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Understanding undocumented students' resistance of acting white as they persist to gain access to college-valued information and resources

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Understanding undocumented students' resistance of acting white as they persist to gain access to college-valued information and resources

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UNDERSTANDING UNDOCUMENTED STUDENTS’ RESISTANCE
OF ACTING WHITE AS THEY PERSIST TO GAIN ACCESS TO
COLLEGE-VALUED INFORMATION AND RESOURCES

by

Joaquin O. Alvarado

____________________________________________________________

A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

December 2012

Copyright 2012 Joaquin O. Alvarado
ii
DEDICATION
I dedicate this dissertation to my loving wife, Jenny M. Aguas for being a
steadfast ally and providing me love and support every step of the way. I also want
to dedicate it to my son, Josiah J. Alvarado for being my constant reminder that all
the hard work was going to be worth it at the end of this long and difficult journey.
Without the two of you in my corner I would not have the courage to believe that I
could one day earn a doctorate degree.
To my parents, Jose and Rosa Alvarado for their guidance and diligence in
my formidable years, for believing in me and allowing me to pursuit my education
goals even if it meant making them wait for their first grandson. To my wonderful
brothers Milton R. Alvarado and Mario A. Alvarado that were always there when
needed, especially during the times that they were needed the most.
To the students who with courage shared their stories, which continue to
inspire and humble me more than they will ever know.
iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First, I need to thank God for guiding me on this academic battlefield, his
grace ushered me along a journey for which I could not imagine.
To the Rossier School for offering me admissions to the program and support
along the way to make this dream a reality. It opened its doors and providing
someone like me the opportunity to reach their highest potential in their educational
field.
I would also like to acknowledge the members of my dissertation committee
Dr. Venegas and Dr. Jimenez y West for their contributions to my study. Most
importantly I'd like to thank my dissertation chairs; Dr. Reynaldo Baca and Dr. Allan
Green. I was privileged to have worked under both. Their supervision and leadership
had me working at double-time and it was all worth it. Thank you for responding to
every phone call, email or text, for reviewing every single rough draft and for always
making time to meet with me. Your passion for education and social justice have
shaped my worldview and thought process forever.
Finally I thank my family and friends for their love and support. It was
needed to get through this long hard journey. Thanks to my in-laws, Jose Aguas,
Clara "Lupita" Diaz, and my sisters in-law Victoria Leyva, Alexandra Aguas and
Cynthia Aguas for their countless prayers, for believing in me and always willing to
baby-sit. Thanks to Mónica García for planting the seed that resulted in my doctorate
degree. To my niece Samantha Remachi and my nephews, Christian Leyva, Bryan
Leyva, Devin Chavez, and Mateo Alvarado, they should not let anyone define their
iv
potential or place limitations on how far they can go or how much they can achieve.
They should have an eternal belief that no man cannot distort or belittle.
v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Dedication ii
Acknowledgements iii
Abstract vi
Chapter 1: Introduction 1
Chapter 2: Literature Review 17
Chapter 3: Methodology 58
Chapter 4: Data Presentation 65
Table 1: Student Profile Data 66
Chapter 5: Discussion 117
Glossary 132
References 134
Appendices 144
Appendix A: High School Structured Interview Questions and 144
Theoretical Framework Alignment
Appendix B: Student Profile 145
Appendix C: High School Structured Interview Questions 146
vi
ABSTRACT
Using the methodologies of individual interviews, this dissertation examines
the experiences of eight undocumented college-eligible high school graduates who
chose to pursue higher education. Cultural ecology, social capital and subtractive
schooling frameworks are used to shed light on the various challenges to college
access and financial aid that these low income, first generation undocumented
students encounter along the path to college. Given the dearth of literature focusing
on the experiences of undocumented students, this study aims to provide new insight
into the practical, procedural, and policy-related difficulties faced by undocumented
students as they experience a hostile environment, receive less than adequate
schooling, and yet, as these students’ voices demonstrate, still making it to college
by taking advantage of limited forms of social capital.

1
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Scholars across discipline domains studying child and adolescent
socialization are showing significant and growing interest in social networks. Urban
schooling and language minority students have been the focus of an impressive
amount of research, some of which is informed by theoretical paradigms that
recognize processes of social reproduction. Because school success is so significant
to social mobility, including access to opportunities to make an adequate living,
among other quality of life dynamics, examination of the social capital that
undocumented youth receive in school settings is important.
Undocumented youth are currently enrolled in high schools across the United
States. An estimated 65,000 undocumented students graduate from high school each
year (Perez, 2009). Currently the Plyer decision protects the educational rights of
approximately 1.8 million children under the age of 18, about one-sixth of the total
undocumented population (Passels, 2006). Upon graduating from high school
however, these students are faced with the reality of being uncommented in the
United States, a reality that makes them ineligible for financial aid and leaves them
without any legal options either for employment or beginning a process of
legalization which would allow them to remain legally in this country.
There are over 44 million Latinos in the United States according to the U.S.
Census, 2010. The U.S. Census report of 2010 indicated that Latinos are the largest
minority group in California, making up 37.6% of the population. Between 2000
2
and 2010, California’s total population grew from 33.9 million to 37.3 million, an
increase of about 10.0%. During that same period, the Latino population grew from
11.0 million to 14.0 million, an increase of 27.8%. In 2010, over one-half (51%) of
all Californians under 18 years of age were Latinos (U.S. Census 2010). The
California Department of Education reports the total number of English Language
Learners (ELLs) make up over 40 percent of all students in the county of Los
Angeles Schools in 2010. In addition there are an estimated 2.1 million
undocumented English Only (EO), Reclassified Fluent English Proficient (RFEP),
and English Language Learners (ELL), children and young adults in the United
States who would be considered to be eligible for legal status under the Federal
DREAM Act (California Department of Education). The Development, Relief, and
Education for Alien Minors Act, or “DREAM Act,” would allow undocumented
youth and children who were brought to the United States by their parents as minors
to apply for amnesty under the federal Dream Act if they meet the requirements. As
part of this, these students must demonstrate, through a six year probation period,
that they graduated from high school or received an equivalent degree GED, and
completed two years of college or two years of service in the Armed Forces (Center
for Higher Education Policy Analysis, 2006). Furthermore, the DREAM Act would
eliminate a provision of law enacted in 1996 that currently requires lawful
immigration status in order to qualify for any post-secondary education benefits
based on state residency. Among this undocumented population, there are 934,000
3
children are under 18 years old and 489,000 potential beneficiaries if they obtain a
General Education Development (GED) certificate.
Background of the Problem
The Brown vs. Board of Education, Topeka, Kansas (1954) ruling supposedly
tore down the walls of segregation in education to ensure equality of opportunity for
all students without regard to race (Thompson, 2004). Over 50 years later, the
United States is still grappling with quality of education for its students of color and
the new demographic, specifically undocumented Latino students. The Supreme
Court ruling in Plyler vs. Doe, (1982) ordered public schools to stop denying
undocumented immigrant students access to a public education. The Court stated
that undocumented children have the same rights to a free public education as U.S.
citizens and permanent residents. Undocumented students are obligated, as are all
other students, to attend school from age 6 until they reach the age mandated by state
laws. However, at age18, thousands face the reality that their undocumented status
makes them unable to secure employment and renders them ineligible for federal or
state financial aid to attend college.
Based on the Supreme Court’s ruling Plyler vs. Doe, (1982) public school
districts should consider the following when working with the undocumented
students, (Cornell University Law School 2012): school officials may not require
children to prove they are in this country legally by asking for documents such as
green cards, citizenship paper, etc. They may only require proof that the child lives
within the school district attendance zone, just as they might for any other child.
4
Schools should also be careful of unintentional attempts to document student’s legal
status, which lead to the possible violation of their Plyler rights. The following
school practices are prohibited: barring access to a student on the basis of legal status
or alleged legal status, treating students disparately for residency determination
purposes on the basis of their undocumented status, inquiring about a student’s
immigration status, including requiring documentation of a student’s legal status at
initial registration or at any other time, and making inquiries from a student or
his/her parents, which may expose their legal status.
The ambiguity to interpret the law is unfortunate; under the law
undocumented students received contradictory treatment or what could be defined as
“institutionalized racism”. They are given educational rights until the end of twelfth
grade but are treated as illegal aliens if they aspire to attend an institution of higher
learning, making it nearly impossible for them to attend a four-year college in order
have a career and make a decent living in this growing and competitive twenty-first
century skilled world.
Latinos are less likely to graduate from high school than any ethnic group.
Latinos may be the least educated population group in the United States (Chapa,
1991). They may be the highest at risk for school failure in both California and the
United States. In 2009, about 35% of Latinos in the United States of high school age
had not graduated from high school compared to 11% and 13% for non-Hispanic
whites and African Americans according to the US Department of Education (2011).
In addition, those who graduate are less likely to go to college , primarily for two
5
reasons. Most do not have the economic means to pay the high and rising cost of
tuition, while still others are not academically ready for college. Most recently, the
number of Latinos applying to the University of California (UC) system in 2011 rose
by 18%. If this trend continues, Latinos will make up the largest group of students
applying to the UC system, including Asian Americans and Whites. The number of
Latino freshmen in the UC system has increased to 26 percent of the total; there are
as many Latino as White freshmen (California Department of Education, 2011). Yet,
the college admission of undocumented Latinos remains relatively unaddressed;
there are an increasing number of undocumented students who are graduating from
high school and are academically eligible to attend a four year university. These
students meet all of the requirements save one, they are not in this country legally.
Social capital and access to institutional agents may shape the school
trajectories of students, including secondary and post-secondary educational
opportunities. Wellman (1983) calls it “social distribution of possibilities.” Stanton-
Salazar (1997) brings our focus to an unequal distribution of social and institutional
opportunities and formation of relationships with agents who control an unlimited
amount of social capital.
Voluntary and involuntary minorities (Ogbu, 1986) respond differently to
assimilation, which mediates their experiences and perceptions of schooling.
Involuntary minorities face higher levels of discrimination and feel more often than
others a cultural identity threat which keeps many from assimilating into the
dominant group’s culture and practices, including in educational settings. This
6
opposition to the cultural frame of reference of Whites leads many parents to become
wary of trusting the system and schools run by Whites to educate their children.
School rules and even receiving good grades are seen as an imposition of the White
dominant culture’s frame of reference, making this the primary reason why so many
simply choose to challenge authority and not try to pass their classes. This
characteristic is mostly seen in some involuntary minorities, but appears less often
among voluntary minorities. Parents and students need to consider that by choosing
this option because of not wanting to lose their sense of community or minority
group affiliation and status within their primary support group, they are also creating
limitations for future educational potential and future job opportunities for their
children that could have lifelong consequences. Carter, (2005) attributes the
student’s lack of success to a lack of “unfamiliarity” with the system. This is likely
true for both voluntary and involuntary minority students.
Valenzuela (1999) contends that schools implement practices that disrespect
minority students and create an unwelcoming environment for immigrant students.
In addition, she argues, students may be rebelling against a schooling system that
seems to be in place to strip away their cultural and ethnic identities. This can lead
to hostile relationships between students and school staff immediately upon contact.
Valenzuela’s findings suggest that schools like the one she studied in Texas are
organized in ways that fracture student’s cultural and ethnic identities, creating
social, cultural and linguistic divisions among students and among students and staff.
For example, English as a Second Language (ESL) students are regarded as “limited
7
English proficient” rather than “Spanish dominant” or potentially bilingual.
(Valenzuela, 1999).
Education is one of the avenues for upward social mobility, but for some high
achieving students it becomes problematic when one must navigate the academic
pipeline with little or no support through the years in high school and successfully
transition into college. Undocumented students must not only beat all these odds,
but succeed irregardless of the many institutional challenges, institutionalized
inequalities or lack of resources they face. Even when they follow the rules and earn
grades high enough to enroll in four-year universities, these students face an almost
insurmountable task of financing their college education without being eligible for
federal or state financial assistance, including student loans.
The Dream Act, both state and federal, would allow undocumented students
to apply for some form of government assistance if they met the requirements. The
first of two bills of the California Dream Act (AB130) was signed into law on July
25, 2011 by Governor Jerry Brown. This bill gives undocumented college students
access to privately funded financial aid (Los Angeles Times, 2011). The second part
of the California Dream (AB131), was also passed by Governor Jerry Brown on
October 8, 2011. The new law allows those undocumented students who meet the
requirements to apply and compete for private scholarships, student loans and grants.
In order to be eligible, students must have:
1) Attended a California high school for three or more years
8
2) Graduated from a California high school with a diploma or attained the
equivalent GED;
3) Filed an affidavit with their intended college or university stating their
eligibility under AB540 and intention of applying for a lawful immigration
status as soon as they are eligible (California Department of Education, 2011)
Last year proponents of the federal DREAM Act failed to marshal enough
votes (they fell six short) in the U.S. Senate to ensure a passage of the bill. This bill
would have created a path to citizenship or legal residence for illegal immigrants
brought to the U.S. before the age of sixteen if they attend college or serve in the
military for two years. Under the federal DREAM Act students would not be
eligible for federal education grants, however, they would be eligible for federal
work study and student loans, and states would not be restricted from providing
financial aid to the these students according to a report by the Immigration Policy
Center (2011).
Statement of the Problem
The DREAM Act would help lower the dropout rate by creating a strong
incentive for undocumented students to remain in school until graduation and go to
college or the armed forces. Currently, most undocumented children must work
illegally in the cash economy as domestic workers, day laborers or as sweatshop
factory workers. The DREAM Act would make these youth lawfully eligible to
work and help fill positions such as teachers, nurses and service employees, careers
which have the potential to raise their social status. This highlights the perplexing
9
social and educational policies currently in place and addresses the achievement
paradox of undocumented students before facing or considering a post-secondary
education.
For many of these young people, the United States is the only home they
know and English is often their first language. According to the U.S. Census (2010)
approximately 2.5 million undocumented youth under the age of eighteen were
living in the United States. Furthermore, approximately 65,000 undocumented
students graduate from U.S. high schools each year. Of this number, roughly 40%,
or 26,000, of the undocumented youth reside in California. They have demonstrated
the potential to be future professionals and leaders, but they experience unique
hurdles to achieving success in this country due to their immigration status. Through
no fault of their own, their lack of legal immigration status may prevent them from
attending college or working legally. The federal DREAM Act would provide an
opportunity for them to live up to their full potential and make even greater
contributions to the U.S. economy and society as a whole.
Rationale for the Study
This is a qualitative case study of eight undocumented students at a large
urban high school in Los Angeles, California. This qualitative study will examine
the complex institutionalized system that undocumented students navigate and how
this group copes with the burden of acting white and relies on institutional support
and institutional agents. These agents may be the teachers, counselors, or other
10
educational personnel, ones who use their social capital to alter the destinies of
undocumented students.
Purpose of the Study
This particular study is significant for several reasons. First, it is relevant to
policymakers as it aims to shed light on the unique challenges that undocumented
students face as they prepare for, apply to, seek funding for, and make choices about
attending college. As previously stated, undocumented students in the United States
currently have minimal financial access to college because, despite policies in some
states, higher education still remains financially out-of-reach. Second, the study is of
methodological and theoretical relevance to educational researchers who seek to
understand issues of college access for underrepresented populations. Despite the
wealth of empirical work on college access and financial aid, little of it looks
specifically at the experiences of undocumented students. This reality may exist in
part because scholars have failed to recognize the large number of college-ready
undocumented students who graduate from our nation’s high schools each year.
Many of these students are admitted to some of our nation’s most prestigious
universities but do not attend due to their inability to pay. The number of college-
ready undocumented students is likely to increase, and as it does, educational
practitioners, researchers and policymakers alike will be charged with determining
how best to support these students’ educational endeavors.
11

