Fellow Index: 

Search by last name:

2013

Nancy Acevedo-Gil
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2013

Eduardo Lara
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2013

Adriana Ruiz Alvarado
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2013

2012

Erin Cue
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2012

Let’s YAP About the Future: A Youth Attribution Program for African-American 6th Graders

Abstract: African-American students' beliefs about the causes of their academic failures is an area that has not been explored in-depth. Nonetheless, with low graduation rates and ongoing reports of low academic achievement, educators must begin to understand African-American students perceptions and attitudes toward school and use the insights gained to address issues challenging African-American students in our education system. Using a mixed-method approach, this research identifies the causal attributions for academic failure that may be endorsed by African-American 6th graders. The overarching goal of this research is to examine whether harmful attributional beliefs (e.g., academic failure is caused by a stable characteristic that cannot be changed) among 6th grade low achievers can be altered through an attribution-retraining intervention. Guided by attribution theory, hypotheses address the notion that increasing the belief that academic failure is not stable and can be changed through personal effort will improve students' psychological and behavioral outcomes.

Leslie Echols
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2012

Taking a Closer Look at Academic Tracking: New Measures, New Questions, and New Implications for Ethnic Minority Youth

Abstract: With the achievement gap steadily increasing as children move from elementary to secondary education and contributing to the underrepresentation of minority students in higher education, there is a critical need to understand early school influences on ethnic minority youth that lead to later academic success. My dissertation proposes that the pathway to higher education for ethnic minority youth is largely influenced by academic tracking beginning in middle school. Using a segregation index along with an academic tracking index created for this study, my dissertation employs quantitative data analysis to (1) examine tracking in the context of school influences on ethnic minority youth and (2) predict the academic adjustment of ethnic minority students in middle school. I hypothesize that tracking influences academic outcomes directly by limiting the academic preparation minority students receive and indirectly by restricting associations with cross-ethnic peers who may offer unique types of social and academic support.

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.

Jean J. Ryoo 
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2012

Mobilizing Generation Z: An Examination of Teaching and Learning in a Mobile Phone-based, Youth-driven, Research Curriculum

Abstract: Computer technology innovations are central to solving future problems regarding poverty, hunger, pollution, etc. Yet only affluent white and certain Asian American students are being prepared to create these innovations through inquiry-based, computer science projects, while underrepresented secondary school students use computers for basic word processing or “drill-and-kill” test preparation. To address this inequity, “Mobilize” provides underrepresented students with a rigorous, college preparatory, computer science curriculum—in which youth conduct community research using mobile phones and apps of their own design. Since this curriculum’s success depends on how it is engaged, my dissertation study draws on Freirean and Vygotskian theories to examine how educators teach and what students learn in Mobilize. Through a qualitative case study of three high school classrooms, this work fills a research gap regarding computer science pedagogy and best practices while contributing to efforts aimed at improving technology-based education for underrepresented students.

Yen Ling Shek
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2012

Cultural resource centers in higher education: Missions, structures, and strategies

Abstract: Cultural resource centers in higher education serve as crucial counterspaces for students of color as they navigate college. Although there is a long history of these race-specific and multicultural centers on college campuses, little is known about their missions, structures and strategies at a macro-level. This study seeks to understand the commonalities and differences among cultural resource centers. Through survey data, typologies of cultural resource centers may emerge nationally. Follow-up interviews will then be conducted to get richer data on the strategies used by cultural resource centers. Cultural resource centers, which serve as institutionalized support spaces for outreach and retention efforts, are questioned in times of resource scarcity and serve as a critical issue in supporting students of color in higher education. This study will provide the foundational work needed for cultural resource center assessment and assist with creating critical conditions needed for the educational success of underrepresented students.

Bryan Ventura
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2012

Perspectives from within the Hidden System: A Mixed-Method Examination of Practices used by California's Model Continuation Schools

Abstract: With a legislatively mandated focus on dropout prevention, continuation schools have been charged with educating high school students at risk of school failure. Unfortunately, research and reform efforts have overlooked this important segment of the education system. This study seeks to investigate the practices used by successful continuation schools as a starting point for improving how these schools serve their students. The study examines Model Continuation Schools, an award given to exemplary programs by California’s Department of Education, and examines the practices these schools use to increase student learning, participation, and ultimately graduation. Ethnographic research methods are used to provide an in-depth examination of the practices at a local Model Continuation School. This is supplemented by an analysis of written narratives describing the practices of other Model Continuation Schools in the region. Together these findings draw attention to the way in which alternative school spaces can serve and support their students.

