Even with women outnumbering men in obtaining graduate and professional degrees in educational leadership, the representation between women and men in higher level positions such as principalships, district office executives, and superintendencies remains incongruent. Consequently, this incongruency is further exacerbated when we look beyond women…

This dissertation disaggregates the "Hispanic" category to examine the various factors shaping the educational trajectories of students who encompass this large ethnic group. This project consists of three studies, each presenting the perspectives of principal stakeholders: families, schools, and a community-based educational initiative.…

The growth in the Latino population counts for half of the national population growth in the U.S, and that growth continues. Nevertheless, the gap in post-secondary educational attainment for Latinos is wide compared to whites and other non-Hispanics. Fewer Latino males are enrolling in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics…

This dissertation is a quantitative correlational study that explored the associations between elements of expectancy-value theory of achievement choices and Latina/o/x students' intention to persist in their STEM major at a Hispanic-serving institution (HSI). The theoretical framework includes both expectancy-value theory (Eccles & Wigfield,…

Latinx students are being over-identified as students with disabilities in our current K-12 educational system by as much as eight times that of their White peers. Students served in a more restrictive environment, such as special education, see poorer outcomes than those in a general education setting; therefore, expanding equitable access and…

This study explored the phenomenon of thriving among Latinx first-generation college students. Using Latino Critical Race Theory (LatCrit) and Yosso's (2006) community cultural wealth perspective, I used a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to center the counternarratives of 8 thriving Latinx students from 5 different colleges. Each participant…

Latino college students studying for a Homeland Security degree in Pennsylvania colleges and universities do not graduate at the same rate as their non-Latino peers, despite the availability of academic support programs which seek to help them achieve greater success. The support programs available include providing low-income and other students…

There is a severe shortage for Spanish bilingual K-12 teachers in CA. At a northern California public institution of higher education, advising is seemingly prescriptive, transactional and dehumanizing. Spanish bilingual students do not have access to critical information adequately preparing them to complete program admission requirements for…

This dissertation investigates the role of ethnic-racial identity in the college choice and first-year experience of Black and Latinx students attending a highly selective, large, public R1 in the Midwest. My research questions are guided by Camille Wilson's (formerly Cooper) Positioned School Choice (2007) and Critical Race Theory through Yosso's…

School social workers face domestic violence, trauma, social violence, and mental and emotional health problems in their work context. Indeed, compassion fatigue results from professionals' continuous exposure to these problems. This study explored school social work professionals' perceptions of compassion fatigue. For this, the following…

Recent studies have projected that by the end of this century between half and up to 95% of the linguistic diversity in the world will disappear or become severely endangered. In the last four decades, the Latin American region, home to more than 500 Indigenous languages, has introduced intercultural bilingual education policies aimed at…

This qualitative study examined the student leadership experiences of seven Latina community college students and how they made sense of how those experiences impacted their academic success. It used the psychosociocultural framework (J. Castellanos & Gloria, 2007; Gloria & Rodriguez, 2000) as its theoretical lens. Interpretative…

This dissertation examines how first-generation high school Students of Color from California's San Joaquin Valley navigate digital marketing and advertising during their college search and application processes, offering a timely contribution to the study of college admissions in a post-affirmative action landscape. Higher education institutions…

An interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used in the current study to examine how Latinx counselors-in-training (CITs) define and experience psychological safety in their classroom environments while enrolled in CACREP-accredited master's degree programs in the United States. In the present study, IPA was employed to make sense of the…

The purpose of this study was to examine college students' experiences of racial microaggressions at a Hispanic serving institution. The participants were undergraduate and graduate students from a large higher education research institution in South Texas. The study had a qualitative approach with a two-step process of Phase 1 and Phase 2. Phase…