First Generation College Students (FGCS) account for one third of all doctoral degree recipients in the USA, however, very little is known about their educational experiences. Using a narrative inquiry approach, this study uses a Cultural Proficient framework to explore the barriers that prevent FGCS from pursuing post-undergraduate opportunities, how they’ve overcome them and provide next steps for educators and leaders. In an attempt to expand asset-based research, this dissertation applies Resiliency Lens, Critical Race Theory and Socialization Lens to the experiences of six participants. Research on FGCS suggests some of the challenges FGCS encounter in college is more debt, lack of guidance in the admissions process, feelings of disconnect in their communities back home and in higher education. Stories, however, can be an important tool in helping students reflect on their experiences, to stay engaged in the classroom, build agency, develop growth mindsets, and create important networks with formal and informal leaders to succeed in academia.

Despite the growth of ethnic diversity in the student population in the United States, many English Language Arts teachers continue to prioritize assigning literature written by white authors. Researchers have outlined the many benefits of studying multicultural literature for both white students as well as students of color. Many case studies have been conducted in which the researchers observe the challenges a teacher may face in implementing lessons regarding multicultural literature and how they may overcome those barriers; however, there is little literature addressing those challenges from the point of view of the teachers. In this project, I used a qualitative phenomenological research study design understand was the barriers high school English language arts teachers face regarding implementing multicultural literature, and how they may overcome those barriers and make decisions for their classroom, and the role their institutions play in that decision-making process. The study revealed that participants faced issues with text accessibility, being able to effectively navigate classroom conversations around controversial topics and balancing their time between implementing curriculum and preparing for all the required assessments.

Latinx students are becoming the majority population in K-12 public schools in the United States. Despite higher education institutions, K-12 schools, and non-profit organizations working to increase Latinx college admission rates, these students continue to be underrepresented in four-year colleges/universities. Latinx students who successfully overcome the multiple barriers to become eligible, apply, and admitted into a university may find their post-secondary plans disintegrate during the summer months between high school graduation and college matriculation (Rall, 2016; Tichavakunda & Galan, 2020). This is a time period where traditionally neither the high school nor the intended college take responsibility for these students or support their transition, resulting in the failure of some students to matriculate at their intended post-secondary institution. Summer melt is a term applied to students that apply to college, are accepted to college, but melt away from the enrollment cycle in the summer months prior to the fall term for various reasons (Castleman & Page, 2014). This phenomenological study collected data from semi-structured interviews with California Latinx students who planned to attend university immediately after high school graduation in 2020 but did not actually matriculate at a four-year institution. The goal was to better understand the lived experiences of Latinx summer melt students as well as explore factors that influenced their final college decision during the COVID-19 pandemic. Study participants discussed the challenges they encountered during their college application and enrollment process and how they navigated these obstacles utilizing different supports and forms of community cultural wealth. The challenges students faced during their journey to college were COVID-19 pandemic, college cost and family finances, difficulty completing college enrollment tasks, and personal challenges. Students received support during their college transition process from family, near-age peers, high school staff, college access program staff, and community college staff. The major forms of CCW students utilized in the pursuit of their college goals were aspirational, familial, social and navigational while the least forms of capital used were resistant and linguistic.

Culturally responsive school leadership (CRSL) is essential to research regardingculturally responsive pedagogy, reform, and social justice education. This comprehensive study sought to provide a responsive framework for the needs of diverse students via a holistic approach, not limited to culturally sustaining pedagogy. This study included the clarifying strands of CRSL: critical self-awareness, teacher preparation, school environments, and community advocacy. CRSL behaviors and their focus on equity, inclusion, advocacy, and social justice in public schools. This analysis revealed historically marginalized students and communities' rich narratives of agency, appropriation, and resistance to oppression; Nevertheless, this term also recognizes the history of injustices their people have faced and the need for schools to resist continuing the contexts of oppression. Because young scholars in marginalized communities endure oppressive structures, including educational institutions, culturally responsive school leaders have an ethical responsibility to counter this oppression. This research drew upon current research on leadership, social justice, culturally responsive schooling, and historically marginalized communities. This study reflects leadership’s continued promise and implications for community-based schooling.

