UCLA

This dissertation further investigates predominant issues in the educational pipeline, that is, both the higher education and K-12 context. In particular, I first attempt to answer why post-secondary enrollment at U.S. colleges and universities has increased among all students, but racial/ethnic and gender inequalities persist in the college experience. That is, Latinx and Black students continue to be less likely to graduate from post-secondary institutions and women are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Second, I further contextualize suspensions and the criminalization of students of color in schools today. Today, many schools rely heavily on police and security officers to maintain discipline. Therefore, in part, this dissertation explores this phenomenon and investigates how the type of staff (e.g., support vs. policing) may contribute to the days of lost instruction time due to out-of-school suspensions. Overall, to investigate the issues proposed, my dissertation uses social network methods to examine college-level educational trajectories at the institutional level and, using quantitative methods, I examine discipline disparities using national data.