Centered in critical race theory (Latcrit) and conceptualization of community cultural wealth, this study explores first-generation Latina/o/x students' motivations to attend college and persist to degree completion. Additionally, this study examines the overlapping forms of cultural wealth that participants access throughout their educational…

As immigrants account for an increasing proportion of American youth, understanding how these young people experience change in their citizenship status is an important, yet rarely examined area for research. There is a plethora of evidence that opportunities to participate in American society are stratified according to class, race and ethnicity.…

In its 2019 report, "Beyond the Border: Family Separation in the Trump Era" (see ED603926), UnidosUS demonstrates how the current trajectory of the nation's immigration policies is threatening the future of an entire generation of American children. Today, 80% of Latinos are U.S. citizens and half of those remaining are legal permanent…

Food insecurity is widespread among college students in the United States. Food benefits delivered through the CalFresh program, California's version of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), can reduce hunger by helping students pay for groceries, but may not reach all eligible students. To date, higher education systems…

Based on ethnographic and archival research, we explore how 10 students asserted their rights to belong and secure a space where they felt safe at UC Davis. We examine the activities and practices of 10 undergraduate Chicanxs and Latinxs students: members of "Radical Academics for Pedagogy" (RAP) and RESISTENCIA. Our interest lies on…

Research shows that not only does higher education not see the public; when the public, in turn, looks at higher education, it sees mostly malaise, inefficiencies, expense, and unfulfilled promises. Yet, the contributors to this issue of the "Higher Education Exchange" tell of bright spots in higher education where experiments in working…

Following a grounded, bottom-up approach to language policy (Blommaert 2009; Canagarajah 2005; McCarty, 2011; Ramanathan, 2005), this paper investigates available resources and discourses of citizenship in Sacramento, California to those situated within the citizenship infrastructure. It analyzes how the discursive framing of local and national…

Objective: Although immigrant students placed in English as a Second Language (ESL) sequence at community colleges are a growing student population, there is a dearth of research focused on these students in college. This study provides descriptive estimates of community college students' progression through the credit-earning ESL sequence and…

There exists a plethora of writings about citizenship, or "civic virtue," in a democracy. Articles, books, reports, and commentaries proliferate, and the theme is continually stressed in the multiple activities of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). In this article, the author believes that a summary of the…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine institutional actions that influence service use among SEAA community college students. More specifically, this study investigated the effects of access to services (service access), validating staff members (staff validation), and caring staff members (staff care) on the use of campus services…

In this article, I relay the irony of my own path as an "illegal alien" in the US--identifying the tension between being a successful student earning straight As and accolades for good citizenship, while hiding my undocumented legal status. Drawing from the notions of race, smartness and citizenship as social constructions, I use a…

This document analysis synthesized student learning outcomes (SLOs) and assessment methods from a sample of 36 student government associations in the California Community College system. Student learning outcomes were grouped according to "governance, ethical and civic behavior", and "experiential learning functions." Using…

IDEAS is the undocumented student support group at University of California Los Angeles. This ethnography follows their planning of a conference on immigrant rights legislation. How do undocumented immigrants engage in active citizenship? Patterns of student activism are seen during the conference planning process. IDEAS members emulate Freirean…

These technical appendices are for the report, "English as a Second Language at California's Community Colleges: An Early Examination of AB 705 Reforms." Assembly Bill 705 (AB 705 Irwin) sought to increase successful completion of transfer-level math and English courses by addressing systemic problems in traditional placement policies…

This article examines the ways in which citizenship status uniquely shapes both the access and persistence of undocumented community college students in the Central Valley of California. Drawing on more than 2 years of qualitative fieldwork, it is argued that undocumented community college students navigate an institutional landscape of…