The number of women, Students of Color, and LGBTQIA+ students enrolled in institutions of higher education have increased significantly over the past several decades (Hanson, 2021; National Center for Education Statistics, 2010). Though gaps in higher education degree completion have improved in recent years, gains for Students of Color have not kept pace with their white peers (Pendakur, 2016). Minoritized students continue to face disparate experiences and outcomes on college campuses (Bickford, 2019; Hurtado & Carter, 1997; Hussain & Jones, 2021; Johnson et al., 2007; Kelly & Torres, 2006; Vaccaro & Newman, 2017). Recent literature has suggested universities need to assume greater responsibility in welcoming and supporting minoritized students (Dowd et al., 2011; Museus, 2014; Oseguera, 2009). Focusing on sense of belonging (Hurtado & Carter, 1997; Hussain & Jones, 2021), employing equity models of student success (Harper, 2012; Museus, 2014; Tatum, 2007; Yosso, 2005), and encouraging diverse forms of epistemology are all key strategies to supporting minoritized students (Hill Collins, 2009; hooks, 1994; Tanaka, 2004). This dissertation explored the ways in which campus cultural centers are spaces that support positive subcultures and can contribute meaningfully to closing gaps in graduation rates. Cultural centers are rare examples of “third-spaces” where students’ academic and cocurricular experiences are bridged in ways that are culturally specific and affirming (Gutiérrez, 2008; Patton, 2011; Sanders, 2016; Shuford, 2011). This study used qualitative methods to understand the ways in which engagement in cultural centers supported student achievement at one specific institution of higher education. Data collected from semistructured interviews from juniors and seniors at California University and a focus group with professional staff explored the impact of cultural center spaces on student achievement.

Foster youth graduate from college at lower rates than their nonfoster youth peers. Only 10% of foster youth graduate with an associate degree, and less than 3% graduate with a bachelor's degree (Courtney et al., 2011), and there is a significant achievement gap between foster youth and nonfoster youth students (Emerson & Bassett, 2010; Hussar et al., 2020; Ryan et al., 2007; Zetlin et al., 2004). Thus, foster youth require leaders to develop sustainable and supportive programs at community colleges to help them reach their educational goals. Researchers examining foster youth in community colleges have focused primarily on the lack of program evaluation (Hernandez & Naccarato, 2010; Miller et al., 2017; Unrau et al., 2017). As such, research on nonformal leaders charged with developing an equity-minded campus-based program is limited. This phenomenological study employed cultural proficiency and exemplary leadership frameworks as a dual lens to understand the influence nonformal leaders' personal values and campus perceptions have on developing an equity-minded program. After semistructured interviews with 10 nonformal leaders, results indicated that they remained in their roles primarily due to their personal values. They often had negative perceptions of their campus, and nine participants reported a disconnect between their personal values and their campus values. However, they remained at the campus because of their personal values and desire to serve students. Understanding nonformal leaders' perceptions (i.e., ways of thinking) and beliefs (i.e., ideas that inform our perceptions) was essential. The researcher concluded that nonformal leaders' campus perceptions influence the program and its development. Of the 10 participants, two left their college due to their campus perceptions. Moreover, the study revealed that equity exists within the ten foster youth programs, because of the nonformal leaders' personal values and without their personal values equity would be nonexistent. This was due to lack of equity existing within the college campus system.

Transgender and/or Nonbinary populations in the United States experience significant rates of harassment, discrimination, victimization, and psychological distress in nearly all aspects of life due to systemic stigmatization against those who violate societal gender norms. Such social disparities are often enacted through the environmental and interpersonal interactions of Transgender and/or Nonbinary individuals beginning in their formative years and throughout their lifespan. Tangible consequences from these biased interactions can be seen in their systemic economic stratification due to employment insecurity, which hampers their ability to participate in mainstream society and perpetuates their marginalization. Given the relationship between postsecondary degree attainment and the economic and employment security of Transgender and/or Nonbinary individuals, the focus of this study was to uncover the ways in which they perceive their environmental and/or interpersonal interaction factors influencing their postsecondary academic selections. Drawing from Spade’s (2015) Critical Trans Politics, Bronfenbrenner and Morris’s (2006) Process-Person-Context-Time Model, and Museus’s (2014) Culturally Engaging Campus Environments Model (CECE Model) of College Success, a participatory-social justice, narrative inquiry design was used to answer this study’s research questions. Potential implications from this study on the U.S. educational system and the experiences and life trajectories of Transgender and/or Nonbinary undergraduates are discussed.

This dissertation examines the efficacy of a professional development program in developing data literate and culturally proficient community college instructors. Existing research suggests that there is a need for high-quality professional development in Cultural Proficiency and data literacy for community college instructors to make continuous improvements in the classroom. As such, the Regional Consortium for the San Diego and Imperial Counties Community Colleges executed the inaugural Strong Workforce Faculty Institute in 2020—a professional development program aimed at 1) fostering strong collaboration and engagement among faculty, researchers, and deans; 2) encouraging self-reflection, inquiry, and research-based decision-making; and 3) inspiring teaching and learning from a culturally inclusive perspective. The first cohort began with 245 full-time and adjunct instructors in February 2020 and ended with 223 program completers in September 2020—a 91 percent completion rate. This study examines the conditions necessary for a professional development program to effectively train instructors to use student outcomes data for continuous improvements in culturally diverse classrooms and assesses to what extent the program met its goals and contributed to participants’ learning. Using mixed-methods research, this study analyzes quantitative data from survey responses and supplements the findings with qualitative information from interviews with participants. The findings will be used to improve future iterations of the Strong Workforce Faculty Institute specifically and to inform community college instructor professional development more broadly.