Significance of the Study
This project grew out of this researcher’s interest in examining the principal
elements that contribute to academic engagement and the motivation to graduate
from high school and be eligible for a four-year college or university among
undocumented high school students. The literature is filled with case studies of the
high dropout, widening achievement gap, lack of engagement and poor academic
performance. However, far less research has been done about undocumented Latino
students who are successful in high school and are college bound. The research will
contribute and shed light on this part of the missing literature. It is my goal that
research findings will be transferable to other contextually similar educational
settings to influence and improve educational opportunities for undocumented
students. Elements that make this study unique yet eligible for comparison among
other similar schools are:
• City size
• School size
• Community description
• Student population: ethic and racial
• Dominant student social economic status
• Dropout and graduation rates
• Achievement profiles
12
This information is readily available and updated constantly through Data Quest
from the California Department of Education. Using these reports, anyone seeking
to test the transferability of the recommendations will be able to determine if their
school profile fits into the one under investigation during my study. The findings
can bring improvements to school district’s trainings of teachers, counselors and
administrators and to advocate equitable support for all students, including
undocumented students.
As mentioned earlier, this research is necessary because it sheds light on
major problems that undocumented Latino students who are on the course to
completing high school face in order to “navigate” their way into a four-year
university. This exploration is conducted with the single purpose of giving more
recognition to the many undocumented students who continue to impact our society
and to recognize the contributions that every one of them has and will continue to
have to this country and its democracy. This particular group of students are often
ignored and forgotten; the conjecture is that they are not a political threat to anyone
in office therefore there has been absolutely no sense of urgency to deal with this
particular group in the past, nor is there at the present time. Results will serve as the
foundation to a discussion on how to better serve the undocumented (AB540) student
population in California. Consequently, results from this qualitative comparative
study of the educational path and experiences examined through the social capital
and cultural ecology frameworks will be used to seek solutions and provide
recommendations for those who want to improve the educational experience for all
13
high school students, including the undocumented students, who are or have the
potential of going to college.
This study is crucial because without properly examining this topic, countless
undocumented students will continue to be left out of both policy and policy reform.
Many will enter schools that are unwilling and unable to properly educate them.
They will be forced to deal with inequitable distribution of resources and social
capital and unable to compete in tomorrow’s global ever more demanding market
economy. Therefore, if educators are aware that there is a growing number of
undocumented students who need help graduating and that they are going to college,
then this should be studied further and reevaluated thoroughly and with a sense of
urgency. This is a national concern, particularly in states like California, Texas and
New York where hundreds if not thousands of undocumented students need and
deserve a fair opportunity to compete academically and professionally and not be
limited in resources. According to the College Board, only 5 to 10 percent of the
estimated 65,000 undocumented students who graduate from high school pursue a
college degree. The majority of students do not attend college because federal law
prevents them from receiving any financial aid to alleviate the cost for higher
education.
Theoretical Framework
Researchers like sociologist Stanton-Salazar (2010) provided the social
capital framework to evaluate how institutional agents (teachers, counselors and
administrators) promote or hinder the access to resources that are traditionally given
14
to everyone except “D” and “F” or the undocumented students and how these agents
can play the role of transformative agent for those undocumented students in the K-
12 system particularly those in high school. Sociologists Stanton-Salazar and
Dornbusch’s (1995) study of institutional agents and their roles in the empowerment
of low-status students and youth concluded that low social economic status groups
are least likely to receive adequate institutionalized support putting them at a greater
risk of not graduating and completing college entrance requirements.
Valenzuela’s study on subtractive schooling (1999) will serve to connect,
analyze and compare the cultural ecological theory and the threat in stereotyping.
Anthropologist John Ogbu’s cultural ecology theory distinguishes voluntary and
involuntary minorities with a focus on acting white and coping with the burden of
acting white (Ogbu 1978). Cultural anthropologist Fordham (1986) and Ogbu
(Fordham and Ogbu 1986) make us aware of different identity formation. Gibson
and Ogbu (1991) point out the importance of understanding the dual frame of
reference among immigrants. Using these theoretical frameworks will offer an
explanation to the different roles of the institution; institutionalized practices and
institutional agents play in the lives of undocumented hard working and college
bound Latino students.
Research Questions
Three different interrelated questions arose from an analysis literature related
to undocumented Latinos.
15
1. Did AB540 college eligible high school graduates engage in learning
even if they were perceived as “acting whites”?
2. How do AB540 students gain access to institutional key personnel, access
to institutional resources and social capital groups that would increase
post-secondary educational opportunities?
3. Did college eligible AB540 students perceive/experience schooling in
U.S. schools as a subtractive process that devalues their social and
cultural capital?
Limitation of the Study
The researcher recognizes there may be some limitations when identifying
the participants for this study. AB540 students are not easy to identify, they look the
same, act the same and have a harder time opening up and trusting people, especially
if it involves identifying as undocumented. Not all randomly selected students
decided to participate. Hence, there may not be a one to one gender correspondence.
The random sample drew from the entire student body including residential schools
and two charter high schools. Hence, the sample may not be representative of each
school.
Organization of Dissertation
This dissertation was organized into five chapters for clarity of purpose. The
first chapter consists of an introduction to the dissertation, background and statement
of the problem, significance of the study, and theoretical framework relevant to the
study.
16
Chapter two illustrates a review of the literature pertaining to the issues under
consideration, including a discussion and identification of critical social issues and
cultural theoretical framework and how they pertain to student engage in learning
even if are perceived as acting white. Chapter three presents a detailed account of
the methodology used in the study.
Chapter four provides the characteristics of the educational setting in the
study and biographical sketches of research participants to facilitate the
transferability of results to contextually similar schools. Chapter five presents a
summary of the findings in terms of the AB540 perception of schooling and access
to institutional capital, limitations of study, discussion and implications for
stakeholders and for future research, and conclusion.
17
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
The research of the literature has broadened the researcher’s understanding of
the educational experiences of undocumented high school students. The researcher
learned how the students must navigate a complex educational system, all while
dealing with other challenges like: the lack of legal residency documentation, being
from low social economic families and disadvantaged communities, language and
cultural barriers, lack of adequate community resources, and not being eligible for
federal and state financial aid for college. Ogbu’s (1985) cultural ecologic theory
has argued that many undocumented high school students have a difficult time
adapting to a new schooling system in a country that is foreign and where the social,
cultural and academic standards are different. Stanton-Salazar’s (1997) social capital
framework points out that undocumented students have the least amount of
opportunities for succeeding academically, and their academic and occupational life
chances after high school are limited. Valenzuela’s (1999) subtractive schooling
approach also makes a claim that undocumented youth must adapt to a place where
educators often do not recognize or validate their home language and culture. Each
of these theories have been drawn upon to guide this study’s investigation into the
academic success of undocumented students in spite of multiple barriers.
Ogbu’s (1978, 1985, 1990c, 1995b, in press; Ogbu & Fordham, 1986; Ogbu
& Simons, 1998) cultural ecology theory of minority student responses to schooling
has been studied for nearly half a century. This includes his and others’ discussion
18
of voluntary and involuntary minorities, folk theory of making it and coping with the
burden of acting white (Fordham, 1986; Wilson, 1997; Ogbu & Simons, 1998; Miron
and Lauria, 1998; Sanders, 1998; Luthar, 2006; Passel, 2006; Suarez-Orozco,
Suarez-Orozco, & Tordorova, 2008) and the dual frame of reference (Gibson and
Ogbu, 1991). This body of literature is enhanced by Angela Valenzuela’s research
on Subtractive Schooling (1999) and Stanton-Salazar (Stanton-Salazar & Dornbusch,
1995; Stanton-Salazar, Vasquez & Mehan, 1996; Stanton-Salazar, 1997, 2001, 2010,
in press) the theoretical lens allow for a deeper understanding of the different roles
of institutional agents, institutions, and practices on the academic achievement
among this population. The connection between students and their institution affects
how they learn and progress through the educational pipeline. Gibson and Ogbu,
(1991) provide a theoretical explanation to how the background and status of
immigrants affect their decisions and adjustments to schooling.
Acting white and the fear of acting white have become common terms among
researchers who investigate the well-being of students of color in the United States.
The term appeared in 1970 in the context of discussion that focused more on a white
and black student context. (McCardle and Young, 1970). From this perspective,
Black students were said to have held a goal of achieving equal rights and
opportunities without “acting white”. For them acting white meant “to become more
inhibited, more formal, or to lack soul” (p. 137). Note that academic achievement
was not named as a maker of “acting white”.
19
The most widely known work on the issue of “acting white” is by Fordham
and Ogbu (1986), who offered that a fear of “acting white” was a significant factor
that influenced the attitudes and undermined achievement of African-American
students among the subjects in their research in Washington DC. They stated that
“one major reason black students do poorly in school is that they experience
inordinate ambivalence and affective dissonance in regard to the academic effort of
success” (p. 177). Ogbu (1987) distinguished caste like, involuntary minorities, who
suffered a long history of oppression and discrimination, from voluntary minorities,
who may suffer current discrimination but whom as newcomers lack the legacy of
multigenerational persecution. He further explains that involuntary minorities are
those whose minority position is a result of historic subjugation after conquest or
forced migration (enslavement), and voluntary minorities as those who immigrate to
a host country ‘more or less by choice’. The end result of Ogbu’s assessment was a
comparative analysis that judged voluntary minorities as consistent and effective
academic achievers, and involuntary minorities as persistent academic failures (1990,
p. 146).
Ogbu offered that primary cultural and language differences or
discontinuities between their lives and the schools they attended initially
distinguished many Black students from the dominant culture of the school. It is said
that these differences led to learning and social adjustment problems that can initially
be overcome by learning the given school’s cultural and language expectations
(1985, p. 862). Ogbu argued that, in the case of such primary differences, there are
20
specific reasons that students are willing to “overcome these discontinuities in order
to succeed” (1982, p.298). He attributes success to the student’s sense of tangible
benefits that will accrue for them as a result of their academic success and
credentialing. While both voluntary and involuntary minorities are said to often
possess primary cultural differences, Ogbu (1995b) believes that it is the voluntary
minorities who are more willing to overcome these differences in order to succeed.
To understand why some immigrant and non-immigrant students are
successful in school it is important to learn the history and social cultural adaptation
of these students and their responses to the treatment from members of the dominant
group (Ogbu, 1978). Understanding their history would allow for the possibility of
their incorporation into U.S. society, including how they responded to treatment by
the dominant group, and the folk theory of success they have constructed as a result
of this treatment.
Ogbu (1998) calls his explanation of minority school performance a cultural
ecology theory. His cultural ecological theory states that voluntary and involuntary
immigrants experience different treatments in school by way of policies, pedagogy,
and return on investment. He calls this the “system” The theory goes on to stipulate
how these students perceive or respond to schooling as a consequence of their
treatment. According to Ogbu & Simons (1998) their responses are also affected by
how the group immigrated to the United States and what were the reasons for settling
here. He refers to this as “community forces”
21
Some indisputable reasons for this treatment of these students at the hands of
the dominant group include practices that deny equal opportunity and create job
ceilings (Ogbu, 1978). The system affects student school performance in three ways:
(1) instrumental discrimination (e.g., in employment and wages)
(2) relational discrimination (e.g., social and residential segregation)
(3) symbolic discrimination (e.g., denigration of the culture and language of
origin)
The lack of access to an equitable education, adequate facilities, and qualified
teachers may discourage their academic advancement. Without a good education,
these students might not have access to high paying jobs, post-secondary education
or future career advancement.
Other forces that might have an impact on the academic performance could
come from inside the student’s home community. Ogbu identifies three different
communities. First he describes is the autonomous minority group. This group is
small in numbers (e.g., Amish, Jews, and Mormons) and suffers discrimination but it
is not dominated nor oppressed. Their school performance and achievement is
similar to that of the dominant group. The second community is the immigrant or
voluntary minority group. They often moved to the United States by choice in
search for better opportunities than they had in their homelands. They usually
experience problems in schools when they first arrive because of language and
cultural differences (Wang, 1995). Over time, voluntary immigrant minorities are
able to assimilate and have often outperformed their counterparts within the
22
dominant group. The third community is the involuntary (nonimmigrant) minority
group. This is a caste-like community that was brought into the United States
involuntarily as slaves, and was either conquered or colonized. This group did not
choose but was forced against their will to become part of the United States. They
are less successful economically, and experience greater cultural and language
difficulties (e.g., American Indians who were conquered, Alaska Natives who were
conquered, Mexican Americans who were conquered, Native Hawaiians who were
colonized, Puerto Ricans who consider themselves as colonized, and Black
Americans who were brought to the United States as slaves Ogbu & Simons, 1998).
Dual Frame of Reference
Immigrants or voluntary minorities remain proud of their roots of origin they
had before coming to this country. Involuntary minorities may perceive themselves
differently than those immigrant groups. They often develop oppositional social
identities and may perceive assimilation as threat to their identity and security. They
may believe that they will not be successful like members of the dominant group
regardless of their level of education, skills or economic status. This attitude is said
to cause many to stop trying in school (Green 1981). They also believe that schools
are institutions controlled by the dominant group and that prejudice and
discrimination will always be part of the treatment they will receive, this lack of trust
makes it difficult for them to build trust.
The “Folk Theory of Making it” is part of the voluntary immigrant group.
They usually have a positive idea and will work hard to achieve success in spite of
23
the treatment (Ogbu & Simons, 1998). Voluntary and involuntary minority groups
respond differently to the challenges that keep them from attaining the Folk Theory
of Success. Voluntary minorities believe that hard work, following rules, and most
importantly, getting a good education will lead to good employment and success in
the U.S. (Ogbu & Simons, 1998). White middle class Americans are adapt at
fulfilling this theory because the “system” works for them in schools and in the
future job market (Stanton-Salazar, 1997).
Voluntary minorities have what Ogbu refers to as ‘positive dual frame of
reference’ one reference is based on their situation in the United States, and the
second is based on their situation back home. For them the comparison is a positive
one because they see more opportunities for success in the U.S. than back home and
that motivates them to work and study harder. The children of this group do not
experience as much hardship in the parent’s home country, yet they are acculturated
by listening to stories from family members and eventually believe that the United
States has better opportunities over all. As a result immigrants are possibly more
accepting of the discrimination and accept less than equal treatment in order to
improve their chances for economic success (Ogbu and Simons, 1998). Ogbu
contends that immigrants or voluntary minority may not see the overt discrimination
and treatment as permanent. In their minds, the partial and broken educational
opportunity might just be better than what they had back home. Schooling is thought
to be better since they receive more resources (e.g., free supplies, free or reduced
lunch, transportation etc.) than in their homelands (Suarez-Orozco, 1987).
24
Immigrant or voluntary immigrant minority students and families have a sufficient
positive mentality that they might accommodate without assimilating (Gibson, 1983)
which does not cause them to lose their own culture. Involuntary minorities have a
negative dual frame of reference. Their first frame of reference is their social and
economic status in the United States. The second frame of reference is the social and
economic status of middle-class white Americans. The fact that they have
experienced discrimination for generations, they believe it is permanent and refuse to
believe that hard work and education will be enough to succeed (Ogbu and Simons,
1998). Lastly, involuntary minority students receive contradicting messages from
parents and communities. They are told to go to school and do their best but at the
same time are told to be careful of the teachers, the institution and curriculum
because the dominant group will use different kinds of methods to try and make
them assimilate.
Immigrant families and community believe that what makes a person
successful in the United States is education and hard work, whereas back home a
person succeeds by getting help from friends and relatives, by using contacts “who
you know” through favoritism or “because of your name” (Ogbu n.d.b; Suarez-
Orozco, 1987). Stanton-Salazar describes this social capital framework, and he
argues that this is something that low-status minority children and youth are missing
in the educational system in the United States.
25