2011

Melanie Bertrand
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2011

Dissertation: Working Toward Change: Youth Researchers Challenging Systemic Racism in Education

Abstract: Many Black and Latino high school students are denied access to rigorous curriculum, hurting their chances of postsecondary success. This paper explores a novel approach to addressing this manifestation of systemic racism in education, studying the potential of Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR)—youth-driven, collective research and advocacy—to promote the improvement of curriculum for these students. My study examines the advocacy efforts of a YPAR group called the Council, whose members include Latino and Black high school students and adult allies. My study indicates that the students’ “advocacy messages” about rigorous curriculum have impacted teachers, school administrators, curriculum, and pedagogy. Also, the Council as a whole has served as a curricular model for teachers and school administrators.

Rhoda Freelon
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2011

Dissertation: Shaping the Lives of their Children: How African American Parents Make Educational Investments

Abstract: This study seeks to better understand African American parents’ educational involvement by providing a nuanced account of the ways they invest in their children’s education. By disaggregating analyses to document within-group differences and similarities, this study will move away from monolithic portrayals of African American parents. The study will also explore how decisions and actions traditionally characterized as investment activities may be mediated by parents’ assets, dispositions, educational orientations, and social location. By examining parents’ educational investment patterns using quantitative and qualitative data, this study seeks to interrogate prevailing deficit understandings about African American parents. Further, this study will make contributions to our knowledge of family and secondary school connections by examining educational investments in the context of the adolescent years which represent a key time for a youth’s transition to adulthood. Educational investments made during this time could prove consequential for African American students’ college opportunity.

Danny C. Martínez
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2011

Dissertation: Expanding Linguistic Repertoires: An Ethnography of Black and Latino Intercultural Communication at Willow High School

Abstract: Using theoretical and methodological tools from Sociocultural language and literacy research, and the Ethnography of Communication tradition, my dissertation documents the linguistic repertoires of Black and Latina/o youth at Willow High School. Situated in four English Language Arts classrooms, this study explores the regularities and variances of Black and Latina/o youths’ language practices. This study seeks to encourage a nuanced understanding of the intercultural peer language socialization processes of Black and Latina/o youth, and to highlight linguistic dexterity of these youth. This study details the ways in which Black and Latina/o youth participate in everyday intercultural language activities that expand their linguistic repertoires in ways not valued by current educational discourse that support the hegemony of English. This study will inform a curricular framework that honors the shared practices of Black and Latina/o youth in ways that will treat their languages as a resource for learning and development.

2010

Terry Flennaugh
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2010

Dissertation: Mapping Academic Self-Concept: A Mixed-Method Approach to Understanding Academic Self-concept among Black Males in Urban Schools

Abstract: The Schott Foundation for Education issued a national report card in 2008 revealing that during the 2005-2006 academic year 47% of African American males did not receive diplomas with their classmates after four years of high school. A major component of this problem is what some researchers have referred to as the development of Black adolescents' academic identity or academic self-concept (Welch & Hodges, 1997). This study explores academic self-concept among high and low-performing Black males in urban schools through the use identity maps, surveys and interviews. A variety of factors are considered within this study such as the role peers, family, parents, teachers, school staff, school activities, popular culture and community play in the composition of academic self-concept. Further understanding of these identification processes can heavily impact models for counseling, pedagogy, and theories surrounding achievement for Black males.

Megan Hopkins
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2010

Dissertation: Drawing on Our Assets: A Study of the Unique Contributions of Bilingual Teachers

Abstract: This study examines the unique contributions that bilingual teachers make to the education of English learners (ELs) and the extent to which these contributions are mediated by the policy context. Assessing bilingual teachers’ contributions, or the assets and skills that translate into pedagogical and other teaching practices, is especially relevant due to the continuing underachievement of ELs, who comprise one of the fastest growing student populations in the country, and to the decreasing numbers of teachers pursuing bilingual credentials in states with English-only policies. A small body of research suggests that bilingual teachers are best suited to work with ELs, inferring that the loss of bilingual teachers is negatively impacting EL outcomes. Using a mixed methods approach, this study will provide the first broad-scale examination of the practices of teachers of ELs and assess the impact of policies that precipitate declines in the number of teachers pursuing bilingual credentials.

