Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Utilizing current research on college readiness as well as the role of cultural agents as a conceptual framework, this qualitative study investigates student and faculty beliefs about readiness and the pedagogical practices that allow instructors to effectively serve as cultural agents for first-generation, low-income students. Three major findings that emerged from the study are as follows: (a) faculty beliefs about student readiness impact the degree to which faculty serve as cultural agents for FGLI students, (b) faculty who serve as cultural agents enact particular practices and dispositions that enable students to become more academically prepared, and (c) FGLI students arrive at college with diverse forms of readiness that require varying forms of nurturing and support. A key implication of the study is that colleges should bear a greater responsibility in supporting faculty and other campus cultural agents in nurturing the success of FGLI students.

Keywords

first-generation college students low-income persistence college readiness discourse cultural agents

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

ACT. (2010). What works in student retention: Fourth national survey. Retrieved from https://www.act.org/research/policymakers/pdf/droptables/CommunityColleges.pdf.

Arnold, K. D., Lu, E. C., & Armstrong, K. J. (2012). The case for a comprehensive model of college readiness. ASHE Report. Wiley Online Library: doi:10.1002/aehe.20005.

Baker

D. B.

Clay

J. N.

Gratama

C. A.

(2005) The essence of college readiness: Implications for students, parents, schools, and researchers, Mill Creek, WA: The BERC Group.

Biesta

(2004) “Mind the Gap!”: Communication and educational relation. In: Bingham

Sidorkin

A. M.

(eds) No education without relation, New York, NY: Peter Lang, pp. 11–22.

Bingham, C., & Sidorkin, A. M. (Eds). (2004). No education without relation. New York, NY: Peter Lang.

Bowen

W. G.

Kurzweil

M. A.

Tobin

E. M.

(2005) Equity and excellence in American higher education, Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press.

Boyd

MacNeill

Sullivan

(2006) Relational pedagogy: Putting balance back into students’ learning. Curriculum and Leadership Journal 4: 13.

Bronfenbrenner

(1979) The ecology of human development, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Cabrera

A. F.

La Nasa

S. M.

Burkum

K. R.

(2001) On the right path: The higher education story of one generation, University Park, PA: Center for the Study of Higher Education, The Pennsylvania State University.

10.

Center for Community College Student Engagement (2012) A matter of degrees: Promising practices for community college student success (a first look), Austin, TX: The University of Texas at Austin, Community College Leadership Program.

11.

Congressional Budget Office. (2011). Trends in the distribution of household income from 1979 to 2007. Retrieved from http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/10-25-HouseholdIncome.pdf.

12.

Conley

D. T.

(2008) Rethinking college readiness. New Directions for Higher Education 144(Winter): 3–13.

13.

Dee

Daly

(2012) Engaging faculty in the process of cultural change in support of diverse student populations. In: Museus

Jayakumar

(eds) Creating campus cultures: Fostering success among racially diverse student populations, New York, NY: Routledge, pp. 168–188.

14.

Engle, J., & Tinto, V. (2008). Moving beyond access: College success for low-income, first-generation students (pp. 1–38): The Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education.

15.

Fairclough

(1995) Discourse and social change, Cambridge, MA: Polity and Blackwell.

16.

Fairclough

Wodak

(1997) Critical discourse analysis. In: van Dijk

T. A.

(ed.) Discourse as social interaction. Discourse studies: A multidisciplinary introduction, volume 2, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, pp. 258–284.

17.

Giroux

H. A.

McLaren

(1994) Between borders: pedagogy and the politics of cultural studies, New York, NY: Routledge.

18.

Glaser

B. G.

Strauss

A. L.

(1967) The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research, Chicago, IL: Aldine.

19.

Gulf Coast Community College. (2011). Community college retention and recruitment of at-risk students. Retrieved from http://www.isac.org/dotAsset/cacfb883-117c-48ac-8af0-abea7feb6a58.pdf.

20.

Harper

S. R.

Quaye

S. J.

(2007) Student organizations as venues for Black identity expression and development among African American male student leaders. Journal of College Student Development 48(2): 127–144.

21.

Institute of Higher Education Policy. (2012). Supporting first-generation students through classroom-based practices (pp. 1–29): Washington DC: Author. Retrieved from http://www.ihep.org/assets/files/publications/s-z/(Issue_Brief)_Walmart_MSI_Supporting_FGS_September_2012.pdf.

22.

Kuh

G. D.

Kinzie

Buckley

J. A.

Bridges

B. K.

Hayek

J. C.

(2006) What matters to student success: A review of the literature, Washington, DC: National Postsecondary Education Cooperative.

23.

Kuh

G. D.

Love

P. G.

(2000) A cultural perspective on student departure. In: Braxton

J. M.

(ed.) Re-working the student departure puzzle, Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, pp. 196–212.

24.

Lincoln

Guba

(1985) Naturalistic inquiry, Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

25.

Moore

Shulock

(2010) Divided we fall: Improving completion and closing racial gaps in California’s community colleges, Sacramento, CA: Institute for Higher Education Leadership & Policy, California State University.

26.

Museus

S. D.

Quaye

J. S.

(2009) Toward an intercultural perspective of racial and ethnic minority college student persistence. The Review of Higher Education 33(1): 67–94.

27.

Pascarella

E. T.

Terenzini

P. T.

(2005) How colleges affect students: A third decade of research, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

28.

Pike

G. R.

Kuh

G. D.

(2005) First- and second-generation college students: A comparison of their engagement and intellectual development. The Journal of Higher Education 76(3): 276–300.

29.

Richardson

R. C.

Skinner

E. F.

(1992) Helping first-generation minority students achieve degrees. In: Zwerling

L. S.

London

H. B.

(eds) First-generation college students: Confronting the cultural issues, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

30.

Ritchie, J., & Lewis. J. (Eds). (2003). Qualitative research practice: A guide for social science students and researchers. London, England: Sage.

31.

Stanton-Salazar

R. D.

(1997) A social capital framework for understanding the socialization of racial minority children and youths. Harvard Educational Review 67(1): 1–40.

32.

Strauss

Corbin

(1998) Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory, 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

33.

Tierney

W. G.

(1999) Models of minority college-going and retention: Cultural integrity versus cultural suicide. The Journal of Negro Education 68(1): 80–91.

34.

Tinto

(1993) Leaving college: Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition, 2nd ed. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

35.

Tinto

(2004) Student retention and graduation: Facing the truth, living with the consequences. Occasional Paper 1, Washington, DC: The Pell Institute.

36.

Von Secker, C. (2009). Closing the gap: Seven keys to college readiness for students of all races/ethnicities. Accountability update (pp. 1–17). Montgomery County Public Schools.

37.

Wodak

Reisigl

(2001) Discourse and racism. In: Schiffrin

Tannen

Hamilton

H. E.

(eds) The handbook of discourse analysis, Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, pp. 372–397.

38.

Yamamura

E. K.

Martinez

M. A.

Saenz

V. B.

(2010) Moving beyond high school expectations: Examining stakeholders’ responsibility for increasing Latina/o students’ college readiness. The High School Journal 93(3): 126–148.

39.

Yosso

T. J.

(2005) Whose culture has capital? A critical race discussion of community cultural wealth. Race Ethnicity and Education 8(1): 69–82.

Are College Faculty and First-Generation,Low-Income Students Ready for Each Other?

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References