Acting White
Involuntary minorities, do not return to their homeland or believe the Folk
Theory of Success is attainable. They do not see the point of getting good grades in
school given that members of the dominant group manage schools and they do not
trust their relationship with schools. They may associate schooling with the cultural
frame of reference of Whites and perceive their efforts to follow school practices as a
threatening action to their identity, culture and language. Bright involuntary
minority students are discouraged from excelling and applying time and effort to do
well in school and have to choose between acting minority or “acting white.” Ogbu
(1986) hypothesizes that involuntary minority develop alternate survival strategies to
cope with schooling. Some studies such as Mickelson, (1991) reported that minority
parents believe that schools cannot be trusted to educate their children properly.
Students also may interpret rules as an imposition of the white cultural frame of
reference.
Voluntary minorities may develop additional strategies to cope with the
discrimination, which affects the variability in their academic success. These
strategies may include demanding better education, work collectively as community,
and maintaining a positive mentality about education and improving their social
status. Involuntary minority children may also cope with discrimination by
developing negative work habits. They do not work hard; they do not take
challenging “White” courses, are satisfied with average grades and resist following
26
school rules. Involuntary minorities may experience higher school failure in part due
to difficulty crossing cultural boundaries (Ogbu, 1978).
Attitudes and behaviors that are identified as acting white included listening
to white music, studying and working hard to get good grades, and actually getting
good grades (Fordham and Ogbu, 1986). Phinney (1990) pointed out that “language
has been considered by some as the single most important component of ethnic
identity” (p. 505). The issue of avoidance of acting white can be framed as an issue
of resistance. Various writers have documented or analyzed the tendency of
students, those of color, to resist what they view as unfair power structure (Sanders,
1998; Sun, 1993). Miron and Lauria (1998) point out how a student’s resistance is
usually based upon issues of ethnicity or class or both and occurs when students
perceive that they are oppressed or disadvantaged due to their ethnicity of class.
Resistance can be described as a desire to reject dominant culture and norms
and to embrace subcultural norms of values. For example, Fordham (1996)
described middle-income black children whose parents were frustrated by their
children’s underachievement: “Their parents perceive their actions as deliberate
rejection of academic success, success that they can easily achieve if they are willing
to do so. Instead, the daughters perceive success in school-sanctioned learning as
physical and mental separation from the black community” (p. 194). However, some
writers have pointed out that youth can construct their resistance through appearing
to embrace dominant culture and proving that they can excel in it. Miron and Lauria
(1998) stated that resistance is more productive because students and teachers do not
27
take out their hostility toward white hegemony on each other. Instead they struggle
for quality education together.
Sanders (1998) found that students who were highly aware of racism and
racial barriers served to increase their motivation and academic efforts. Spencer,
Noll, Stoltzfus, and Hapalani (2001) have been particularly critical of the “acting
white” assumption. Studying African-American youth in a metropolitan
southeastern American city, they found that high self-esteem and achievement goals
were related to high Afrocentricity, not high Eurocentricity.
The migration experience of undocumented Latino youth is different than
contemporary Black youth experiences as described by Ogbu and others. Academic
self-efficacy is the belief that one is competent and in control of one’s learning
(Luthar, 2006). This can serve to bolster academic engagement and performance.
This variable is likely to predict the extent to which a child engages in learning the
new language, forges new relationships and connects with the academic tasks at hand
(National Research Council, 2004; Schunk, 1991). In essence, higher academic self-
efficacy appears to be instrumental in fostering student learning and relational and
academic engagement, which in turn lead to higher academic performance. A better
understanding of such resilience or “positive adaptation within the context of
significant adversity” (Luthar, 2006, p. 742) can help inform the developmental
theory, and educational practices and policies that affect the immigrant students.
The limited research that has been done with immigrant students has shown that
certain youth appear more likely to succeed than others: Proficiency in English,
28
literacy in a native language, higher self-efficacy and being female, for example
appear to be robust predictors of better academic outcomes in immigrant students
(Suarez-Orozco, Suarez-Orozco, & Tordorova, 2008).
Latinos in the United States make up over 50 million people. California
alone is home to about 14 million and the City of Los Angeles hosts about 1.8
million (U.S. Census, 2010). The Los Angeles Unified School District has more than
307,500 English Language Learners, from which 287,649 speak Spanish as their
primary language (LAUSD, 2000). The U.S. Department of Education (2010)
reports that California has 1,779,102 Limited English Proficiency (LEP) and or
English Language Learners (ELL), a relatively higher number than the average for
the country at 92,626 LEP/ELL students. About 26% of the population in Los
Angeles County form part of the Los Angeles Unified School District and 26% of
the total student population is LEP/ELL (U.S. Census, 2010).
The drop-out rate of Latinos has reached a critical rate (Suarez-Orozco,
(1991). The percentage of whites who have completed high school was higher than
that of blacks and Latinos, although the gaps between whites and blacks and whites
and Latinos have narrowed over the years. Over the last 35 years, the high school
completion rate for blacks increased from 71 to 90 percent, and the gap between
blacks and whites decreased from 15 to 5 percent. The high school completion for
Latinos increased from 53 to 69 percent during the same period and the gap between
Latinos and whites decreased from 34 to 25 percent according to the National Center
of Education Statistics, (2011).
29
According to the California Department of Education Educational
Demographics Unit (2009-2010) Los Angeles County of Education’s dropout by
ethic designation for the school year 2009-10 was reported/adjusted (confirmed) at
24.1 percent Latinos, 32.5 percent African Americans, 25.9 percent Pacific Islander,
27.7 percent American Indian, and 11.2 percent White Not Hispanic. A closer
observation of the ethnic groups mentioned above and focusing in the total number
of students who dropped out for 2009-10 school year is execrable: American Indian
128 students, Pacific Islander 165 students, African American 4,540 students, and
Latinos 20,352.
The Los Angeles County Office of Education (2010) reports a total of
163,234 English as a Second Language, (ESL) students, 192, 298 Fluent English
Proficient (FEP) students, and 51,465 Redesignated Fluent English Proficient
(RFEP) students. How many students in this one district received what Cummins
calls reinforcement in their native language skills and cultural identity? That would
enable them to have enough push to go and search through the various institutional
support and institutional agents the access to appropriate and equal distribution of
social capital that anyone else from the dominant group would be receiving. If
language is a greater predictor to the access of what social capital the student has,
how can we adjust our educational system to accommodate the number of English
learners and bilinguals currently in the system?
Immigrant children enter schools in the United States with remarkable
strengths, including strong family ties, deep-seated beliefs in education, and
30
optimism about the future, they also face a range of challenges associated with the
migration to a new country, including high levels of poverty (Passel, 2006),
unwelcoming contexts of reception (Portes & Rumbaut, 2001), experiences of racism
and discrimination (Suarez-Orozco & Suarez-Orozco, 2001), and exposure to school
and community violence (Collier, 1998; Suarez-Orozco & Suarez-Orozco, 2001).
These stressors make it difficult for immigrant student’s adjustment to new schools
and community setting complicates the coping capabilities leaving them vulnerable
to academic failure.
Many immigrant children, especially those who live in urban neighborhoods
with concentrated poverty, face a daunting mix of odds in their schools and
communities (Waters, 1999). Neighborhoods that combine features of
unemployment (Wilson, 1997), violence, structural barriers and intense segregation
by race and poverty (Orfield, 1998) tend to have schools that are overcrowded and
understaffed, face high teacher and staff turnover, and are plagued by violence and
hostile peer culture (Valenzuela, 1999). Factors about background characteristics or
family capital are also among the most stable predictors of resilience in children
(O’Donnell et al., 2002). Personal factors are social competence, problem-solving
skills, and autonomy, sense of purpose and future, and high positive expectations.
Students who do well in the classroom show a positive self-evaluation of their
academic status at school and a sense of control over their academic success and
failure (Gordon 1996). In addition, she found that faith was one of the main
differences between resilient and non-resilient Latinos students in an urban school
31
environment. Environmental factors are factors that are external to the individual
and help overcome risk, such as parental support, adult mentoring, community
organizations that promote positive youth development (Greene, 2002).
Recent developmental and behavioral genetics research, as well as research
on brain development, confirms the importance of the family and the ways in which
it supports learning (Belsky et al., 2007). While genetic research suggest that genes
comprise parent’s most significant contribution to children development (Harris,
1998), parental behavior has also been found to have a considerable independent
effect on children (Rutter, Silberg, O’Connor, & Simonoff, 1999). Research has
found that early parenting practices are significant predictors of racial and
socioeconomic achievement gaps and that parenting matters more than other
environmental factors, including early childcare arrangements and even schools
(Belsky et al., 2007)
Families from all backgrounds report a desire to be involve, want their
children to do well in school, and hope that their children will achieve a better life
(Moles, 1993). Research also suggest that outreach from school, district and
community leaders is associated with higher levels of family involvement (Simon
2004). Finally, some studies find that disadvantaged parents do get involved,
children benefit from this involvement, more than their middle class peers (Dearing
et al., 2006). Society has not equally prepared all segments of the population
(Gordon, 2005). This significantly affects their ability to access necessary resources
and relevant opportunities for their children. The irony of this self-perpetuating
32
cycle is that the children most in need of educational capital are least likely to have
access to it. Indeed, most families whose children are most at risk for educational
failure have neither the access to non-school learning support, nor the experience to
know that they matter, nor the child-rearing philosophies that support them (Gordon
et al., 2005).
Effective parent engagement includes a range of actions from reading and
talking with children and asking about what they learned in school “today” to
attending parent teacher conferences and helping children and youth make good
choices about what they do after school and in the summer. There is also increasing
evidence that family involvement is important to support learning not just in school,
but across the multiple contexts in which children learn, including after school
programs, community centers, libraries, and faith-based institutions and that
involvement in one leverages children’s access to multiple supports as well as
broader family involvement. For example, Celano and Neuman’s (2008) research on
the differences in summer library use between more or less economically advantaged
children indicates that even when the later equal access to libraries, their use differs
in important ways. Low-income children choose books with less print and lower
reading levels, and they spend less time with a helpful family member or caregiver
helping them access challenging and enriching information in books or with the
computer. Thus experiencing both summer learning loss and overall achievement
gaps are enlarged.
33
Parent engagement within a broader complementary learning system is
necessary but not sufficient, it is only a part of a larger system of supports for
children learning and development. Research continues to demonstrate that there is
no single solution for ensuring academic achievement, but to be successful in school
and in life, children must have access to multiple supports, including enriching early
childhood experiences, effective schools, effective out of school programs and
nurturing families (Little, & Weiss, 2008) they also suggest that can be more
effective when they are intentionally connected to each other.
A substantial body of research indicates that parental responsiveness and
emotional support are related to learning and school success. In early childhood,
parent’s responsiveness fosters the social, emotional, and cognitive building blocks
of learning (Tronick, & Brazelton, 1977). During middle school and adolescence,
emotional support, trust, and open communication are associated with academic
expectations and identity, positive behaviors and academic achievement (Hao, &
Gardner, 2005). Language use in the home is particularly important and associated
with long-term academic benefits: the number of words used, the complexity of
speech and the parent’s efforts to engage children are all positively associated with
subsequent cognitive and linguistic development (Britto, Brooks-Gunn, & Griffin,
2006).
Family involvement that is based on a foundation of shared responsibility for
learning on behalf of better outcomes for the child is critically important: this is
reinforced by the research on family-school connections insofar as it shows that
34
when families and schools connect, build a relationship and communicate meaning
information, children do better in school. From preschool through high school,
positive family-school relationship promote information sharing, convey to children
the importance of education, and increase children’s educational importance and
achievements (Rodriguez, 2002). Research also demonstrates that contextual
factors, such as time, language and logistical constraints, play a role in whether and
how often positive communication occurs (Lightfoot, 2003). Families of lower
socioeconomic status are particularly unlikely to have ongoing contact with schools
(Kohl et al., 2000), yet they are more likely to be contacted when problems arise
(Lareau, 2003), which can create a negative cycle of involvement.
There is also a direct relationship between parental education and
performance on achievement test, grades, and dropout rates (Feliciano, 2006).
Parents with higher educational levels are better able to provide types of resources
that would place their children at an advantage. These resources include providing
more literacy opportunities, communicating with more sophisticated vocabularies,
providing access to computers, actively scaffolding homework assignments,
providing private SAT instruction and accessing college pathway and other academic
supports (Suarez-Orozco & Suarez-Orozco, 2001). Stanton-Salazar (2001) found
that immigrant parents articulated high aspirations for their children even though
many did not have the opportunity to attend school in their own country and were not
able to help their children with academic material or navigate the educational system
in the United States.
35
Oliverez’s (2006) finds that although families appeared to support student’s
