Mexican American educational history has become a vibrant field of study since the late 1980s. In the last seven years, however, it is notable that this research has inspired community-based efforts to preserve and publicly commemorate challenges to unequal education. In this commentary, we discuss the archival recovery of the "Francisco…

While current higher education literature stresses the importance of equity, diversity, and inclusivity, these imperatives have been mainly absent from conversations related to boards of higher education. In this paper, the authors present a historical overview of the demographic landscape of trustee boards from inception to the present. Using…

In response to disparities in postsecondary access, governments have enacted policies to facilitate the admission of traditionally underrepresented students. Known as affirmative action in the United States, the legal justification of this approach has varied. This article describes the legal and political history of affirmative action, the social…

This article provides a brief history of undocumented students and higher education, from the landmark case of "Plyler v. Doe" to the examination of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. As lawmakers engage in debate regarding undocumented immigrants, states have attempted to provide educational clarity. In addition, academic…

Although current and former English Learner (EL) or "ever-EL" students comprise one of the fastest-growing K-12 populations, we still know relatively little about the factors that influence their college-going. Using Perna's seminal college-going model as a launching point, we propose a policy-driven empirical approach to explore how…

In spring 2019, without controversy or fanfare and without violating the voter mandate of Proposition 203, emergent bilinguals in Arizona were once again granted unrestricted access to dual language bilingual education after nearly 20 years. The policy change was accomplished through a seemingly small piece of legislation that reduced the daily…

In 1816, when Laurent Clerc, a deaf teacher of deaf students from France, met the Reverend Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, a hearing preacher from the United States, one of the world's most important partnerships began. Gallaudet had visited England and then come to France in search of a pedagogy to teach deaf children. His quest was initiated by Alice…

During the last three decades, a tremendous increase has occurred across several dimensions of diversity among student populations. While diversity and equity goals have remained systemic priorities, efforts have only led to relatively small gains in student success outcomes and proportional faculty representation in California's community…

As a result of the economic recession, the State of California has set in motion new policies for its community college system known as the Student Success Act, fundamentally altering open-access (Yamagata-Noji, 2014; Bennett et. al. 2013). Individuals most vulnerable to the policy shift are under-represented college students who constitute the…

As the University of California continues to face unprecedented challenges--from state disinvestment, to attempts by the legislature to wrest control of the university, to disruption brought on by new technology, to concerns, valid or otherwise, about the value of college--university leaders must return to fundamental questions about the purposes…

The argument that cultural and other forms of diversity enhance the educational experience of all students is generally associated with post-1960 efforts to expand the presence of disadvantaged groups on the campuses of America's universities and colleges. Yet, in the case of UC Berkeley, arguments on the merits of cultural diversity have much…

All three of us, the authors, are white and do not speak Ebonics, (or African American Language, AAL). How the misperceptions of AAL impact our students inspired our interest in the subject. The title of this piece refers to the ubiquity of AAL, historically, culturally, as an influential cultural wellspring. Although AAL continues to influence…

Elite public schools must use some method of selecting their students. Given the desirability of this scarce resource, these methods are closely scrutinized. Demographic and other changes in the school districts may make unstable procedures that were deemed successful at one point. This "recurring problem" is the subject of this article,…

Concerns over rising college tuition and slow economic growth have brought renewed attention to the role of federal and state financial aid programs in opening access to education. Despite a large body of literature examining the effects of grant aid on four-year and public two-year college enrollment, for-profit colleges--particularly the vast…

Background Context: Throughout United States history, immigrant education has been shaped and defined by political struggles over immigration, language rights, national security, and educational equity and access. Bilingual education has become the contemporary battleground for these struggles. In 1996, in California, a struggle ensued between…