The U.S. Latino population has surpassed 62 million and is projected to represent close to 29% of the entire U. S. population by 2060. Despite being the fastest-growing ethnic group in the United States, Latinos hold the fewest college degrees compared to their peers. Current research illustrates that to address the lag in rates of degree…

Researchers and practitioners in the United States increasingly promote phenomena-based instruction in science that supports the development of a coherent storyline throughout the unit. Questions about "who" is constructing the science storyline and "how" still remain. Employing a qualitative ethnographic case study approach,…

In order to better assist Latinas in STEM, it is imperative to understand the impact of cultural values in their educational persistence. This study uses a national dataset of Latina STEM college students to examine the relationship between positive and negative marianismo beliefs and how this impacts mental health and educational persistence.…

Scholarship on Latinx communities has consistently underscored the role that families play in college students' educational aspirations and success. Forms of familial empowerment are particularly beneficial as Latinx college students encounter environments and individuals that do not account for their cultural knowledges. A subset of this…

The COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented challenges to our society on a global scale. While the is literature that alludes to the impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on Ed.D. students, women, and people of color, research focusing on Chicana or Mexican-American female scholar-practitioners is limited. Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative…

Many districts across Texas have adopted programs built on the goal of providing more opportunities within their repertoire for servicing traditionally underserved students (AVID, 2023). Friou (2016) reported that 62 districts across Texas have utilized the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program, which aimed to bridge the gap in…

This research shares testimonios from 11 Latina undergraduates attending a 4-year PWI in the Western US to better understand how they defined and measured their success in higher education. Traditional success measures, like graduation and persistence rates, are based on the institution's values and do not fully represent Latine values. While…

Over the last several decades, nontraditional students have increasingly enrolled in postsecondary institutions (Ellis, 2019). This diverse population has altered perceptions of the traditional college student. Nontraditional students drive higher education institutions to reexamine their mission, purpose, sources of support, and delivery…

This paper is about leveraging cultural ways of knowing such as ethnobotany in order to increase STEM engagement in Chicanx populations. The novel Community Learning and Ecological Sustainability Paradigm (CLESP) framework utilized in this study combines social justice, Chicana feminist epistemology, land-based pedagogy, critical place-based…

This study centers the experiences of 9 Latinas enrolled in a continuation high school. This study attempts to understand how this continuation school engages with Latinas and attempts to improve their conditions and opportunities in this marginalized sector that is overrepresented with racially minoritized youth. Despite all the challenges they…

Chicana/Latina undergraduate students represent a significant and growing proportion of student enrollment in higher education institutions in the United States, particularly in states like California that have critical masses of Chicanx/Latinx communities. Despite their increasing enrollment rates, Chicana/Latina college students continue to…

Despite various initiatives to enhance diversity in STEM disciplines, women and minorities remain underrepresented (Gonzalez et al., 2021, Chapter 5). Higher education institutions can help enhance gender and racial equity in STEM disciplines in the U.S. (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, & Medicine, 2011). This study's purpose was…

This qualitative phenomenological research study aimed to investigate and describe the lived experiences of Latina first-generation college graduates in Texas with relation to the internal and external factors that led to successful degree attainment. The conceptual framework used to describe how Latina first-generation college students perceived…

The purpose of the study is to understand how Latina community college students perceive and experience academic advising that has been redesigned within the guided pathways framework. Critical Race Theory (CRT) is used to frame the research study from a racialized lens and to problematize the race-neutral framework of guided pathways. I utilized…

Latina mothers frequently impart guidance and lessons on their children as they traverse educational spaces. Drawing from their own lived experiences and epistemologies, Latina mothers often provide advice and support necessary for their children to persist academically and authentically. To extend the existing literature, our narrative study…