aspirations to attend college, the home environment was not always conducive to
college preparation. Oliverez (2006) also found that despite parent’s limited
education and familiarity with the U.S. educational system, some of the participants
reported that their hard work and sacrifices motivated them to pursue higher
education. Supportive relationships, particularly encouragement from teachers,
school personnel and other adults are a key protective factor in the development or
resilience among immigrant students (Bernard, 1995).
Several scholars have identified a gendered pattern that is consistent with the
national trend: Immigrant girls tend to outperform boys in educational settings
(Suarez-Orozco & Qin-Hilliard, 2004). Feingold (1994) found that women report
more extraversion, trust, gregariousness and nurturance that are hypothesized to be
important personal protective factors. There is evidence that boys experience higher
levels of physical aggression due to racism than girls and are at greater risk for
academic disengagement than their female counterparts (Crul & Vermeulen, 2003;
Ogbu, 1978). Furthermore, some research suggest that compared with boys,
immigrant girls have many more responsibilities at home and feel a stronger sense of
family obligation, which may keep them away from the lures of the street
(Valenzuela, 1999). In addition, immigrant boys tend to have fewer meaningful
relationships with their teachers and perceive their school environment to be less
productive than do their sisters (Suarez-Orozco & Qin-Hilliard, 2004).
36
Researchers argue that resilience is the process (Olsson, Bond, Burns, Vella-
Brodrick, & Sawyer, 2003) of overcoming the negative effect of risk exposure,
coping successfully with traumatic experiences, and avoiding the negative
trajectories associated with those risks (Masten & Powell, 2003). A key requirement
of resilience is the presence of both risk and protective factors that both help bring
about a positive outcome or reduce and avoids a negative outcome. The more
resources young people have to draw on during times of stress, the better their
chances are of dealing with difficulties more effectively (Luthar & Zelazo, 2003).
Recent data show that almost 30 percent of all Latino children are growing up
in poverty (Pew Hispanic Center, 2006) and according to the National Center for
Children in Poverty (2008), 9.5 million (or 61 percent of all Latino children) live in
low-income households. This context of poverty dictates the kind of schools Latino
children will attend. It is easy to assume that the challenges faced by college-ready
undocumented students are similar to other low-income first-generation college-
goers. They do share common characteristics, like having grown up in poverty,
receiving poor academic preparation, having parents with low educational
attainment, and living in homes and neighborhoods where crime and violence are
prevalent. But undocumented students face additional challenges. Their
undocumented status ensures two things: (a) the students will have restricted access
to the benefits of U. S. citizenship, including legal employment, and (b) the students
will be twice as likely to live in poverty as U. S. natives and legalized immigrants
(Passel, 2006).
37
Stanton-Salazar’s (1997) social capital framework can help clarify the
socialization of racial minorities, accessing social capital, and reproduction of
inequality (Stanton-Salazar & Dornbusch, 1995). He further looked into institutional
agents and their roles in empowering low-status students and youth (Stanton-Salazar,
2010). Stanton-Salazar’s portrayal of social capital shows how institutional agents
(teachers, counselors and administrators) promote or hinder undocumented student’s
access to resources that are traditionally reserved for privileged students, typically
white middle class students. This framework is proposed here to illuminate how
school agents serve as gatekeepers who can promote success but can also hinder the
progress for undocumented students in the K-12 system or who can mobilize social
capital to alter their destinies or both.
In an attempt to understand how undocumented students gain access to social
capital and access to institutional agents that can facilitate a process of finding and
activating resources that are otherwise limited, one must start by understand the
meaning of social capital. What is central to Bourdieu, Coleman and Putnam’s
attempt at a definition is the clear location of social capital as residing, belonging and
existing in the rational bonds of human society (Winter, 2000). Bourdieu (1979)
described it as socialness, the ‘durable work of relationships’, Coleman (1988) called
it the ‘social structure’, and Putnam (1993) referred it as ‘social life networks’.
Social capital as conceived by Bourdieu, Coleman and Putnam, can only exist within
a pattern of relationships, its fundamental to the relational network.
38
A second feature of social capital common to Bourdieu, Coleman and
Putnam is that relational behaviors have emotional and consequences. This is the
oxygen of social capital, which provides either a potential rich environment for
growth and change or a limiting context (Winter, 2000). By investing in certain
forms of behaviors and their products, social capital is sustained, preserved, kept
alive and nourished. The ‘unceasing effort of sociability’ (Bourdieu, 1979), the
‘general level of trustworthiness’ (Coleman, 1988), and the operations of ‘norms,
trust and reciprocity’ (Putnam, 1993) all speak to the domain of interpersonal
conduct.
Urban schooling and language minority students have been the focus of an
impressive amount of research. A recent resurgence of interest in social and cultural
capital acknowledges the reproductive tendencies of schools but also looks to
processes and equity (Lareau & Horvart, 1999; Stanton-Salazar, 2001). He makes a
claim that schools that serve working-class minority children do not provide students
with effecting decoding skills. Therefore these children are being denied
opportunities for long-term success.
Stanton-Salazar (1997) defines social capital as consisting of resources and
key forms of capital embedded in one’s network or association, and accessible
through direct or indirect ties with institutional agents. There is enough research
evidence that shows that those who identify an important non-parental adult in their
lives tend to report better psychological well-being, more rewarding relationships
39
with parents and academic success, higher school completion, better employment
experiences and fewer problems with peers (Bryant & Zimmerman, 2003).
Using Stanton-Salazar social capital framework, the researcher will highlight
the participation of undocumented Latino students living in a multicultural society as
well as the role of agents in the social development and educational attainment of
these young adults. Learning multiple discourses and participating in distinct, non-
familial socio-cultural worlds in preparation for adulthood requires all youth to
engage with various agents within each of these worlds. This process has been
particularly problematic for working class, poor and immigrant youth who live in
constricted social universe. In the social world of the school, the potential “success”
is evaluated on the basis of whether they can demonstrate and learn the dominant
discourse in society (Stanton-Salazar, 1997).
It is important to mention that formal institutions, schools in particular “are
important builders (or destroyers) of social capital” (Warner, 1999, p. 384).
Furthermore, schools’ links with their broader communities are often weak, and their
efforts to develop social capital are usually “designed to enhance their client’s
involvement within their established systems” (Warner, 1999, p. 384). As our public
schools change from homogeneous environments to heterogeneous environments
where ties are difficult to establish, the relationships that students and families have
with teachers is more important than ever.
Education is one of the few institutions for the working class that allows them
to activate behavior, produce attitude and build relationships with institutional agents
40
to develop the necessary skills for initiating and maintaining relationships in middle
class networks Stanton-Salazar & Dornbusch (1995). For low status minority
children to work through the bureaucracy Stanton-Salazar (1997) recommends they
should have the knowledge to solve problems, which he calls “funds of knowledge”:
• Accurate perception and assessment of the problem.
• Knowledge of the type of resources that may help solves the problem.
• Knowledge of which agents control such resource.
• Knowledge of how to articulate convincingly the problem and the
necessary and desired resources.
• Knowledge of how to justify one’s entitlement to the resources.
• Knowledge and social competence to getting agents to act on one’s behalf
• Knowledge necessary to evaluate accuracy of resources.
• Knowledge and competencies of how to apply effectively the obtained
resources to solving the initial problem.
Prior research indicates that schools have not established adequate social
support systems for low status minority students and schools contribute to the social
reproduction of inequality. As mentioned previously institutional agents are adults
who interact, work with or come in contact on a daily basis and have the capacity to
use their social capital directly to advocate for the transition of resources and
opportunities on behalf of low-status students. Institutional agents are essential to the
wellbeing of all children and they can foster a healthy development where children
don’t feel threaten. By internalizing confidence, it may give minority children more
41
confidence and improve academic performance as a result of it, allowing them to
have the opportunities shared benefits enjoyed by members of the middle class.
“Middle-class children and adolescents are systemically embedded in familial and
school based networks replete with opportunities for institutional support,” argues
Stanton-Salazar (1997, p. 11). Low-status children and youth lack support from
institutional agents. Hence, they become one of the most vulnerable groups of
students with respect to high school graduation and may even drop out before high
school starts. This lack of support is particularly exacerbated when reviewing the
quality of their preparation for a post-secondary education, including A-G
requirements, completing honors and advance placement courses, and preparing for
advance placement exams and college entrance exams. Added to this is information
about colleges, application dates, financial assistance, letters of recommendations
and personal college mission statements.
The schooling experience of undocumented students is problematic when
school personnel, teachers and counselors take on aspects of parents and behave in a
passive way Stanton-Salazar (1997). They assume the roles of supporters that fail to
interfere in meaningful ways to significantly change/improve the destiny/future of at-
risk low status students. In addition, their support remains fundamentally conditional
and limited to the few “deserving” students (usually those who show the most
academic potential). Furthermore, limited due to their individual responsibilities and
bureaucratic policies, rules, procedures and normative practices and codes which, in
the name of administrative efficiency and organizational problem-solving take
42
precedence over the individual needs of students (Hatch, 2002). Often, teachers,
counselors and administrators will invest their time and their social capital only in
those pre-selected group of promising students (Stanton-Salazar, 1995). The
phenomenon of schooling immigrants is not new in the United States. What is new
is the number of school age children and most the number of undocumented students
graduating and being eligible to attend colleges.
Several scholars such as Sampson, (1997), Bandura & Walters, (1963) and
Stanton-Salazar (1997) have been working towards formulating new conceptual
models for understanding the socialization of minority children. An understanding
of such models is important because the notion of socialization often addresses how
to deal with problems experienced by so many minority children in the school
system. For Stanton-Salazar (1997), social capital and institutional support
illuminates the institutional and ideological forces that render access to social capital
and institutional support within schools and other institutions problematic for
working-class minority children and youth.
Stanton-Salazar (1997) argues that for minority children and youth, their
individual ability to cross borders, overcome barriers and resist the exclusionary
forces has to do with developing resiliency through supportive ties with
people/agents from the home and community who can provide some kind of
protection. Gottlieb & Sylvestre, (1994) contribute by adding that the capacity to
resist the alienating effects of mainstream institutional life is directly reliant upon
simultaneous support from family and community network. Valenzuela, (1999) adds
43
that the children that were born México and Latin America are strongly driven to
succeed and share strong values such as familism, respect for teachers, and strong
work ethics.
Gibson and Ogbu, (1991) concluded that immigrant communities draw on
cultural resources, ethnic identities, and other resources such as faith, that serve to
immunize immigrants from the worst psychological effects of racism and classism.
Stanton-Salazar (1997) asserts that to interrupt poverty, prejudice and problematic
public school systems, we must attend to immigrants’ characteristics. In order to
change the reality in which immigrant students are dealing with we should take into
account their ambition, motivation and resilience to provide them with time to start
learning the system given that the members of middle class start this process in their
early years. Dominant group students consistently depend and rely on social ties to
secure successful and privileged participation and mobility within mainstream
institutional arenas. Middle-class members already have amassed substantial social
capital through friends, family and community.
Reproduction of Inequality
The social distribution of possibilities (Wellman, 1983) is the unequal
distribution of opportunities upon entering different social and institutional concepts.
It limits the creation of relationships with people who control valued institutional
resources, such as career-related information, and social services that are vital to
adult occupational mobility. Undocumented and low status minority youth do not
have these factors yet in place, not at home nor in their home communities. They
44
more often depend on their ability to connect with adults (school personnel, tutors,
mentors, counselors and teachers) who can share information, resources and
opportunities. Fordham and Ogbu (1986) concluded that social interaction between
institutional agents and low status minority youth are often characterized by social
distance and distrust.
When the lack of institutional funds of knowledge is combined with
perceptions of discrimination, self-elimination is likely to be the result. For white
middle class students support from significant others usually go beyond
encouragement and modeling. It is done in a class-based and network oriented form
of support, such as coaching, providing “privilege” information and institutional
“pull” (Stanton-Salazar, Vasquez and Mehan, 1996). For students of color, they
mainly rely on their optimism and willingness to adapt in order to succeed.
Lin’s (1990) social resource theory suggests that the access to social ties and
network reflects high levels of social capital that can lead to acquiring valued
institutional resources previously not at the individual’s disposal. Lin further
suggests that opportunities for forming ties to those in control are not present and are
negatively related to the individual’s position in the social hierarchy. Finally, Lin
calls for examining the level of strengths of different social ties. Building upon Lin’s
work, Stanton-Salazar and Dornbusch (1995) hypothesize the following:
• The level of social capital in the student’s network is positively related to
the socioeconomic background of the student’s family.
45
• The level of social capital inherent in the student’s network is positively
related to the student’s proficiency in and use of English, with English
serving as a proxy for the accumulation of cultural capital.