Mei-Ling Malone
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2010

Dissertation: Over-Incarcerated and Undereducated: Examining the Rise of the School-to-Prison Pipeline for Blacks and Latinos in California

Abstract: The prison system and the education system are separate institutions with distinct purposes.  Despite the stark differences, research, reports and the emerging “school-to-prison pipeline” field demonstrate that these two institutions co-construct each other and have formed a problematic relationship that disproportionately impacts African Americans and Latinos nationwide and in California especially. In efforts to investigate this problem, a deeper understanding of how a school-to-prison pipeline develops is urgently needed.   Thus, this study conducts a comparative analysis, examining the history and relationships of California prisons, incarceration rates, criminal legislation and school discipline policies and practices.  Finally, interviews on student experiences around discipline and school climate will be drawn from individuals who attended one urban high school in Los Angeles from the 1960s to the 2000s.

Erica Morales
UCLA/sociology

Dissertation Fellow, 2010

Dissertation: Class and Black Student Experiences within Higher Education

Abstract: The study of intra-group differences among Black students has been an overlooked topic within higher education research. Yet these important within-group differences can work to create different experiences at the university for Black students. Utilizing critical social theory and intersectionality frameworks, I examine how class shapes the lives of Black undergraduate students at UCLA. Drawing upon sixty-two, semi-structured, in-depth interviews with Black students, I focus on the experiences of students in three groups: solidly middle-class, lower
middle-class and low-income. I analyze how class influences the ways students experience: financial challenges at the university, relationships with their Black peers and access to Black student organizations. This research can inform university policy and programs that can be designed to better support Black students from different class backgrounds as they navigate higher education.

Fanny P Yeung
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2010

Dissertation: Legacy of Immigration on Second-generation Immigrant Students in Higher Education

Abstract: The Purpose of this dissertation is to explore the college experiences of second-generation immigrants and how immigrant histories and family responsibilities influence their postsecondary experiences.  The educational outcomes of second-generation students are highly polarized depending on parents’ educational attainment, degree of manual labor required of their parents’ occupational positions, and are further polarized by students’ academic preparation in under-resourced schools and unfamiliarity with the American educational system.  Most research has thus far consolidated first- and second-generation immigrants or has generally focused on first-generation, foreign-born immigrants; overall, little is known about the long-term adaptations of second-generation immigrants in education.  Utilizing Yosso’s (2005) community cultural wealth and an adapted relational accountability framework, this dissertation incorporates three phases of qualitative investigation (semi-structured interviews, photographic documentation, and case studies) with 40 second-generation immigrant college students and selected family members to explore how the family’s immigrant experiences influence students’ experiences and retention in college.

2009

Shiv Desai
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2009

Dissertation: Emancipate yourself from mental slavery / None but ourselves can free our minds :Spoken word as site/sight of resistance, reflection and rediscovery

Abstract: Throughout the nation, urban high schools are experiencing a “silent epidemic” where half of all minority youth drop out of high school.  In addition, these youth are increasingly being incarcerated at disproportional rates (Orfield, 2004).  Thus, this proposal provides a concrete example of implementing the critical conditions needed to enhance college opportunities for underrepresented youth as identified by UC ACCORD.  By providing a three-year qualitative account of a spoken word classroom, I will illustrate how the class fostered a safe learning environment, provided a rigorous academic curriculum and created a college-going culture.  In addition, I demonstrate how creating a student-centered curriculum that privileges “urban youth realities” allows teachers and students to critically analyze key issues affecting the lives of urban youth such as gangs, violence, immigration and education.  Moreover, this study discusses how alternative forms of literacies can enable urban youth to develop a multi-cultural college-going identity (Oakes, 2003).

Maria Malagon
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2009

Dissertation: Trenches Under The Pipeline: The Educational Trajectories of Chicano Male Continuation High School Students

Abstract: This study examines the educational trajectories of 11 Chicano male high school students in a California continuation school. Chicana Feminist Epistemological and Latina/o Critical Race frameworks are utilized to reveal how Chicano male continuation students come to understand their experiences as they access, persist, and resist schooling institutions. Theories of reproduction and resistance additionally provide for a theoretical exploration of Chicano racialized masculinities in educational discourse and practice. Data is collected from participant observation at a continuation school site, along with 22 oral history interviews and one focus group interview. The research and policy goals of this dissertation seeks to 1) subvert dominant paradigms in education discourse that reproduces deficit knowledge about non-dominant communities, 2) move towards epistemological approaches that can examine the multiple and intersecting constructions of race, class, gender, sexuality and other forms of domination, and 3) offer policy recommendations that can help researchers and practioners improve the quality of instructional practices within remedial educational spaces.

