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Gina A. Garcia
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2012

Challenging the “manufactured identity” of Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs): An exploration of the social construction of organizational identity at a HSI

Abstract: As the Latina/o population burgeons, Latina/o students will increasingly enter postsecondary institutions and continue to drive the growth in the number of institutions of higher education that are becoming Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs; those that enroll 25% or more undergraduate Latina/o students). Beyond the 25% enrollment requirement, however, many HSIs have yet to determine what it means to be “Latina/o serving.” The purpose of this study is to examine the organizational identity of one federally designated four-year HSI in California. Using a case study methodology, this research will use multiple methods, including in-depth interviews, observations, and document reviews, to examine the organizational culture, practices, policies, and climate of inclusion for Latina/o students at the designated site. This study will add to our knowledge about the way institutions of higher education support Latina/o college students through critical transitions by making college accessible and enhancing the conditions for success and graduation.

Margaret A. Gibson
UC Santa Cruz/education

Fellow, 2001

Title: Invitational Book Conference: Peer Influences on the School Performance of Mexican-Descent Adolescents

This invitational conference will bring together a small group of UC and other researchers who study how peers and peer groups influence the school engagement and academic achievement of high-school age youth of Mexican descent. The conference papers also consider the schools’ role in structuring relations with different groups of youth. Research findings are drawn both from large-scale longitudinal research projects, and from smaller projects. Most of the school sites are in California, with comparative data included from Texas and Florida.

Elizabeth Gilliland
UC Davis/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2011

Dissertation: Talking about Writing: Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Adolescents’ Socialization into Academic Literacy

Abstract: Taking a language socialization perspective, my research describes conditions for academic language development in culturally and linguistically diverse adolescents through a multi-case ethnographic study of high school writing instruction in California. I observed and recorded classroom talk about writing over one year in English language arts and English language development classes. Follow-up interviews with graduated seniors consider their transition into college writing. Data were analyzed using a grounded theory approach (Strauss, 1987). Further deductive analyses consider classroom discourse patterns (Bloome et al., 2005; Gibbons, 2006). The study examines consistencies and inconsistencies in curriculum from ELD to mainstream, ninth to twelfth grades, and from high school to college. This study traces ways students learn to talk about writing and proposes ways for schools to better address culturally and linguistically diverse students’ learning needs around academic language and writing in the face of accountability pressures and limited resources.

Gigi Gomez, Ph.D.
UCLA/education

Postdoctoral Fellow, 2005

Title: Clearing a Path to College: Examining How the Home and School Cultures Influence the College Choices of Mien American Students.

The Mien Americans are a largely unknown population when compared to other Southeast Asians and Asian Pacific Islander Americans. Arriving to the United States as war refugees of war in the 1970s, the adjustment and social problems of Mien American refugee adults and their American born children are typically unidentified, understudied, and unaddressed. Experiencing low educational attainment rates, few Mien Americans have gone to college. But because of their small numbers, the model minority image, and the practice of aggregating all Asian ethnic sub-groups, the educational struggles of the Mien Americans go undetected.

Extending my dissertation’s college-choice study on Mien American high school students, I plan to return to the same California public high school and examine how Mien refugee parents, teachers, and counselors influence the college choices of Mien students. Working with Dr. Margaret Gibson and her theory of accommodation without assimilation, I seek to understand the tensions and barriers as well as the successful strategies that the parents, teachers, and counselors impose on the Mien college-going students. Utilizing qualitative methods, the purpose of this study is not only to examine how parents and school staff members can work together to bolster the weak educational pipeline of the Mien students, but also to broaden the college access knowledge for other similar struggling students through programs, policy, and research.
Click here to download the full proposal

Anne Gregory
UC Berkeley/psychology

Dissertation Fellow, 2003

Dissertation: Defiance or cooperation in the high school classroom: understanding how school discipline policies impact the education of African American students

Abstract: A much-discussed achievement gap across racial and ethnic groups plagues the educational system. Less discussed is a gap in discipline– the burden of which falls mostly on African American adolescents. African American students are often excluded from class for “defiance”  suggesting pervasive authority conflicts between teachers and their African American students. Yet little research has explored what fuels or can prevent these negative interactions. This study includes a broad-scale review of discipline data at a large high school and an in-depth examination of how students and teachers experience defiance and cooperation. The study analyzes student beliefs, teaching styles, and discipline practices that promote trust, respect, and cooperation between teachers and students. The findings will provide insight into reducing the rates that African Americans are excluded from class for disciplinary reasons and for increasing their access to safe, engaging classrooms, which are critical for college preparation.

Dianna Gutierrez
UC Davis/education

Fellow, 2001

Title: The Process of Social Capital Formation: One Rural High School’s Response to Educate Mexican Immigrant Students

This ethnographic study examines the experiences of working-class recent Mexican immigrant and limited English speaking youth in an impoverished rural high school. It seeks to illuminate how the structure and culture of rural high schools enable and constrain the social relationships that these high-risk students form with peers and adults. These relationships are critically important since peers and educators can provide various types of institutional resources and support (known as social capital) that are linked to higher academic achievement levels and access to higher education that families with little formal education are able to provide.

Kris Gutierrez
UCLA/education

Fellow, 2001

Title: Studying Effective Bilingual/Biliteracy Programs in a Post 227 Context

This study examines how 25 high achieving elementary schools and teachers create effective learning communities that utilize primary language instruction in a high stakes assessment context. Using qualitative methods of inquiry and sociocultural perspectives of learning and development, the study will document the school and instructional practices that build on students’ linguistic knowledge and practices, promote learning, and meet or surpass state achievement goals.