• Students with higher grades report information networks characterized by
greater social capital.
• Students with higher educational and occupational expectations all report
greater social capital.
In schools, social capital is an outcome of various successful communication
between student and teacher, but according to Stanton-Salazar, (2010) there are two
preconditions for a successful relationship between student and teacher to occur: the
first one is when the student exhibits “ability” and academic potential, and the
second when student-teacher relationship is an accumulated outcome of mutual
investments, obligation and reciprocity. “A teacher, motivated by principles of
social justice and equity, can advocate and distribute resources to those low-status
students he sees normally not benefiting from the school’s stock of institutional
resources (e.g., college preparatory curriculum, information regarding college
admission and financial aid)” (Stanton-Salazar, 2010, p. 30). Lin (2001) argues that
persistence of complex social structures depends on the reliable adherence to the
student’s rules and procedures. Frameworks grounded in the concepts of
institutional support, institutional agents and social capital and empowerment have
contributed to the reproduction of social inequality (Bourdieu, 1986; Lin, 2001;
Stanton-Salazar, 1997, 2001). This framework also reveals significant capacity to
46
guide us in elaborating, in holistic fashion, all the elements of a “social support
system” oriented towards the complex processes of empowerment of low-status and
youths (Stanton-Salazar, 2010).
Within any youth- or student-serving institution, there is usually a large pool
of eligible actors who could consistently assume the role of empowerment agents on
behalf of low-status youth (Stanton-Salazar, 2010).
There are five characteristics that these agents share
1. Awareness of social structural forces within society and institutions that
function to problematize the success of low-status students (e.g., low
financial resources, lack of recruitment, and retention efforts).
2. Awareness that the success of low-status youth is as a result of receiving
tailored provisions of ‘institutional support’.
3. Their willingness to not act on the established rules of social structure to
serve only those students in A.P. classes.
4. Whether they identify themselves as one of those agents responsible for
advocating on behalf of the low-status students.
5. Their motivation and willingness to be identified by the larger community
that they are advocate and an agent for low-status students.
Empowerment is defined as the active participatory process of gaining
resources, competencies, and key forms of power necessary for gaining control over
one’s life and accomplishing important life goals (Maton & Salem, 1995). It
demands “equity, equality, and fairness in the distribution of societal resources
47
(Fynn, 1994). Empowerment is both an ideological and sociological construct in the
pursuit of social justice (Gutierrez & Lewis, 1999).
Institutional agents as “empowerment agents”, however, are ideologically
driven and motivated to not only provide authentic institutional support, but to assist
in changing the structure of youth networks (Stanton-Salazar & Spina, 2000).
Empowerment agents also provide a mentoring process to assist the students to
decode the larger social system. Decoding the system takes multiple forms, as
articulated by Stanton-Salazar, (2010) “entails knowing which actors and
organizations are the most predisposed and committed to the empowerment of low-
status individuals and communities.” (p.39). Decoding is raising awareness of all the
different resources and the knowledge of how to reach out to them, knowledge of the
timing and dates to apply in order to receive the support.
Institutional agents as empowerment agents also facilitate and enable the
development of key “coping strategies” in terms of problem-solving, help seeking
orientations, networking skills, and instrumental behavior which are often directed
towards overcoming stressful institutional barriers and harmful conditions (Stanton-
Salazar, 1997; Stanton-Salazar & Spina, 2000). Coping strategies are ultimately
successful when barriers are overcome and the resources necessary to accomplish
developmental and educational tasks and goals are acquired (Cockran, et al., 1990).
Empowerment must exceed academic and developmental challenges. Stanton-
Salazar, (2010) first argues that if and when minority youth are provided such
network and support they are often skilled and intellectual enough to prevail over
48
barriers and overcome the odds. Second, that they also learn how to collaborate with
others, to exercise interpersonal influence, to act politically, to confront and contest
oppressive institutional practices, and how to make tough decisions. Finally, these
same students are able to work to solve community problems, to organize and
perform complex organizational tasks and to assume democratic leadership.
Agents functioning as bridges have a vision advantage in terms of the various
kinds of resources in the institutional universe, including school youth-serving
organizations and personnel that run such organizations (Quintanar, 2007).
According to Lin (2001, p. 71), the closer eligible agents in the network are to a
bridge, “the better the social capital to which they will have access.” Dulworth
(2008) speaks to the importance of the quality of the network, referring essentially to
the composition of agent’s network. Quality refers to the people in the agent’s
network. They possess high degrees of human and cultural capital; they hold
positions of authority and control valued resources. Adolescents depend greatly on
the role of nonfamilial agents to develop, to succeed in the educational setting and to
have social mobility. Research shows that many parents and guardians in oppressed
segregated communities must raise their children without these supports (Stanton-
Salazar, 2001). For many immigrant families their daily lives are filled with
responsibilities that allow them to function and maintain a basic standard of living;
pay rent on time, pay bills on time, provide food among many others. Adapting well
to white middle class social cultural is not high on the priority list of responsibilities.
49
Immigrants who came voluntarily and those that came involuntarily simple behave
or perceive the treatment from the dominant group differently.
For all children and youth, healthy human development, general wellbeing,
school success, and economic and social integration in society depends on
opportunities formulated and made possible by the relationships established with
institutional agents (Wynn, et al., 1987). Developing relationships with available
institutional agents are systematically complex and problematic for low-status youth,
(Stanton-Salazar, 2010). Institutional agents are individuals who are occupying
positions of authority, managing, and accessing resources, and mobilizing his or her
reputation to gain support for all students (Lin, 2001). The upper strata of society,
institutional agents are identified as those societal actors who act to maintain groups
who share similar attributes, high status positions and social background (e.g.,
business owners, university alumni, executive members of corporations, upper
middle-class high school students). In contrast, within the lower strata of society,
many lower status members find ways to empower themselves, and it is often with
the aid of supportive relationship with certain high-status institutional agent who
provides support (e.g., social workers, community and labor organizers, teachers,
etc.) (Chattopadhay, 2010; Corwin, 2008; Lee, 2003; Stanton-Salazar, 2001).
The higher the class position of the individual, the more likely he or she is
embedded in social networks that afford high levels of accessibility to institutional
agents with different degrees of human, cultural and social capital. Those situated in
schools that interact with students serve the role of gatekeepers. Gate-keeping agents
50
work in institutions, schools, organizations, community organizations and posing to
serve a mixture of people and communities differentiate by class, race, and ethnicity.
Whether consciously or unconsciously, such agents are oriented towards providing
services and support to those privileged by class or race, only those who exhibit the
dominant culture discourse and to those who demonstrate institutionalized symbols
of merit and ability (Stanton-Salazar, 1997; Lucas, 1999). The academic, economic
and social success of immigrant youth depends on many language and cultural
factors but none more important than the knowledge of acquiring and exercising
social capital.
United States citizens, permanent residents and undocumented youth attend
the same schools. Parents play an important role in the academic achievement by
stressing the importance of schooling. Parents understand that if they are from a
low-status minority group, one of their best options for their children and
consequently their whole family to be able to move upward in society is for the
documented or undocumented to go to college. Low-status minority parents do not
have the knowledge or skills to provide academic support. Yates (2004) argues that
undocumented immigrants have the right to a higher education. She insists that even
with Plyler v. Doe, guaranteeing a free secondary education, young undocumented
students are still being excluded from pursuing higher education given that they still
must pay out of state tuition and are not eligible to apply and receive government
financial aid. Considering the decision of Brown v. the Board of Education, Yates,
(2004) argues that the court regarded education as one of the most important
51
functions of state and local governments and to provide equal access to public
education to people regardless of race. Nonetheless undocumented students are not
eligible to get financial assistance to attend a public state institution. In California
this was overturned in Board of Regents of the University of California v. Bradford
(1990) which basically mandated the University of California to comply with
Education Code 68062 and allow undocumented students to pay in state or resident
tuition.
Dream Act
The Dream Act and AB540 represent two attempts by the government to
bring justice to the immigrant community. The Development, Relief and Education
for Alien Minors is an American legislative proposal first introduced in the Senate in
August 1, 2001 and most recently on May11, 2011. The Dream Act would provide
conditional permanent residency to illegal alien students who graduate from US high
schools, are of good moral character, arrived in the U.S. illegally as minors, and have
been in the country continuously for at least five years prior to the bill's enactment.
In addition if they also serve in the arm forces for two years or attend a college or
university for two years, the students would obtain temporary residency for a six-
year period. Within the six year period, a qualified student must have "acquired a
degree from an institution of higher education in the United States or have completed
at least 2 years, in good standing, in a program for a bachelor's degree or higher
degree in the United States," or have "served in the armed services for at least 2
52
years and, if discharged, have received an honorable discharge” (Library of
Congress, 2009).
More than two million undocumented immigrants came to this country as
minor children (Pew Hispanic Center, 2006). Many of these immigrants went to
school here and were raised as American kids. Our national values have never
punished or blamed children for acts that they committed while under the direction
of their parents (Migration Policy Institute, 2010). Under the current law about
65,000 students graduate from American high schools each year who have been in
the United States more than 5 years but who face limited prospects for completing
their education or working legally in the U.S. because they were originally brought
here by parents lacking immigration status. Among those prevented from working
legally or completing their education are valedictorians, honors students, award
winners, homecoming queens, class presidents, and other student leaders. The
DREAM Act would provide undocumented students’ equal opportunities and access
to the same benefits available to residents and U.S. citizens, it would allow them to
compete for a spot in a university and compete for jobs making our system more
competitive and improving our social standards all in one.
Before applying Valenzuela’s (1999) subtractive schooling theoretical
framework to this study one must first consider an assimilation model about
American schools of the early twentieth century, as described by historians.
Historians see these choices as particularly poignant for students whose backgrounds
53
conflict with the school’s ideal. Bonney (2000) found that in order to avoid a loss of
self-image a student rejects the school and consequently exerts low levels of effort.
For many scholars, schools are social institutions with social goals. Schools
not only impart skills; they impart the characteristics and behavior of ideal students.
Anthropologist John Ogbu (1974) and others have shown how school routines and
curricula can convey to black students that there is something “wrong” with them
and their background (Ferguson, 1998; Fordham, 1996; Steele and Aronson, 1998).
A large part of the sociology of schooling points to systematic social differences
between students and schools as part of the reason why immigrant students reject
their schools. Students were not just taught reading, writing and arithmetic
according to Tyack (1974), but also corrected in details of comportment, including
what to wear or how to speak. Valenzuela’s (1999) ethnographic study concluded
that students of immigrant decent did not reject education or their schools, but they
do reject schooling. Her research suggests that “schools like Seguin High are
organized formally and informally in ways that fractures student’s cultural and ethnic
identities, creating social linguistic, and cultural divisions among the students and
between the students and staff” (p. 5).
According to Valenzuela (1999), ‘‘schooling’’ emphasizes an aesthetic caring
for students, that is, students are cared for in proportion to their willingness to
exchange their own cultural sensibilities for the dominant cultural preferences of the
school. Noddings’s (1984) framework of caring stated that the role of caring
teachers is to initiate relation. Culturally responsive caring also places “teachers in
54
an ethical, emotional, and academic partnership with ethnically diverse students, a
partnership that is anchored in respect, honor, integrity, resource sharing, and a deep
belief in the possibility of transcendence” (Gay, 2000, p. 52). Foster (1995) adds
that culturally responsive teachers help students to understand that knowledge has
moral and political elements and consequences, which obligate them to take social
action to promote freedom, equality, and justice for everyone.
According to Valenzuela (1999) the immigrant population faces difficulties
making friends outside of their own circle and schools do not have appropriate
resources that would assist them in their transition. Therefore, these immigrant
students are at a greater risk of dropping out, getting involved in gangs, higher rate of
pregnancies, or simply not feeling like they belong here and returning to their place
of birth.
Language is one of the biggest obstacles for recent immigrants. Stanton-
Salazar & Dornbusch (1995) argue that language proficiency and use produce more
consistent effects on our social capital variables than those family socioeconomic
statuses. As advanced by Cummins (1986) and Gibson (1993), the concept of
“subtractive assimilation” is predicated on the assumption that assimilation is a non-
neutral process and that its widespread application negatively impacts the economic
and political integration of minorities. Even bilingual education programs that
explicitly attend to the linguistic needs of minority youth can be, and typically are,
subtractive if they do not reinforce students’ native language skills and cultural
identity (Cummins, 1984).
55
The foundation of English as a Second Language (ESL), the predominant
language program at the high school level, is subtractive. As ESL programs are
designed to transition youth into an English-only curriculum, they neither reinforce