Teachers can be one of the most powerful factors in creating a safer school culture through intervening when they hear lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) slurs (Bockenek and Brown, 2001; Kosciw et al., 2009). Teachers are the primary adult contact students have throughout their school day, and many teachers hear gay slurs in the classroom and do not intervene. My design study focuses on creating a school culture where teachers intervene when they hear students using LGBT slurs in the classroom or on campus. This study does not focus on attempting to shift the entire school culture within the duration of the design study process but rather begin to acknowledge the critical LGBT issues on campus by addressing gay slurs. This design study is the beginning of a larger school culture change process.

The SHU:SH Project Slurs Hurt Us: Safety and Health - Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Students at School, a mixed-method study combining qualitative and quantitative methods, begins with identifying the problem of practice: students and teachers hear LGBT slurs on a daily basis in the classroom and hallways. What is problematic about this behavior is that teachers ignore these slurs, tolerate them, and do not intervene when they hear slurs. For this study, I developed a theory of action to guide the design. Drawing from the literature, I identified five key design elements in creating a professional development process by which a school culture is created to enable teachers and staff to intervene when they hear LGBT slurs on campus: create cognitive dissonance and awareness, develop a safe space for conversation and reduce fear and defensiveness while creating responsibility and personalization, acknowledge depth of problem and deepen insight, engage in inquiry cycle while creating action space, and efficacy.

Overall, I found the unpredictability of difficult, volatile, and complex human interactions around social status requires enormously capable leaders (Theoharis, 2007). The local context of silence pervasive in this social justice high school embodied the complexity of addressing slurs. My hope is the next design iteration will focus on self-critical inquiry for social justice leaders, examine the local context of silence, and analyze the effective implementation of theory to practice within social justice initiatives.

Sí Se Puede, Sí Se Pudo, Sí Se Va a Poder:The Narrative Experience of Newcomer Immigrant Adolescent Students in Obtaining a High School Diploma

School districts across the country are responsible for providing a fair and equitable education to all students who enter its doors. The current flows of immigration have created a challenge for educational agencies to meet the needs of newcomer immigrant adolescent students. As unique members of the education system, these students enter not knowing the language, academic structures, educational requirements, or social norms of their new academic home. As families continue to migrate, their children often struggle to find a successful path in the American education system. For newcomer immigrant adolescent students, the first step in achieving their American dream is to earn their high school diploma. This study explored the lived experiences of newcomer immigrant adolescent students as they pursued their high school diplomas. Moving forward, I utilize newcomer immigrant adolescent students to identify RAIELs (Recently Arrived Immigrant English Learners Students) to define the group of students I study. The literature review presented explored research on English Language Learner students (ELLs) with a focus on RAIEL students, current academic structures serving ELLs, and the importance of a student’s voice. Research indicated that to ensure academic success for newcomer immigrant adolescent students, it is imperative to have strong and purposeful academic structures that meet the social-emotional needs of these students. In addition to strong and purposeful structures, it is essential to clearly articulate the importance of a leadership role to ensure all agencies and decision-making entities are coordinated with an understanding of the academic, linguistic, social, and emotional needs of this special population. This population, often marginalized by so much more than just the inability to speak English; social justice and leadership implications are also discussed. This narrative inquiry study used qualitative methods to explore the nature of the questions based on the participants' views and experiences. This narrative inquiry study used qualitative methods to understand participants views based on the questions asked by the researcher. explore the nature of the questions based on the participants' views. Narrative inquiry describes a collaboration between participants and researchers during the collection of stories in which both gain valuable insight because of the process (Creswell, 2012). Allowing newcomer immigrant adolescent students to tell their stories was best suited through narrative inquiry. From my data analysis, three themes emerged from using the cultural proficiency essential element assessing culture and cultural proficiency essential element valuing diversity: historical context, family, and community programs. The importance of understandings students lived experiences, the importance of family inclusion, and the importance of community programs that connect students to resources. Student expression played a key role in this analysis, allowing them to describe their experiences through their own voice. The essential elements that this study focused on was assessing culture and valuing diversity. Through this analysis, I address the following research questions: How do newcomer immigrant adolescent students experience their high school journey? and, Specifically, what experiences contribute to and detract from their ability to persevere toward graduation? Empowering and providing support to foster positive experiences for newcomer adolescent students is a collective task of parents, educational leaders, and community. Newcomer adolescent immigrants continue to arrive at schools in hopes of achieving their American dream. Ensuring structures are in place to support their academic and social emotional well-being will likely benefit society. As these students acclimate themselves into the communities where they live, it is important they integrate in a manner that positively impacts society.