Victor B. Sáenz

The Vanishing Latino Male in Higher Education

Latino male students are “vanishing” from the American education pipeline, a trend that is especially evident at the secondary and postsecondary levels. The question of why Latino males are vanishing from Americas colleges is complex, and this scholarly article explores some of the socio-cultural factors, peer dynamics, and labor force demands that may be conspiring to propagate this trend. The authors expound on various theoretical and empirical explanations for this persisting and troubling trend.

Policy Transparency and College Enrollment: Did the Texas Top 10% Law Broaden Access to the Public Flagships?

By guaranteeing college admission to all students who graduate in the top 10 percent of their high school class, Texas H.B. 588 replaced an opaque de facto practice of admitting nearly all top 10 percent graduates with a transparent de jure policy that required public institutions to admit all applicants eligible for the guarantee. The new admission regime sent a clear message to students attending high schools that previously sent few students to the Texas flagships. Using 18 years of administrative data to examine sending patterns, we find a sizeable decrease in the concentration of flagship enrollees originating from select feeder schools and growing shares of enrollees originating from high schools located in rural areas, small towns, and midsize cities, as well as from schools with concentrations of poor and minority students. For new sending schools, we find substantial year-to-year persistence in sending behavior, which increased after the top 10 percent policy was implemented.

Moving Beyond High School Expectations: Examining Stakeholders' Responsibility for Increasing Latina/o Students' College Readiness

In an effort to improve college readiness for Latina/o students, this article examines the meaning and significance of college readiness among multiple stakeholders (teachers, counselors, parents, students, and superintendents) in the South Texas border region. Using focus group data, this article explores the assets embedded within college readiness by using integrated Chicana feminist theory (Anzaldúa, 1987; Fránquiz & Salazar, 2004) and community cultural wealth (Yosso, 2005, 2006) lenses. In particular, the authors conceptualize a hybrid framework-borderland cultural wealth (BCW)-which we define as the cultural assets present in this region that when cultivated and tapped into effectively can improve college preparation and access.Findings reveal that stakeholders felt both individual and collective responsibility for college readiness. Furthermore, stakeholders voiced the need for improved college readiness efforts so that students can be successful in diverse universities and to break the cycle of low-college-going rates of this region. Implications for research and practice for P-20 educators, practitioners, and policymakers are discussed.

Examining the Precollege Attributes and Values of Latina/o Bachelor's Degree Attainers

This article focuses on understanding successful Latina/o college student retention at 4-year institutions. Deficit models fail to consider how Latina/o students use different forms of capital (i.e., social, cultural, economic, and human) in earning a degree. Using data from the UCLAs Cooperative Institutional Research Program, factors associated with Latina/o degree attainment within 6 years were investigated. This article will be of interest to educators and policy makers committed to increasing college access and retention for Latina/o students. Este manuscrito se aboca a comprener la retención exitosa de estudiantes universitarios latinos en instituciones de cuatro años. Modelos negativos fallan en considerar como estudiantes latinos usan formas diferentes de capital (por ejemplo capital social, cultural, económico y humano) para obtener su grado académico. Usando información del Programa de Investigación de Cooperación Institucional de la Universidad de California en Los Ángeles, los factores asociados con el logro académico en seis años fueron investigados. Este manuscrito será de interés para educadores e instituciones gubernamentales comprometidas a aumentar el acceso y la retención universitaria de estudiantes latinos.

Higher Education Reform as a Social Movement: The Case of Affirmative Action

This paper explores affirmative action as a social movement with two goals in mind: (a) to challenge dominant notions of higher education reform, while advancing a social movement perspective; and (b) to advance understanding of the role of collective action in supporting affirmative action in college admissions. The authors highlight ways in which proponents and opponents of affirmative action have utilized collective action as a means for advancing particular ideological visions relative to race-based admissions policies.

Community College Student Engagement Patterns: A Typology Revealed Through Exploratory Cluster Analysis

This study employs survey data from the Center for Community College Student Engagement to examine the similarities and differences that exist across student-level domains in terms of student engagement in community colleges. In total, the sample used in the analysis pools data from 663 community colleges and includes more than 320,000 students. Using data-mining techniques to discover a parsimonious number of natural clusters and, in turn, a k-means cluster analysis as a means of revealing a naturally occurring typology of engagement patterns, our findings reveal that support service utilization is the most distinguishing feature of the similarities and dissimilarities across student groups, suggesting areas for further theory development and testing.

Ganas: From the Individual to the Community, and the Potential for Improving College Going in the “Land That Texas Forgot”

This study explores college-going ganas in the South Rio Grande Valley of Texas within the context of Frierian liberatory praxis. During focus groups, current and former high school students discussed their experiences developing ganas regarding college going and discussed how parental support was integral to ganas formation. The participants also identified structural barriers preventing ganas from becoming college going (e.g., teachers handcuffed by standardized testing). Students wanted to change these conditions, demonstrated the ability to organize, but had also been taught that they were incapable of creating social change. Implications are discussed.

In the Eye of the Perfect Storm: The Convergence of Policy and Latina/o Trends in Access and Financial Concerns, 1975-2008.

The authors paint a national portrait of Latina/o trends over more than 30 years in terms of demographic and financial concerns that pertain to access at 4-year institutions. Using a multiple policy streams framework, the authors contend that growing numbers of Latina/os are in the eye of the perfect storm in a global economy that calls for more skilled workers at the same time that there are significant policy shifts converging in college finance. Trends over time reveal that Latina/os have remained more sensitive to financial assistance than non-Hispanic Whites in deciding where to go to college. The data also reveal several alarming trends that indicate Latina/os are not benefiting from policy directions established in the past. Realizing the potential for a new policy window of opportunity to reverse adverse effects for Latina/os will be key to the vitality of the nation.

(Re)defining Masculinity through Peer Interactions: Latino Men in Texas Community Colleges

This study uses a phenomenological approach to examine how Latino male students at community colleges engage with their male peers. The analysis utilizes a male gender role conflict (MGRC) framework and employs cultural conceptions of masculinity, specifically machismo and caballerismo. Practitioners and researchers might leverage positive aspects of masculinity associated with caballerismo to help men succeed academically, while promoting reflection on and interrogation of aspects of masculinity that might lead to negative educational outcomes.

Por los ojos de madres: Latina mothers’ understandings of college readiness

In this study, data from six focus groups with 30 Latina mothers in South Texas were analyzed utilizing a “funds of knowledge” approach to uncover their understandings of college readiness and their role in ensuring their children are college ready. Findings indicate that Latina mothers perceived college readiness in a holistic fashion, similar to the concept of educación, in that being college ready encompasses academic preparation and other particular personal attributes that ensure success in college. Mothers also believed they had a shared responsibility in college readiness efforts by providing emotional, financial, and moral support while school personnel and students were responsible for other aspects. Such findings are crucial given that current college readiness research does not explicitly consider the role of parents in college readiness efforts or how parents perceive this notion.