their native language skills nor their cultural identities (Valenzuela, 1999).
Valenzuela’s (1999) research suggest that such schools are organized formally or
informally to break student’s cultural and ethnic identities. The education systems
has many programs in place, some that are helping students academic gains and
others that are making students feel unwelcome or not part of a particular group. For
example, ESL students rarely are given the opportunity to enroll in honors or AP
classes. Some are motivated by this challenge and will work hard to be accepted into
an honors or AP class but the majority are discouraged and do not try. Creating a
system that is harmful for the large number of youth of color.
Valenzuela’s (1999) subtractive schooling construct then provides support for
the academic achievement gap among immigrant and US-born Mexican youth.
Under her model of subtractive schooling model, she points out school’s practices
that may disrespect these students. US-born students do not reject education; they
reject the schooling system in place given that strips them away of their cultural and
ethnic identities creating a social and cultural gap of understanding between students
and teachers.
In her study at Juan Seguín High School, Valenzuela points out how student’s
cultural identities are constantly undermined, stripped away, diminished, and
derogated. For example, ESL students are not viewed or considered as Spanish-
56
dominant but instead as Limited English Proficient. Another routine way in which
the school life erodes the student’s cultural identity is through the revisions that
teachers and staff make in student’s first and last names. In two instances of student
names, the name “Loreto” became Laredo and “Azucena” became Susy. Mexican
and immigrant youth continue to be subjected on a daily basis to subtle, negative
messages that undermine the worth of their unique culture and history.
The institution’s view of ESL program is that of a language program that is
inferior with inferior students. This leads to the institutionalization of a tracking
school system where the ESL Spanish speakers are “segregated” from English
speakers creating a cultural tracking system in addition to the existing academic
track. Cultural tracking focuses on English fluency only, not on writing, reading
comprehension or content development. Traditionally immigrant youth have only
been exposed to a limited number of honors and A.P. courses that have kept students
of color from achieving respectively with other ethnic groups. Those who do
graduate have a different level of education, one poses an additional challenge when
completing college level course work and completing of bachelor’s degrees.
Summary
The majority of undocumented Latinos residing in the United States today
came from México, Central or South America. They are facing cultural, social,
economical challenges that in part are forcing them to remain close and segregated
from the rest of the groups. Major findings literature from the research cited above
indicate that undocumented Latinos should be acting differently, they should be
57
learning the language, emerge them in the culture and learn the different forms social
capital that can be transmitted to an undocumented immigrant through a positive
connection with cooperative institutional agents. It is through establishing these
kinds of relationships that some undocumented youth are given opportunities to join
and enjoy the benefits of learning the educational system and connecting with an
institutional agent who upon recognition of you good behavior, good work habits and
personal motivation to succeed, signs that have been traditionally been perceived as a
form of assimilation to the dominant culture, hence might negotiate forms of social
capital that could potentially have lifelong social and economic benefits.
58
CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY
This chapter is an outline of the methodology used to study the educational
experiences of undocumented high school graduates also known as AB540 students
who have met all high school graduation requirements, and have been accepted into
a four-year university but were denied access to receiving financial aid.
This qualitative study used purposeful and snowball sampling and
interviewed eight undocumented high school students that graduated from several
public high schools in Los Angeles. All the students who were interviewed have
been accepted by a four-year college, but were denied financial aid due to their lack
of legal residency or citizenship. All students are high school graduates, ranging in
age between 18-25 years, as some students may have taken longer to transfer from a
community college to a four-year. During the interview open-ended structured
questions were used. The interview schedule was adopted from Torres (2011) and
was used to reveal how undocumented Latinos deal with the lack of social capital
and their economic limitations given that they are not eligible for federal or state
financial aid.
Embedded in Torres’ (2011) interview schedule are different theoretical
frameworks that allowed the researcher to use as a lens in doing the study: cultural
ecology, social capital and subtractive schooling (Appendix A and B). For example,
Ogbu’s (1978) cultural ecology study provided the ability to determine if
undocumented Latinos were coping with the kind of treatment given by institutions
59
and members of the dominant group and if they were engaged in learning even if
they were perceived as acting white. Social capital framework helped identify the
relationship between institutional networks and institutional agents and had the
potential to disrupt the social reproduction of inequality for undocumented Latinos
(Stanton-Salazar, 1997).
Finally, the researcher also included interview questions from previous
studies to address the lack of institutional support and lack of financial support to
undocumented Latinos. Specifically, research questions of Aries (2008), Bowen and
Bok (1998) and Charles et.al (2009) were also included in the interview questions.
Together these constructs allowed the researcher to report on the population of
undocumented Latino high school students who transitioned to college with the
severe economic hardship, paving the way for other students who in the process
could become discouraged. The effects of dropping out or not going to college are
well known and they usually have lasting effects for generations. Experience of
neglect or abuse in high school as a result of the treatment from members of the
dominant group and the treatment from U.S. born Latinos has been problematic for
many undocumented Latino students. Furthermore, AB540 students’ experiences
can also create academic chaos, encounter the burden of “acting white,” language
and cultural assimilations and distrust of members of the dominant group in charge
of the educational institutions.
60
Unit of Analysis
This research study consists of eight AB540 students at multiple sites. All
students were interviewed about their high school experience, to determine how
institutional agents had shape their response to schooling and in what ways they had
intervene in order to disrupt the social reproduction of inequality by assisting them to
graduate on time and be eligible for a four year college and attend college. The
students were able to share their stories about their experiences in high school and
how the support they received facilitated the process of applying and going to
college. This part of the story is one that is often ignored and overlooked but
hopefully one that is not forgotten. There is a lot to learn from the experiences of
AB540 students, in order to gain a much better understanding how to best support
them in high school and prepared them to meet college requirements. The numbers
of undocumented students keep rising and it is time to stop pretending there is not a
problem or that the problem will get better over time by simply waiting to see what
happens. They are not going anywhere, for many of them; this is the only home
country they know.
The researcher’s interested was in learning about the experiences and
challenges undocumented Latinos faced throughout their years in high school and
during their transition into college. I was also interested in the relationship among
students, teachers and administrators with regards to the access that undocumented
Latino students had to social capital and institutional agents. To accomplish this
goal, I used two bodies of knowledge that are identified in the literature review and
61
which focused on social capital (institutional agents and subtractive schooling),
cultural ecology (voluntary and involuntary minorities, acting white and coping with
the burden of acting white). I was also interested in looking for variables not
mentioned or researched in education that are keeping AB540 students away from
school, away from graduation and from pursuing a post-secondary education.
The Social Capital framework (Stanton-Salazar, 1997) and Subtractive
Schooling (Valenzuela, 1999) were both used to explain to the reader the importance
of having fundamental consciousness of the role of institutions, institutionalized
policies and practices, and institutional agents (i.e. teachers, counselor) which has the
potential to improve or jeopardize the post educational opportunities of
undocumented Latino students. The cultural ecological framework with response to
schooling [(voluntary and involuntary minorities, acting White and coping with the
burden of acting White, (Fordham 1996; Ogbu, 1978), dual frame of reference,
(Gibson and Ogbu, 1991)] provided a theoretical based which I could use to evaluate
the attitude, decisions and responses of undocumented Latinos towards schooling.
Sampling
This qualitative study used a sample of eight undocumented Latino/a high
school graduates. The primary goal of this study was to acquire in depth information
about each of the participants and their high school educational experience. All
participants had graduated high school and were eligible to attend a four-year
university. At the time of the interview they were enrolled in two-year or four-year
institution of higher learning. This researcher sampled three undocumented males
62
and five undocumented females. At least one half of the participants were attending
either a University of California (UC) or a California State University (CSU). The
researcher selected students to participate in the study using purposeful and snowball
sampling. The eligibility of the participants consisted on the following criteria; be
undocumented (AB540), graduated from a public high schools in Los Angeles
county, passed the California High School Exit Exam, met all A-G requirements and
were accepted to a UC or CSU but were denied financial aid because of the legal
status and have financial hardships beyond what their family can bear, making
attending college a tough decision they had to make. This study did not interview
any other school personnel; it only obtained student’s views and opinions. All
names and any other identification factor were kept confidential at all times.
Setting
The study was conducted on students who attended 7 different high schools
within the Los Angeles County. During the 2011-2012 school years, the
demographics for all seven schools were very similar. The Latino population was
the highest and it ranged from 44% at high school #4 to 98% at high school #2. The
second largest ethnic group was African Americans, high school #2 had the least at
1% and high school #6 had the most at 21%. The percentage for Asians ranged from
1% at high schools # 1,2,3,5,and 7 to 6% in high school 6. The percentage for
whites ranged from 1% at high schools #1,2,3,5,7 to 26% in high school # 6. The
English Language Learners attending these seven high schools ranged from 29% in
63
high school #1,2 to 47 % in high school #7 (California Department of Education,
2010).
Assumption made for this particular study were that not all AB540 students
were part of the ELL group of students, in fact the researcher was interested in the
different stories and the different perception both groups had given that their social
groups can be somewhat different. Valenzuela, (1999) stated that English speaking
Latinos and non-English speaking Latinos experience school differently and see each
other as different groups, even though for my study they were held under the same
truth, they were both undocumented and that made them both eligible candidates.
None of the participants were minors therefore the researcher did not need to obtain
parental consent for participation in my study but their information remained
confidential at all times.
Data Collection
For the purpose of this study, AB540 students were only to be considered if
they had a GPA of 2.5 or higher, graduated in the last 7 years, enrolled in a two year
or four year university and were not eligible for federal student financial aid because
of his or her AB540 status. As the primary researcher, I was responsible for
conducting, collecting and transcribing data from the one-on-one student interviews
and student profile sheets. All interviews were finalized within 60-90 minutes; they
were conducted in the spring of 2012, at a time considered most appropriate, either
before or after school to avoid academic disruption. Also, all interviews were
administered in semi-structured manner with the principal investigator asking all the
64
questions contained in the interview protocol. The interview protocol for the student
interviews consisted of questions aimed at eliciting students’ perceptions of their
high school experiences based on the three distinct theoretical frameworks: cultural
ecology, social capital and subtractive schooling.
Follow-up questions were necessary for additional clarification and or
follow-up interviews were not conducted. Transcription of all interviews assisted the
researcher in examining the student’s response to the interview questions closely,
and allowed the researcher time and concentration to maintain the focus on the
research questions, and assist in finalizing the study with reliability. Limitations
were experienced for two participants who decided not do the interviews when they
found out it was going to be audio taped. They were both made aware prior to the
meeting about the audio recording requirement as a prerequisite to participate but
decided not to do the interview on the day of the interview. Both of their data was
never collected.
Data Analysis
Each research question corresponded to specific set of interview items. The
totality of the responses to these interview items were used to fashion a summary of
findings by research question. The interview items have all been pre-coded
according to the theoretical framework used in this study. Interview responses were
also coded and analyzed based on the research questions.
65
CHAPTER 4
DATA PRESENTATION
In this chapter, I share the stories of eight AB540 college eligible high school
graduates and their education experiences transitioning from a hostile environment
and schooling process that was less than adequate but who gained access to social
capital that allowed them to graduate. In doing so, I take the reader through the
experiences of these students as they engaged in learning even if they were perceived
as acting white, their schooling experiences, and how the social capital they received
by means of relationships that increased their opportunities of going to college. In
addition, the eight participants encountered financial and residency-related
challenges that go along with being low-income undocumented immigrants and
persevered to successfully complete high school. High school is the launching point
for many but for the students whose stories will be told here, their take off was filled
with moments of frustration and disappointment as well as instances of pride and
celebration.
Their undocumented status ensures two things: that these students have
restricted access to the benefits of U.S. citizenship, and that will be twice as likely to
live in poverty as U.S. natives and legalized immigrants (Passel, 2005). If the
students were not undocumented, they would have access to the resources available
to other poor Americans. If the students were not poor, not having access to
government assistance, such as financial aid for college, would not be a critical issue.
The stories to follow shed light on how the experiences of AB540 college eligible
66
high school graduate working their way to college and take the reader through the
narrow navigated by 8 determined students.

