Many students who begin postsecondary education at community colleges indicate holding aspirations of transferring and obtaining a bachelor's degree or higher, but less than a third of these students transition to a four-year university within six years (Schudde et al., 2018). Guided by my assumption that reading-readiness is a requirement for…

Hispanic freshman college students struggle with the transition from high school to college due to multiple stressors. These stressors include financial issues, feeling academically underprepared, balancing their family life and school life, well-being, and experiencing discrimination (Civitci, 2015a; Civitci, 2015b; Morgan Consoli et al., 2018;…

This dissertation explored the career paths and experiences of Latina school administrators. Critical ethnography (Carspecken, 1996) was utilized to answer the following research question: Why are there so few Latina administrators and superintendents? Intersectionality (Crenshaw, 2016; Hill Collins, 2016) was the theoretical lens which framed the…

Diversifying the teacher workforce improves student outcomes and supports students of color. Yet, educational achievement barriers--compounded by the Trump administration's rescinding of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and drastic proposed cuts to federal education spending--will continue to keep Latinxs teachers out of the…

Currently, there is limited research examining the barriers that immigrant professionals experience when becoming a bilingual teacher in the United States. This study examines the trajectory of a Mexican national, trained as a teacher in his home country, who became a bilingual dual-language educator in a Central Texas school district. Drawing on…

Adopting the constructs of exposure, reactivity, and recovery, from stress and coping frameworks, this study investigated three models of discrimination, adjustment, and ethnic/racial identity among 76 African American, 145 Asian American, and 129 Latinx adolescents who were majority United States-born. The sample includes adolescents sampled from…

Background: Few studies have examined 24-hour activity and sleep behaviors and their contribution to type 2 diabetes (T2D) in Latino adolescents and young adults with obesity. Aim: This study included quantitative data on T2D risk and 24-hour activity and sleep behaviors and qualitative data on individual, social, and environmental behavioral…

In the United States, Hispanics are disproportionately affected by diet-related health issues. As part of improving health outcomes, it is important to have healthcare professionals--such as registered dietitians--from Hispanic backgrounds so that they can use their cultural knowledge to improve the healthcare deliverables. Currently, more than…

Biologists produce knowledge that can be applied to both global and personal challenges. Thus, communicating this knowledge to the general public is becoming increasingly important. One way information can move between different communities is through boundary spanners. Boundary spanners are individuals embedded in both communities who can…

Precalculus and calculus are considered gatekeeper courses because of their academic challenge and status as requirements for STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and non-STEM majors alike. Despite college mathematics often being seen as a neutral space, the field has identified ways that expectations, interactions, and…

Limited literature assessed the relation between family engagement in education and young children's socioemotional and behavioral functioning. This study investigated these associations longitudinally among urban and low-income, predominantly Latinx preschoolers (n = 69) and their mothers. Initial home-school conferencing predicted lower levels…

Salsa is a popular form of partnered social dance with a distinct Latinx identity. In the qualitative literature, the experience of involvement in Salsa has been explored within a community-based setting in a cultural and health promotion context. How students experience engaging with Salsa, as a social dance when instruction is provided within a…

Research in the United States (U.S.) documents that young Latino children whose families are characterized by demographic risk factors disproportionately lack the early literacy skills needed to successfully transition to kindergarten. Quantitative studies using comparative samples have found lower quality home learning environments and lower…

Research shows that undergraduate students' achievement emotions are critical in determining motivation and success in higher education. This article reports on the results of a pilot study using the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire involving 10 (n = 10) mostly ethnic minority undergraduates at an urban 4-year university. In general, findings…

This report is an updated version of a report published in 2021 (ED623525). It examines whether levels of state funding for higher education are associated with college graduation rates, particularly among underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. The assessment is based on an analysis of state appropriations and the six-year graduation rates of…