Nearly one-quarter of students in community colleges leave school during the first year of enrollment for reasons other than transfer or credential completion. Generally, nontraditional community college students drop out within their first year at higher rates than do traditional students. Using data from Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges…

This study examined learning style differences in samples of the native Spanish-speaking population of the Texas-Mexico border region, focusing on possible culture- and gender-related variation. Subjects were 187 students at six universities in Texas, who were administered a Spanish translated version of the Gregorc Style Delineator. Results…

The Latino population of the United States has grown dramatically in recent years, but Latino postsecondary participation and graduation rates have not increased. In 1998, only 7 percent of Mexican Americans (11 percent of all Latinos) held college degrees, versus 25 percent of the total U.S. population. This digest reviews the research on…

This booklet provides a snapshot of Latinos in the U.S. education system from early childhood through graduate education. Latino students comprise about 15 percent of the K-12 population today and are expected to reach about 25 percent by 2025. California, Texas, and Florida serve the highest concentrations of Hispanic students. Latino educational…

This book aims to assist Latinos who are thinking about going to college. The book is divided into four parts and is organized by steps. Part 1 discusses preparing for college. Steps identify 10 new ways of thinking to get ready psychologically for the SAT or ACT exams and college itself; provide forms, tips, and a sample letter to assist in…

In this qualitative study, I use grounded theory methodology to investigate the influences on the ethnic identity development of 10 Latino/a students during their first two years at a highly selective college. The findings indicate that two categories were salient in the first two years: Situating Identity (conditions: environment where they grew…

Research on retention of students of color suggests possible areas of intervention to improve academic success.

This study utilizes observation, survey and interview methodologies to investigate the impact of student race on participation in discussion in introductory sociology courses at a large Midwestern US university with a minority enrollment of approximately 15 percent. While results are mixed there is some evidence that white students participated at…

By 2025, 22 percent of the U.S. college-age population will be Latino, a level already reached in four states: California, Florida, New York, and Texas. Meeting the country's future human capital and workforce needs make it imperative to improve outcomes for Latino students today. As public attention is focused on current achievement gaps,…

In order to propose solutions to expressed Hispanic minority student recruitment problems, this study assessed the strengths and weaknesses of several University of Colorado at Boulder Hispanic student recruitment agencies. Data collection involved interviews with nine minority recruiting agency representatives, two retention agency…

This study examined Mexican American college students' perceptions of career-related barriers and the relationship between perceptions and the students' sense of control over and responsibility for career decision making. Mexican American students (57 men and 68 women) at a state-supported university in the Southwest completed a demographic…

The National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME), in cooperation with the Center for the Advancement of Science, Engineering and Technology (CASET), undertook a national survey of underrepresented minority students in engineering to assess their college experiences in relation to academic performance. Professionals at the college…

Based on a 3-year ethnographic study of college students in a Latino Studies course, this book tells the story of how the students navigated their academic life in a predominantly White university to construct their own education. Drawing on the principles of critical pedagogy, the course, "Sociology of Latino/a Culture and Identity,"…

This paper describes the Puente Project, a program developed to provide support services to Latino students attending California community colleges. A discussion of the organizational response to students of color and of organizational socialization practices is followed by a description of the development of the Puente Project. The project's…

The numbers of Latinas who attend college, stay in college, graduate, and attend graduate school escalated in the 1990s, surpassing gains made by any other underrepresented group of students in higher education. However, their achievements come at a personal cost, as the high-achieving Latinas profiled in this chapter demonstrate.