Table 1
Student Profile Data
Rubi Sofia Sergio Laura Guillermo Wendy Enrique Camila
Age 20 20 19 25 20 22 21 23
Country
of origin
Mexico Mexico El
Salvador
Mexico Mexico Mexico El
Salvador
Mexico
Length of
time in the
U.S.
11 years 13 years 11 years 22
years
13 years 20 years 15 years 20 years
Household
size
7 9 7 5 5 4 4 5
Parent
education
Mother
(Some CC)
Father
(Unknown)
Mother
(Unknown)
Father
(Some HS)
*
Mother
(6
th
grade)
Father
(Unknown)
Mother
(3
rd

Grade)
Father
(6
th

Grade)
Mother
(Unknown)
Father
(Same HS)
Mother
(5
th
Grade)
Father
(Unknown)
Mother
(Some
CC)
Father
(Trade
School)
Mother
(Unknown)
Father
(6
th
Grade)
GPA 3.6 3.0 3.0 3.7 4.6 4.1 4.1 3.3
Honor
courses
English Economics English,
American
Lit, World
History
Physics
Biology
Pre-calculus
English
World
History
Chemistry
Biology
American
Lit
English
World
History
American
Lit
All courses
(Magnet
Program)
AP
Courses
US History
Calculus
English
Spanish English English
Spanish
Calculus
Government
English
Spanish
Calculus
Biology
Government
English
Civics
Economics
Spanish
Calculus
English
Environmental
Studies
Government
* Education level of parents reflects years of schooling in native country not years of
schooling in the United States.
67
The researcher has decided to organize this chapter into three parts. First,
being persistent in the face of hostility, second, students’ access to social capital and
finally, schooling as a subtractive process.
Participants
The eight participants were interviewed in person and all interviews were
recorded for accuracy. The eight participants fell into one of two categories:
attending a two-year community college or attending a four-year university.
Furthermore, five students attended a large public high school while the other three
students attended a small charter high school. Lastly, three males participated and
five females in part because it was more difficult to identify males willing to take
part in the study/interview.
Persistence in the Face of Hostility
Rubi
Rubi is a 20 year-old student who graduated from high school in 2011. She
was born in Guadalajara, Mexico and has been living in Los Angeles, CA since the
age of nine. Rubi graduated with a 3.6 GPA and took all AP classes that her school
had to offer which were only three; A.P. English, A.P. Calculus and A.P. US
History. She described her school as “a high school that will focus on giving a
career one day and if you try you will actually make it”. She attended a small charter
high school in a low socio economic neighborhood in South Los Angeles. She
described her school as “a high school that will focus on giving a career one day and
68
if you try you will actually make it”. When asked how she felt about attending that
school Rubi responded
At first I was skeptical because it was a brand new school and the building
was really bad. I didn’t want to go there. But after graduating from there,
um, I think It was one of the best decisions I made, um, I actually ended up
getting my sister going there.

Sofia
She is a 20 year-old immigrant of Mexican descent. Born in Leon
Guanajuato, Mexico, she immigrated to the United States with her family when she
was only 7 years old. Both of her parents are also from Guanajuato, Mexico. Sofia
graduated from a charter high school in June 2010 with a 2.9 GPA and was accepted
at the California State University, Northridge (CSUN). She is the third child in a
family of seven, the second to graduate from high school and the first one in the
family to attend college. Sofia who attended a similar school as Rubi and she
recalled being the first graduating class and for her that meant not having access to
many AP classes. She talked about her experience attending her high school
In the beginning it was kinda scary you know, they didn’t have any, like
history, we were the first class, it was kinda exiting. I really love this school,
and I got involved as much as I could, the teachers were, are great. They care
about their students, everyone, everyone was just great! It was a great
experience.

Sergio
Sergio was born in El Salvador. Both of his parents were also born there.
His family immigrated to the United States and settled in Los Angeles area when he
69
was 7 years old. He has been living there with his mother and four older siblings
since their migration. His schooling experiences are only of US schools since he
never attended school in El Salvador. Like Rubi and Sofia, Sergio also studied all
four years in one small charter high school that he admits he did not want to go there
but had no choice, this is what he responded when I asked about his experience
I hate it! I hate it at the beginning it was such like, it was such a little school,
it was like 100 of us and you know, it was a new experience for me you
know, being in high school. I didn’t like the fact we would have to wear
uniforms but then again that was my first year.

Laura
Laura is 25 years old. Her family migrated from Mexico when she was three.
Her father completed middle school and her mother only went up to third grade.
Both parents and Laura are undocumented but her two younger sisters were born in
the U.S. Laura is the first in the family to graduate from high school and the first
one to attend college; she first enrolled at Santa Monica Community College (SMC)
but later transferred and is now attending El Camino Community College (ECC).
Laura was the first student who graduated from a “traditional” large public high
school in Los Angeles. The student population is predominantly Latino and African-
American, her experience during high school is best understood using her own
words, this is how she described her school
I am really disappointed with the school, there are so many things, just poor
quality, even the counselors, they would not give you any attention. I
remember that one year I had one class that I was repeating and I wanted to
change my class, so I went to my counselor and he told me to come back
tomorrow because he couldn’t help me. I didn’t even spoke to him. I came
70
back tomorrow and kept me like that for 3 weeks. I would go there and I
would insist and he wouldn’t actually pay attention to me until I brought my
mom.

The experiences with some of her teachers were as followed
The system was really bad, I remember having teachers who used to say, they
would tell students, “oh if you don’t want to learn its ok, I am getting pay. If
you want to leave the room, go ahead. I am still getting pay”. The teachers
were really not that great, they were not in to it.

Laura talked about her experience in an AP English class, one that she knows the
counselor put her because of her good behavior. She explained how getting an A in
this class meant you had to be a good student, if you didn’t cause any trouble in
class; you had an “A”. She added, “The quality in school was really bad”.
Guillermo
Guillermo is twenty years-old. His family moved from Mexico when he was
seven. Along with one sister he was born in Mexico but a younger sister was born in
the United States. Both of his parents were also born in Mexico. He has been living
in the United States for the last 13 years. At the time of the interview, Guillermo
was a junior at the California State University of Fullerton (CSUF) double majoring
in Mathematics and Spanish with a concentration in teaching and another
concentration in Literature. Guillermo went to high school in a low socio-economic
neighborhood school. He liked the fact that he was with people of his own race
(Chicana/o / Latino) but he didn’t feel safe at school, He explained
It was really nice, I was with people of my kind, so Chicano Latino, so, but
then I was also kinda scared because there were like… cholito people and
like then I didn’t feel like…It was scary at the same time because when you
walk by them they give you like this face and then you feel like if they are
71
gonna shank you or something, so yeah. Even though we had the security
people, that wasn’t even enough.

Wendy
Wendy is a 22 year-old immigrant student. Her family moved to the United
States when she was two. She was born in Zacatecas, Mexico. Her schooling
experiences are only from US schools since she never attended school in Mexico.
Wendy is the oldest daughter and the first person in her family to graduate from high
school and to go to college. She was the translator to her mother for the outside
world while growing up. When she began thinking about what high school to go,
she knew that her home school had a pretty bad reputation among the members of
the community. She shared her experience in high school
I first I was a little skeptical and scared because of the kind of perspective
that people in my community might have from the school and I would hear
all these comments, that “the teachers aren’t that great! That the students are
you know, they are ill behaved, they are all these fights”, so I was concerned.
I heard that they were a lot of drugs and bad behavior in the school.

Here is what she shared during the interview about her teachers on campus
I think I met some teachers that really lack um, discipline and like a firm
hand because I believe that students here, in this school, they sort of need
strict teachers that kinda enforce rules and are very strict about it because
they tend to slack a little. I met some good teachers but I think in general I
would say that um, they are not or they weren’t as committed or passionate
about their students and making sure that they achieve well. It was like they
were doing their jobs just to complete the day, but I felt that they lacked that
extra passion and commitment to make us passionate about learning and want
to learn.

72
Enrique
Enrique is a cheerful and charismatic young man. He was born in El
Salvador and migrated to the United States with his family when he was 7 years old.
His mother and father were also born in El Salvador. He has been living in Los
Angeles for the last 15 years. Enrique first entered a US school in 3
rd
grade. Enrique
is the only of the participants who attended two different high schools. He finished
his 9
th
grade at a school in a predominantly middle class neighborhood that has a
history of academic excellence and the following three years in a school located in a
lower class community. Enrique discussed the different experiences at both high
schools
The differences were major, particularly with regards to resources, I noticed
the quality of education that you receive at HS#1…even at that age I noticed
it was a lot, higher than the one I got at HS#2, umm HS#1 was like….I’ll
give you an example, in the 9
th
grade, Hamilton we went to like 2, 3 college
trips, we visited like three universities, UCLA was one and I remember
everyone was excited about college that day, we visited, I think some Art
school called Otis or something and then now I’ll give you an example of
Antelope valley high school, we never visited any university in my three
years there, cause I went to HS#1 as a freshmen and in 9
th
grade and then that
summer my family moved to and then I went to HS#2 and right there I did
10
th
, 11
th
and 12
th
grade there and not once did we visited a single college
campus. So the experience was very different, for sure.

The hostile environment that Enrique experienced at HS#2 made him choose from
the two pathways that were presented to him and to every other student at his school.
He explains the two options
Teachers kind off had this attitude: I am only going to help the ones that
show interest, umm, sooo, hence the fact, I was one of those kids you
know… like the one AP class…there was pretty much one AP class and those
kids would get all the love from the teachers you know…cause they were the
73
ones showing promise to go to college and the other kids were weeded into
the… you know…the prison pipeline, getting into trouble and deal with the
zero tolerance policy, victims I would say. And then, yeah! I that was the
predominately atmosphere at HS#1.

Camila
Camila was born in Oaxaca, Mexico. Both of her parents were also born in
Mexico. Her family migrated from Mexico when she was three years-old. All the
members of her immediate family were also born in Mexico with the exception of
her younger brother. She has been living in Los Angeles for 20 years. She is the
second in the family to graduate from high school and second to go to college after
older sister. Camila was the only participant who was enrolled in a magnet program
throughout her four years of high school. Being in the magnet program had its
benefits. For example, most of her classes were small, teachers had high
expectations and everyone got along. Those students not part of the magnet program
faced several additional challenges, she learned about some of those challenges
through some friends that “somehow made it” to colleges. This is how she described
the differences in experiences of students being in or out of the magnet program
I was in the magnet program and it’s very small and they care a lot more
about you graduating as oppose to the students that were tracked, like the
people outside of the magnet program, um I think they got a pretty bad
education, just cause I had some friends who somehow made it to Northridge
with me, they told me it was horrible, teachers would pop in videos and leave
the classrooms, that’s what you did all periods and no one complained, no
one wanted to do work so they never spoke up about it but now, afterwards
they realize how detrimental that was to their education and they can’t write a
cohesive essay but being in the magnet program it really helped me graduate
and get into the AP courses and stuff like that, it was a really good experience
for me, for myself.
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Not only do these students endure the same stressors and risks factors as
other Latino and immigrant youth, they also face constant institutional and societal
exclusion and rejection due to their undocumented status. They are not eligible for
most scholarships, do not qualify for any form of governmental sponsored financial
assistance, are not eligible to apply for a driver’s license, are legally barred from
formal employment, and may be deported at any time (Perez, Espinoza, Ramos,
Coronado & Cortes, 2006). Resilience theory is focused more on personal
characteristics and environmental social resources that are thought to moderate
negative effects of stress and promote positive outcomes despite risks (Kirby &
Fraser, 1997).
The stories above share common characteristics identified previously in the
literature. The participants attended segregated schools in impoverished communities
(Waters, 1999) where safety was of great concern (Orfield, 1998) and where teachers
and staff were acting in a manner that created a hostile environment for most
students (Valenzuela, 1999). The findings are also consistent with the research that
suggests that girls outperform boys in educational settings (Suarez-Orozco & Qin-
Hilliard, 2004). Where female participants were able to create a greater number of
opportunity to work closely with personnel at the school but also by seeking support
when in the 9
th
or 10
th
grade as oppose to waiting to junior or senior year when is
time to apply for colleges. In contrast to Valenzuela (1999) findings on immigrant
girls having a stronger sense of family and obligations, all male participants
75
identified the home, family, and parents as one of the main reasons of their academic
success.
Students’ persistence was a factor of resilience and this may be due in part
with the length of time living in this country as well as their age at the point of entry
to the country and educational attainment of parents. In summary the participants
arrived to the United States from ages ranging from 2 years old to 9 years old. The
findings indicate that length of time living and attending US schools have
contributed to their resilience to reduce or avoid negative outcomes by using the
limited resources in the case of Laura, Enrique, Guillermo, Wendy, Sergio, Rubi and
Sofia or substantial in the case of Camila that schools offered (Luthar & Zelazo,
2003) Undocumented Latino students are civically engaged in spite the hostility.
The data below describe how these participants were academically persistent in spite
of these hostile or unwelcoming conditions.
Rubi
Rubi graduated with a 3.6 GPA, and took all of the AP classes that her school
had to offer. She did everything she needed to do in order to make herself eligible to
attend a four-year university. She was accepted to about 4 different four-year
universities but her legal status was the primary reason why she is now at a
community college. I asked Rubi how her educational experience was different from
her U.S. born peers and she shared this response
I couldn’t afford four years, I got accepted to some four-year colleges and
Mt. Saint Mary’s, they gave me a scholarship for like four years of like
76
13,000 a year but I couldn’t pay the other half. So, I mean I didn’t want to
quit on them either so I decided to start at community college.

