantly influences students’ optimism. In addition, strong connections with institutional agents (largely, faculty and student affairs staff) emerged as significant contributing factors. Students who reported having close relationships with their parents also reported a greater degree of optimism about postsecondary success. Implications for programs and services to improve the college experiences of Latino first-generation student, enhance optimism, and increase retention are discussed.

Keeping Students on Track to Postsecondary Success: Learnings from the Pathways to Adult Success (PAS) Initiative

Background/Context Over the past decade early warning systems which use predictive indicators to identify students in need of additional supports to stay on track to high school graduation have spread from a few schools to most states. There is now a growing interest in extending the utility of early warning systems from high school graduation to post-secondary readiness. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study Report on initial findings and insights from a three year effort to build a learning community of early adopters of early warning systems for high school graduation to figure out how they can be extended to keep students on track to post-secondary success. Intervention/Program/Practice A key outcome of the learning community which included 150 representatives of K-12 local and state school systems, as well as non-profits and institutions of higher education was the development a framework for keeping students on track to post-secondary success, called Pathways to Adult Success which has four main components (1) how to use Early Warning Systems to support postsecondary success, (2) how to provide better postsecondary navigation and guidance supports to all students, (3) how to develop cross-sector collaborations, and (4) how to improve data use and data systems. Research Design Participant-observation supported by interviews and surveys Conclusions/Recommendations The PAS learning community assembled a multi-part framework of recommendations and guideposts to help states, schools, and districts increase and improve pathways to adult success for all youth. This framework extends the early warning approach to support bridges to postsecondary outcomes, while acknowledging the need to improve and expand navigation and guidance supports for all students, and to increase cross-sector collaborations to improve and expand existing pathways. Finally, it stresses the power of and need for data, data systems, and data use to drive all elements of the Framework. The remaining challenge will be creating the conditions which enable its widespread implementation.

Cultivating Student Engagement and Connectedness

Student engagement and school connectedness are interrelated and overlapping concepts that are essential to promoting positive youth development and well-being for students, families, and teachers. Affective engagement is reflected in students’ relationships with their peers, teachers, and the school environment, which are related to important outcomes like achievement, school completion, and postsecondary success. These relationships have long been viewed as being important or essential to the academic and behavioral success of students. Intervention research conducted from early childhood through adolescence suggests that affective engagement can be altered through different approaches with different targets; this includes student mentoring, teacher training and feedback, brief cognitive interventions, and grade-level or schoolwide programming. Teachers’ and students’ affective engagement will continue to be an important area for research and intervention.

Measuring High School Curricular Intensity over Three Decades

This article presents a new measure of curricular intensity that is objective, parsimonious, clearly defined, replicable, and comparable over time for use by researchers interested in examining trends, causes, and outcomes of high school course taking. After proposing a reduced-form version of Adelman’s curricular intensity index comprised of number of courses completed in English and core science, highest math course completed, and whether students took at least one Advanced Placement course, I test the measure in four National Center for Education Statistics high school longitudinal studies using confirmatory factor analysis. I examine the methodological implications of the measure by conducting multigroup tests for invariance across cohorts to understand how curricular intensity changes over time and comparing the measure’s predictive validity to that of alternative measures of course taking. I then examine substantive implications of the measure through analysis of trends and inequalities in curricular intensity. The four course-taking variables combined create a strong measure of curricular intensity across cohorts that performs as well as or better than Adelman’s index in explaining variance in postsecondary outcomes and predicting postsecondary success. The measure accounts for shifts over time in the relative contribution of each course-taking variable to overall curricular intensity, facilitating more accurate comparisons across cohorts or data sets. I provide practical guidance for using the measure in other data sets, including state- and district-level data, to analyze overall trends and gaps in curricular intensity and its role in postsecondary success, and I discuss some potential uses of the measure for future research and policy.

The Effects of Grant Aid on Student Persistence and Degree Attainment: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Causal Evidence

The provision of grant aid is important to students’ postsecondary opportunities and success. It is well established that grant aid increases the probability of enrollment in postsecondary education. A slate of studies in recent years has extended this research to examine whether grant aid also has an impact on persistence and degree attainment. This article presents a systematic review and meta-analysis of the best available evidence of the effect of grant aid on postsecondary persistence and degree attainment. The systematic review identifies and describes the landscape of the literature on grant aid programs and their effects on postsecondary success. A meta-analysis of 43 studies yielding 75 effect sizes estimates that grant aid increases the probability of student persistence and degree completion between 2 and 3 percentage points. When considering the dollar amount of aid, we estimate an additional $1,000 of grant aid improves persistence and attainment by 1.5 to 2 percentage points. Suggestions for future research and implications for policy are discussed.

Engaging Filipinx Americans in Higher Education to Foster Student Success

Increasingly, researchers call for closer examinations of Asian Americans to counter the false, yet widely held, assumption that collectively all Asian Americans are academically successful and have similar higher education experiences. Filipinx American college students are one of the fastest growing student populations of Asian Americans in higher education. As their enrollment numbers increase, it is even more imperative to recognize how the needs of Filipinx American students as a disaggregated group, differ from other Asian American students and understand the factors that contribute to Filipinx American postsecondary success. This article focuses directly upon Filipinx American students. It explores the various higher education engagement challenges, provides a theoretical framework to better understand the Filipinx American postsecondary student experience, and offers four important institutional engagement strategies to nurture educational attainment and success.