Every year, more colleges and universities become Hispanic-serving institutions. These institutions, whether public or private, two-year or four-year, find themselves in the position of serving high numbers of Latino students. They encounter opportunities for unique learning environments, access to special funding, and the potential to be…

There are many factors associated with academic success at school. In addition to having the requisite cognitive abilities and scholastic skills, students need to feel that school is a place in which they belong. This study examines factors related to perceptions of school belonging for a sample of Latino elementary school students. Participants…

Physical activity levels in girls decline dramatically during adolescence, most profoundly among minorities. To explore ethnic and racial variation in attitudes toward physical activity, semistructured interviews (n = 80) and physical activity checklists (n = 130) are conducted with African American, Hispanic, and Caucasian middle school girls in…

In this qualitative study, minority students were interviewed about the competition they felt in their high school. Purposes of the study were to investigate whether African American and Mexican American students engaged in academic competition, to describe their subjective experiences of competition in high schools, and to describe their…

In May 1992 the dropout rate among Hispanic students was 36.6 percent in the Providence (Rhode Island) public schools. A survey was administered in Spanish or English to 232 Hispanic students and 52 teachers at 3 high schools to assess ways to reduce the dropout rate. An attempt to follow up on the Hispanic students listed as dropouts succeeded in…

A survey was administered in Spanish or English to 232 Hispanic students and 52 teachers at 3 Providence (Rhode Island) high schools to assess student needs and find solutions to the dropout problem. An attempt to follow up on Hispanic students listed as dropouts succeeded in locating only 15, some of whom were actually enrolled in alternative…

This paper analyzes the literature pertinent to the educational and occupational aspirations of Mexican American youth. Following a historical account of the Mexican American presence in the Southwest, this review focuses on social science literature, primarily of the 1950s-70s, that viewed Mexican Americans as having culture-based pathological…

This document discusses information pertaining to retention at Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC). Several studies have been conducted to gather information on students and discover what factors contribute to their decisions not to return to NVCC. Findings indicated that a large number of students do not return because of life…

The expectations, self-perceptions, past academic behaviors, and attitudes of transfer students were examined in this study. Participants were 2,492 incoming transfer students (53% female, 14% African American, 14% Asian American or Pacific Islander, 6% Hispanic/Latino/a, and 65% White, and had a mean age of 21.8) at a mid-Atlantic doctoral…

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…

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…

This study of cultural self-identity is based on stories of mentorship drawn from a 6-month study of 11 female Hispanic preservice teachers enrolled in degree programs at Texas A&M University. These students were interviewed about mentoring influences that contributed to their decision to become teachers, about sponsorship and assistance…

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…

In this research study, individuals involved in the original implementation of a desegregation plan in the Riverside Unified School District (California) and those who were affected by the plan were interviewed to determine pros and cons of the desegregation issue. In Riverside 30 years earlier there were three segregated schools, one that was…

This report summarizes the responses of students in two Philadelphia high schools to the second year of implementation of the Talent Development comprehensive school reform model. Both schools served low-income, predominantly African American and Hispanic American students. The Talent Development model was intended to improve schools facing…