Denise Pacheco
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2009

Dissertation: Writing Out LOUD: Developing Student Thinking and Voice through Poetry Writing Using Xicana Feminist Epistemologies and Critical Pedagogies

Abstract: This dissertation uses qualitative methods to investigate the pedagogy, learning and student participation in a creative writing intervention. “The Writing Out Loud Project” introduced a class of fifth graders to college level texts, literary analysis, and poetry writing. Guided by Xicana feminism and critical pedagogy this study argues that poetry writing is useful for bringing institutional recognition to students’ articulation of voice.  By federal standards these students, urban English Learners, are in need of standardized curriculum and instruction.  This dissertation counters this assumption, arguing that poetry writing allows students to practice meaningful ways of using language to develop complex forms of thinking and voice.  Through the teaching of poetry writing as a cultural process as opposed to isolated skills, students were encouraged to take on the identity of a poet. This study contributes to an understanding of the teaching practices and curricula necessary for meeting the academic needs of urban students.

Shirin Vossoughi
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2009

Dissertation: Stretching Towards the Possible: A Qualitative Case Study of Literacy and Learning in the Migrant Program

Abstract: Migrant students comprise one of the most educationally underserved populations in the United States. In the Migrant Program (MSLI), an educational intervention designed to provide a rigorous college preparatory curriculum, high school age migrant students became successful participants in university level reading, writing and social analysis, moving on to matriculate in four year institutions in striking numbers. Through a qualitative case study of one classroom for which I was the primary instructor, this dissertation draws on Freirean and Vygotskian traditions to analyze the specific pedagogical practices that constitute MSLI as an effective intervention. Through micro-ethnographic analysis of classroom discourse and students' expanding participation in university level literacy practices, I look closely at the role of mediation in literacy learning, arguing for the developmental affordances of a deeply collective model of apprenticeship. This study contributes to a growing set of scholarly-pedagogical efforts aimed at transforming literacy education for non-dominant students.

2008

Arshad Ali
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2008

Dissertation: The ‘Other’ at Home: The Construction of the Label ‘Muslim’ as an Emergent Racial Signifier

Abstract: Through this study I ask how this racialization process of Muslim college students in Southern California is occurring. I will engage this research through a mixed methods study employing analysis of two preexisting data sets and the collection of interview and focus group data from Muslim college students on three campuses in Southern California. To explore the questions within my study I utilize a theoretical approach drawing from multiple traditions to construct a more complex picture of Muslim college students. I utilize aspects of socio-cultural learning theory, critical race theories, post-colonialism and critical pedagogies. This project addresses questions including: how do Muslim college students characterize the U.S. culture’s representations of the ‘Muslim’ in the post-9/11 period; how do Muslim college students construct their own racial/racialized identities, and how are these racialized characterizations and identities reflected in the daily lives of Muslim college students?

Gabriel Baca
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2008

Dissertation: Education Organizing, Policy Advocacy and the Accountability Gap: How Activist Organizations Leverage Power for Advancing Equity-Focused Education Policy for English Learners in a Post-Proposition 227 Era

Abstract: Education organizing has increasingly been seen as a significant alternative, given the failure of traditional educational reform strategies, to realize more equitable schooling for students learning English in under-resourced communities. Dozens of organizing groups have entered the field of education reform in the last decade, helping to change the landscape of education politics in powerful ways. In the Southwest, many of these groups hope to remedy the deplorable state of education for English learners, as evidenced by high drop-out rates and poor test scores, and in light of the onerous effects of an accountability system that positions English as the superior and legitimate language to be learned in school. This activism around education has been examined very infrequently either by scholars in education or by scholars of social movements. Moreover, almost nothing is known about how these groups grapple with, make sense of, and ultimately take action around English learner issues. This study begins to fill this gap. Using a blended conceptual framework which draws from studies of equity reform in education, scholarship on education organizing and social movement theory, and using a comparative case study design, this study documents how activist groups use a variety of tools, some grounded in knowledge production and others grounded in political interaction, to advocate for English learners and hold the system accountable for their learning opportunities and outcomes. Specifically, the study examines how four different activist organizations leverage power through social movement activism for equity-focused education policy for English learners. By situating the study within the context of NCLB implementation in California, attention can be given to the complex processes through which education organizing, policy advocacy and restrictive language policies intersect.

Lindsay Huber Perez
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2008

Dissertation: Suenos Indocumentados: The Educational Experiences of Undocumented Chicana College Students at a Public California Research University

Abstract: Utilizing a LatCrit framework, this study seeks to understand how the critical issues of race, immigration status, gender, and class mediate the educational trajectories of undocumented Chicana students at a four-year public research university. This study also identified the critical conditions they have utilized to navigate higher education. A total of 40 interviews will be conducted with undocumented and U.S. born Chicana students to explore how the college experiences of undocumented and U.S. born students vary. In addition, I will conduct 2 focus groups where these experiences will be further discussed and data collaboration will take place. I provide policy recommendations for institutions of higher education, as well as state and federal legislation that will create greater educational opportunity for this student population.

Vanessa Ochoa
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2008

Dissertation: A Case Study Portrait of an Effective High School Counseling Program and its Impact on Latina/o Student Academic Preparation and the College Choice Process

Abstract: Research highlights that Latina/o high school student’s experience difficulty in their attempts to enter post-secondary education. In certain instances, Latina/o students attend high schools where they do not receive appropriate counseling to assist in their academic preparation and college choice process. This dissertation project entitled: A Case Study Portrait of an Effective High School Counseling Program and its Impact on Latina/o Student Academic Preparation and the College Choice Process paints a portrait of two Counselors of Color and their tactics and motivation for assuring that Latina/o high school students are well informed in the college-choice process. Moreover, the counselor’s ability to motivate, energize and engage their Latina/o students allows them to promote a strong college-going attitude for their students. Thus, this project provides depth to an issue that is rarely discussed in educational research: Latina/o students, their college choice process and the role of effective high school Counselor of Color.

Rema Reynolds
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2008

Dissertation: Holla If You Hear Me; Giving Voice to Those We’ve Missed: A Qualitative Examination of Black Middle Class Parent Engagement in Public Secondary Schools

Abstract: In the United States, persistent educational inequities have resulted in dramatic contrasts in both economic and social opportunities for students of color in the public school system. Researchers find that parent involvement is associated with a greater likelihood of aspiring to attend college and actually enrolling, as well as with higher grades, higher eighth grade mathematics and reading achievement, lower rates of behavioral problems, and lower likelihood of high school dropout and truancy. Merging a Critical Race Theory Framework with The Ecologies of Parent Engagement, I explore notions of agency, authorship, and space as they relate to parent engagement, seek to discover parents’ beliefs about their engagement, and develop a holistic picture of parent-school relationships. How do race and class intersect to influence parent engagement? Counter storytelling through interviews and a focus group as a qualitative methodological tool allows parents’ lived experiences to be the central focus of this study.

Veronica Terriquez
UCLA/sociology

Dissertation Fellow, 2008

Dissertation: Latino Parental School Involvement in Los Angeles County: Opportunities and Challenges

Abstract: Latino parental school engagement has important implications for addressing disparities in student outcomes and increasing the accountability of schools to the Latino communities that they serve. Yet research on parental school involvement has not adequately accounted for variations in Latino parental school involvement, especially among immigrant working mothers and fathers. Using an immigrant incorporation theoretical framework to guide my analysis, I examine how race/ethnicity, socio-economic status, immigrant background characteristics, parental employment, and school conditions are related to Latino parental school participation. I also investigate how parents‚ gender, work schedules, labor union participation, and access to labor union resources influence their engagement in children‚ schools. My study uses data from the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey, as well as survey and qualitative data gathered from the Los Angeles County membership of the Service Employees International Union Local 1877.

Veronica Velez
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2008

Dissertation: Del Coraje a la Esperanza (From Rage to Hope): Transformation, Empowerment, and Collective Agency Among Latina/o Immigrant Parents

Abstract: This qualitative case study seeks to understand how members of ALIANZA, a Latina/o immigrant parent group, come to see themselves as agents of change and organize collectively as a result. Utilizing a LatCrit framework, this study contends that educational research erroneously characterizes Latina/o parents as disinvested in the education of their children. A more critical analysis reveals that these characterizations operate from normalized standards of what it means to be a "good" parent that fail to acknowledge the participation of Latina/o parents as well as the barriers they face within schools. Moreover, a LatCrit analysis reveals that traditional notions of civic engagement render invisible the political efforts of non-citizens, like those in ALIANZA. This study argues that ALIANZA could inform research and practice about how to build school-community partnerships in Latina/o communities, as well as how parent involvement and civic engagement intersect in campaigns for social justice on behalf of Latina/o immigrant parents. To examine notions of consciousness and collective action, this study uses a Freirean pedagogical perspective that broadly guides its main inquiry. Data from this study are collected from semi-structured interviews, focus groups, participant observation, and organizational archives.

Kevin Binning, Ph.D.
UCLA/psychology

Postdoctoral Fellow, 2008

Title: Undermining the Effects of Stereotype Threat on Student Performance: A Self-Affirmation Intervention

We propose a social psychological intervention designed to reduce the racial/ethnic educational achievement gap by weakening the influence of stereotype threat on academic performance. Stereotype threat is the fear that one's behavior (e.g., failing a test) will confirm an existing stereotype of a group with which one identifies, and it has been found to impair academic performance in the negatively stereotyped groups (e.g., African Americans, Latinos). Using a double-blind experiment in a mixed-ethnicity middle school, a self-affirmation manipulation will be administered in which experimental subjects think and write about values that are important to them. This simple exercise provides a psychological “safety-net” that makes the possibility of confirming negative stereotypes less stressful and thereby improves performance. My major contribution to the project is an examination of the role of subgroup respect (i.e., the feeling that one’s group is valued and appreciated) in moderating the effect. I predict that students high in subgroup respect will be less threatened whereas students low in subgroup respect will be more threatened, and more benefited by the intervention.

2007

Lauren Anderson
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2007

Dissertation: Opportunities to Teach, Grow and Transform: Exploring the Relationship Among School Conditions, Teachers’ Social Networks, and Teachers’ Careers

Abstract: High school reform and teacher development/retention are two pressing issues in urban education. This study explores the relationship among school conditions, teachers’ social networks, and teacher development/retention in the context of a secondary reform—the creation of small, autonomous high schools—that is part of both a community-backed effort to improve educational opportunities for local, predominantly Latino students and a national trend among urban school districts. The mixed methods research design includes a social network survey administered to roughly 100 teachers at the large, comprehensive urban high school undergoing reform and longitudinal case studies that chronicle four of those teachers’ experiences as they move across school contexts and work to expand opportunities to teach and learn for themselves and their students. Thus, this study seeks to yield findings that will inform ongoing reform efforts and extend existing research concerning the role of social relations in supporting teacher development/retention and urban high school reform. 

Grace Chiu
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2007

Dissertation: Peer Support Networks Among Urban Youth in Community Technology Centers

Abstract: Most education research on social capital has either focused on the social resources adults and teachers bring into schools, or the negative peer networks—namely gangs—among youth living in poor, urban conditions. Little attention has been paid on positive peer networks that form outside schools in the context of informal learning settings. The focus of my research is to investigate what a peer social network is: whether they exist among urban youth in informal learning environments, the attributes of such networks, and the role different aspects of a sociocultural constructionist learning model potentially plays in the development of these networks. Drawing from social capital, social network, and sociocultural constructionist theories, I have collected quantified network survey data, participant observations, and in-depth case studies from after-school, Community Technology Centers. Through this work, I hope to shed further light on the study of after-school pedagogy and its connection to the building and nurturing of college-bound urban youth.

Luciana Dar
UCLA/political science

Dissertation Fellow, 2007

Dissertation: The Politics of Higher Education Spending in the American States

Abstract: Identifying policies that promote student access is at the core of higher education scholarship. However, little has been done to understand the political process through which these policies develop. My dissertation addresses the following questions: Why does the level and type of government support for higher education vary so much across states and over time? Does politics matter or is this variation just a by-product of the economic business cycle? How do political-economic trends affect states’ ability to make a university education possible for all? Given that the reasons for states supporting higher education go beyond individual economic returns then investigating how and how much states invest in higher education may provide clues to the specific political-economic dynamics driving higher education policy. My dissertation sheds light on this process by investigating differences in spending patterns across 48 states from 1976 to 2002, in combination with a case study of California.

Alice Ho
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2007

Dissertation: Adjustment and Achievement of Ethnically Diverse, Urban Adolescents across the Transition to High School

Abstract: Existing transition research indicates that academic achievement and engagement significantly decline as students move from middle school to high school. Little is known, however, about why the decline occurs, the role of school structure, and whether the pattern might be different for particular ethnic groups. With an ethnically-diverse, urban sample, this study examines (1) ethnic identity development, perceptions of educational barriers and school interracial climate, and academic achievement and engagement longitudinally across the critical transition to high school, (2) the effects of school context, and (3) how different patterns of student experiences predict distal educational outcomes such as academic achievement and engagement at the end of 10th grade. Utilizing piecewise growth modeling and piecewise growth mixture modeling, I will analyze individual student change across the transition from middle to high school, identify groups of students with similar experiences in each phase, and use these groups to predict distal academic outcomes.

Martha A. Rivas
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2007

Dissertation: Navegando Contra La Corriente: Understanding the Chicana Transfer Experience from Community College to the Doctorate

Abstract: Chicana/o students who pursue a postsecondary education are often concentrated at the community college segment. Although most of these students aspire to transfer into four-year institutions, their consistently low transfer rates indicate the lack of access to transfer opportunities. However, the U.S. Chicana/o doctorate production rates between 1990 and 2000 indicate that one out of four doctorate recipients first attended a community college (Solorzano, Rivas, & Velez, 2005). Nonetheless, the experiences of community college transfer students through every segment of postsecondary education continue to be underresearched. Using critical race theory and Chicana feminist epistemology, this retrospective study subscribes to Testimonios as the primary qualitative method. Ten Chicana students in their second or third year of doctoral training at UCLA participated in a 3-part series of Testimonios. A fourth meeting, focus group, served as the “member check” data analysis of the findings. This study seeks to develop a theory and initiate a discussion on how the role of racism, sexism, and other forms of subordinations may affect the Chicana transfer experience at every segment of postsecondary education.

Elizabeth Vazquez
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2007

Dissertation: We’re Back: The Emerging Importance of Suspension, Expulsion and Student Reentry

This study looks at how low-income students of color make a critical transition back into the learning environment and the types of critical conditions necessary to facilitate successful student reentry. Existing research on school discipline provides compelling information about the overrepresentation of low-income students of color in unprecedented suspension and expulsion rates. More recently, scholars have pointed to discipline incidents as a potential factor in the dropping out process. Learning and understanding how students make sense of removal from school, why they return to school and what the reentry process means to them is at the heart of this study. While these questions remain understudied and often overlooked, they are telling of a crisis that plagues school systems nationwide. Students’ interpretations can shed light on the complexity of expulsion and suspension and possible interventions that might aid such students’ reentry into schooling and prevent them from dropping out in the future.

2006

Jevon Hunter
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2006

Dissertation: The Social Organization of Academic Literacy Within and Across Middle School Contexts

Abstract: This dissertation study employs a sociocultural theoretical framework and an interpretative case study approach to understand how MESA, a University of California sponsored academic enrichment program, fosters academic literacy. A sample of ten seventh grade students and their teacher are followed in two settings, MESA and a language arts classroom, to examine the features that are associated with and contribute to the social organization of academic literacy learning within and across multiple contexts. Of central importance to this research is how the various learning contexts, and the features within, mediate the acquisition of academic discourses and literacies.

Jolena James-Szanton
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2006

Dissertation: Examining the Social Networks of High-Achieving Black Adolescents

Abstract: Educators debate how Black students’ social networks and ethnic values relate to their academic performance. The literature often focuses on low-achieving students; however, high-achieving Black students’ social welfare is often overlooked in this debate. The tendency to overlook this group may result from educators’ assumptions that since high-achieving Black students do not have academic dilemmas, they must not have social ones. This dissertation will examine (a) where achieving Black students are located in a school’s social network, (b) what factors characterize achieving Black students’ friendships, and (c) how location in their school’s network and the characterization of their friends impacts achieving Black students levels of depression, loneliness, and self-worth. Employing social network methodology and hierarchical linear modeling, the research analyzes the relationships among the values and attitudes of high-achieving Black students their friends and determines what factors of the achieving students’ networks influence their psychosocial adjustment.

Amy Fann, Ph.D.
UCLA/education

Postdoctoral Fellow, 2006

Title: Postsecondary Access and the Role of Higher Education in California Tribal Sovereignty and Nation Building

American Indian nations cautiously look to colleges and universities to prepare tribal citizens for participation in nation building efforts that preserve the political and cultural self-determination of their communities. Nonetheless, American Indian students have the lowest college admission and retention rates in the nation. After decades of national, state and institutional level initiatives to increase access to higher education for historically underrepresented students, the college pipeline for American Indians is largely unaddressed. As a result, little is known and even less is understood about the critical issues, conditions and college transitions of American Indian students. This study explores American Indian college access within the context of Native nations’ sovereignty, social and economic development, including taking stock of what tribes report as their goals for higher education, and tribal perceptions of obstacles to and sources of tension around college going.

2005

Gilbert J. Contreras
UCLA/urban planning

Dissertation Fellow, 2005

Dissertation: Transforming School Culture by Containing Gangs and Creating Safer Communities

About: In California’s public schools, youth are becoming victims of criminalization under the banner of promoting school and community safety.  Increasingly, urban schools function as an extension of the criminal justice system and educational goals are subordinate to law enforcement priorities.  This study will analyze the controversial policy of civil gang injunctions and the implications on the culture of schools.  In addition, this study will provide a model for statewide policymakers regarding the interdependent relationship between crime containment policy and school safety efforts.

Maria Ledesma
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2005

Dissertation: Higher Education as a Political Act: Waging the Battle Against Fictive Meritocracy

About: Policy making in K-20 is often influenced by factors outside the realm of education. The language employed in public discourse to frame issues of educational opportunity also influences how policy is crafted and implemented. This fact coupled with ongoing debates around who deserves to gain entry into selective institutions of higher education, as well as enduring concerns about the use of race-conscious admissions policies have made college access and admissions a political act for many Students of Color. As more students apply for graduate and undergraduate admittance, race-conscious admissions practices aimed at equalizing the historic under-representation of Students of Color in higher education are increasingly scrutinized and attacked. The purpose of this dissertation then is to explore how critics and supporters of race-conscious admissions policies in the University of Michigan’s 2003 affirmative action cases addressed, or failed to address, prevailing patterns of schooling inequality and disparities in access to higher education and what this means for California and the nation.

Michelle Renee
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2005

Dissertation: Using Research to Make a Difference: How community organizations use research as a tool for advancing equity-focused education policy

About: The increasing activism of grassroots organizations representing low-income communities and communities of color in education reform has been little studied, either by education researchers or sociologists of social movements.  Yet, this activism is significant, given the failure of traditional educational reform strategies to realize more equitable schooling.  This study examines one aspect of this new form of change:  how equity-focused organizations define, value, access and use research in their efforts to advance educational equity. As educational discourses become increasingly "scientific," community organizations and social movements must rely on research knowledge to advance equity agendas.  Using mixed methods, I examine through the lenses of social movement theory, studies of equity reform in education, and research utilization in policymaking, how organizations use research, like the kind of research produced by ACCORD scholars, to positively impact critical equity issues, critical college going conditions and critical transitions in the lives of underrepresented students.

Erica K. Yamamura
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2005

Dissertation: Moving from College Access to Educational Equity: Peer Social Capital in a University Outreach Program

About: With continuing challenges in access to higher education for urban minority students, looking in-depth at outreach programs is imperative in this time of fiscal uncertainty in California. Increased accountability to policymakers with decreased funding necessitates identifying outreach outcomes that not only facilitate college-going but also translate into college success. This study aims to uncover the long-term effects of a university outreach program by linking its effectiveness from acceptance to college alone (college access) to adjustment and persistence in the college years (college equity).  Building on a pilot study that identified peer social capital as a salient resource in students’ college application processes, this study will continue to examine the influence of outreach peers on students’ transition to college and first-year experience. Informed by theories of social capital and critical race theory, interviews with outreach students and document analyses of the outreach program will be conducted.

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.

2003

Eileen Lai Horng
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2003

Dissertation: What Makes Schools “Hard-to-Staff”?  Examining Teachers’ Choices

Abstract: Low-performing, low-income students of color are most likely to attend schools that have difficulty recruiting and retaining qualified teachers.  Educational policymakers and researchers have hypothesized that raising teacher salaries or improving working conditions would attract qualified teachers to hard-to-staff schools. This study will explore the these and other job features that could encourage more qualified teachers to teach at hard-to-staff schools.   The findings will provide new data to policymakers about the combination of job features that are useful in recruiting and retaining teachers in low performing schools.

Rebecca Joseph
UCLA/education

Dissertation Fellow, 2003

Dissertation: How First Grade Teachers Utilize Prescriptive Reading Curricula

Abstract: California is currently at the forefront of a national trend in mandating prescriptive early reading curricula.  These curricula exclude a focus on teaching methods and instead focus exclusively on  the use of phonics-centered direct instruction.  This approach is inconsistent with research that finds that effective literacy instruction requires multiple strategies that are tailored to the specific needs of students, particularly those with varying language and cultural backgrounds.  This study investigates how six effective California urban first grade teachers make sense of and respond to these curricula-- exploring the beliefs and ideologies, tangible tools, literacy experiences, and teaching practices that shape their overall teaching identity.