She shared how bad it felt not being able to go to a university because of lack of
papers and lack of money. It had taken a toll on her, academically and emotionally.
Rubi expressed her feelings of why her first year in college was so difficult during
our interview
The first semester it was difficult because I didn’t go to a four year, I really
wanted to go to a four year and I had the mentality that “you have to go to a 4
year, community is bad, kinda low standards, um, that depressed me the first
semester. The second semester I was kinda lost, I couldn’t think straight,
“What was my goal in life basically” I am still kinda there but I think I am a
bit clearer that’s why it was depressing.

She finds some motivation in those people that helped her along the way. She
described the people at her high school in the following way
I think it was because it was a very small high school, we knew each other
very good and that enables us to have a very you know, more respect, more
feelings towards each other, that counselors care about you a lot and teachers
do also, they put a lot of effort to their students.

When I asked what else motivated her to keep going to school, Rubi responded
Is kinda hard to, I don’t really have motivation anymore other than you know,
keep going for my sister maybe a little bit but not a lot. I don’t know, I don’t
think it’s a motivation, because once you finish your career, what are you
going to do after?

Sofia
Sofia was confident during high school of her cognitive abilities to compete
in honors and AP classes. Her academic performance and support from her advisor
whom she credits for most of her academic success got her into California State
77
University of Northridge (CSUN). Her high school had roughly about 700 students,
relatively small compared to a traditional large public high school in Los Angeles.
The small setting was beneficial to Sofia, she explained
They are going to help you get to that higher education because their main
focus, they focus on your grades a lot! My friends who went to another
school could slack off and they thought it was ok but here it’s not ok.
Especially with the advisor that I had, you couldn’t mess up, she was like on
you the whole time.

After four years, Sofia graduated and was accepted to different colleges. Her family
and two of her school’s administrators had agreed to give her financial support in
order for her to attend a California State University, she elaborated
What we had talked about was them paying my first year of tuition and my
dad was going to pay my dorming and that’s how it was my first semester but
December of that first semester when the semester was over I found out that
they weren’t going to pay for my second semester.

To this day Sofia struggles sharing her story, she explained how it wasn’t easy and it
felt as if she had failed…
My dad couldn’t pay it because he had been paying the dorming so he didn’t
have money saved up and um, so I had to come back home and um from, it
was like huh! It sucked! It was really hard! You know. I thought I had it set
out, they always told me it was going to be hard but I always thought it
wasn’t going to be impossible and that felt like an impossible, it was! …(In
tears) I had to come back home! I had already said bye to my parents, my
family knew I was going to Northridge it kinda felt like, like I failed!

When I asked her what motivates her to keep going to school, this is what she
responded
My brothers and sisters, they’re also undocumented, my sister is graduating
this year from this high school and she didn’t want to keep going to college,
she was like “I’m not, I am not going to, I am just going to get a job after
high school, I am going to keep working, like, it’s pointless for me to go” it
78
got me sad, like, it really did. I was like, “what are you talking about? You
are one of the reasons why I kept on going to school. If it was up to me I
would have been like fine! After that semester in CSUN, I could have been
like, “I’m done!” but I did it for you! Are you kidding me? You are going to
stop? “Yeah! Look what happened to you! What if the same thing happened
to me? A few months ago she told me she wanted to keep going to school and
she applied to a community college and she is going to keep going to school
and that motivates me, they motivate me.

Sergio
For Sergio, due to his poor academic performance in the 9
th
grade, he was
forced to be out of honors track, he is the only one from the group participants who
did not have access to any AP classes. He explained to me that he understood why
he was not allow to be in honors, and that it was his fault for the most part.
Nevertheless, he was able to established good relationships with 99% of the teachers,
he added
I love my little school, it feels like home every time I go and visit them, its,
you know, professors are good and they generally care about you, I love it. If
I do ever get a chance, I would like to teach there.

As previously mentioned, 99 percent of his teachers were supportive but the one
percent, he goes on sharing his experience with his academic counselor
That 1% was my I guess you could say it was my academic counselor, you
know I’m just going to keep it brief but she basically said, I feel, I don’t
know but I feel that she is racist, I feel that she is racist and I can honestly say
that, that’s my opinion and she honestly said I should consider, she said “oh
you know, students in your situation sometimes go back home because of
lack of opportunities here” in other words you should go home. To your
home country, but I am doing it and I am going to show that degree in her
face.

79
Sergio did not have access to most of the AP classes offered at his high school in part
because he didn’t performed well during his first and second year of high school. He
explained how students were tracked into honors or regular classes,
No, I never took AP, AP wasn’t introduced until my senior year, and we were
a brand new school. There was AP, U.S. History, AP Calculus, but I only got
up to pre-calculus. Like, yeah it sucked because the fact that I didn’t
performed as well, my first two years, it basically determined, made a path to,
“oh I’m going to summer to make that up” while other students were going
summer school to get geometry and advance to get in to AP Calculus.

He is currently the president of an AB540 club at the Community College, which he
attends. In high school, he was among the first students to share his legal status and
advocates for AB540 students on and off campus. He thinks most people shouldn’t
be afraid of sharing their status and they should seek resources
A lot of people are timid or scared and they don’t want to open up because
your parent you know. You are told not to because they are so many
concerns with that but, it was a good thing that I opened up about being
undocumented because after that I guess more students decided to talk about
it, to talk about the situation and um, I was able to receive some help because
of it from teachers, teachers that really care.

Laura
Laura worked hard in school, got good grades, was active in student clubs
and ran track but all of her success seemed superficial when she learned that the
AB540 law was being challenged. She knew that being undocumented and paying
out of state tuition was impossible. As a result she ended in depression and
attempted to commit suicide, she commented
So I focused on being a good daughter and a good student, and then when I
see that I cannot accomplish my dream of becoming, the AB540 program is
80
being challenged and I am not going to be able to accomplish that, it took a
big effect because I was working so much and so hard and then that was
being challenged and it was my last hope to being a good human being.

The option of going college wasn’t always an option for Laura, she is trying to make
the best out of this opportunity, she explained how persistent and determined she
must be
I don’t mind working a few hours and you know, and going to school, I don’t
mind getting up at 5 in the morning because I don’t have a car and my dad is
going to give me a ride to the metro, like, I wake up at 5 in the morning, I’m
supposed to be ready by 6 and is like super early and I stayed up late because
I was studying or doing something for school, or something for my groups
and is like, I don’t mind doing all of that as long as at the end, you know, I
know that at the end I’ll get some sort of fruits out of that and like I said, now
that I am actually involved with all of this I feel a lot more happier because I
know I am able to help at least, I am able to help a student.

Guillermo
Guillermo graduated with the highest GPA among the participants in the
study and he took about six honors and about 6 AP classes, which helps explain his
4.6 GPA out of high school. He did not learned about other AB540 students in his
class until junior year, he shares this side of the story
My freshman and sophomore I didn’t know anyone, but junior and senior was
pretty much when everyone started coming out and saying, I am not from
here, what am I going to do?

Guillermo commented during the interview about the school’s lack of knowledge of
the immigration laws like the AB540 law that allows him and students with the same
legal status to attend college and pay in state tuition. He expanded
Applications were here and I didn’t know how to fill them out, some of my
friends were also AB540 students and they didn’t even know how to fill it out
81
either, we asked people, and some of them were like ok, do this, this and this,
but then it came to the point where it asks, what is your social security
number and we were like, what do we do here? Do we put 1111111, 000000,
what do we do?

Wendy
The rumors about her school in her community had become Wendy’s
everyday reality. Her mentality allowed her to graduate, be eligible for college and
compete and receive numerous scholarships. This is what she said about how she
decided to make her school experience count for her
But I just figured that just, if I stay away from all that and I take care of
business I should be fine. As long as I don’t get involved in anything bad,
gangs or drugs, I would be fine. I would say that my high school has a lot of
to offer, both good and bad and is up to you if you want to take the good or
bad. You know, there is a lot of partying; there is a lot of messing around, if
you want to have access to drugs? You can have access to them but is all up
to you, at the end of the day. If you want to go here and get an education,
you can do it too.

This how she described the different kind of students on campus
I think that there is like a range of motivation in the students, I met some
students that were very motivated, very smart, very committed to their studies
but I also met the opposite, not into school, hated coming to school, didn’t
like to read um, yeah! School was not their thing, they could just, all they
could think about was dropping out or not coming to school. and there was
like the middle range students, you know, that kinda completed the work, but
just completed it, they weren’t that motivated.

Wendy was the first and only person so far in her family to graduate from high
school and go to college. The choices she made in high school allowed her earn a
4.12 GPA. She was up for the challenge, as she described it
82
I took AP English, AP English Composition, AP English Language, I didn’t
take AP Spanish class but I took the exam, yeah! I took a couple of AP
classes, AP Government. All the AP classes that were offered, I took them.

When I asked her why she had decided to take the most challenging curriculum
available, she answered
Because I felt that I needed the challenge, I felt that I needed more than
regular classes, they were good but I felt that I could do more and I wanted to
learn more. I just wanted that extra push and I wanted the, I just liked the
challenge.

She talked about her mother being one of the people that always motivated her and
pushed her to do her best even though her mom did not learned about college options
until she started giving her the information she would get from school. Wendy was
never encouraged to go to college, she described
In my family since I am the oldest, we were never really encouraged! It was
just the lack of information, they didn’t know about it, it was pretty much un
talked of, un heard of. They just thought, high school, you know, kinder
through high school is mandatory by law so yeah, but college was sort of that
my family had in mind or that they knew of. So yeah, motivation from my
family it wasn’t there because they didn’t know, because they didn’t have the
information.

If going to college was unheard of in Wendy’s house so was paying for college.
Wendy was able to receive scholarship information from her college counselor. She
is the only one among the participants of this study that received funding for four
years of tuition at the University of California (UC) through scholarships. She
proudly talked about this experience
I remember also, the first scholarship that I got that kinda motivated me and
made me feel like I can do this, I think I am gonna be able to manage to pay
for college was a 6K scholarship that I received from um, I think is a non-
83
profit. From there I was motivated to keep applying, keep applying and
gather as much money as I could.

Enrique
Enrique did well in high school, he earned high grades that made him eligible
to attend any four-year university, and he took AP classes and graduated with a 4.1
GPA. Yet when I asked him about similar or different his educational experience
was compared to students who are legal in this country, this is what he had to say
Trying to get out of high school I think the biggest challenge was
discouragement it was like, kinda like, I don’t know I like using analogies,
kinda like the husband that just married the woman of his dream and she
cheated on him you know, something like that, and he is just heart broken
and he is just feels like he’s work for nothing, he’s been faithful to her for
nothing, was loyal to this person for nothing. I felt I was loyal to school you
know, I chose to go the school route you know, I chose not to join gangs
when I was in middle school which was a very easy route from brown males
at Palms Middle school and then finally applying to college and being told,
hey you got accepted BUT!!! You can’t come because you can’t afforded,
Sorry!!!

Second-guessing his decision of choosing the school route was common for Enrique,
here is one example of uncertainty given his legal status he shared during the
interview
Having to go to school part time for like four semesters which is equivalent
to like two years, is very demoralizing!! You get demoralized, you feel like, I
don’t know, sometimes I wonder why the hell I am even like trying to get a
bachelors, I am like one year away from being done and you just don’t know
what’s going to happen if the Obama administration or whomever ends up
being president with all these crazy people running, if they don’t do
something at least for the dreamers, the dream act, what’s going to happened?

84
Camila
Camila graduated from one of the most diverse high schools. Her
participation in the school’s magnet program gave her access to three times more the
number of AP classes that were available to other students. She doesn’t remember
having any AB540 students in her classes, mainly because no one talked about it, she
described why people didn’t identify as AB540
You know before the movement started getting really big, you really didn’t
say you were AB540 just because they weren’t that many benefits to it, it was
I guess the perception that they were a lot of bad things that could happen and
that outweigh the good that might do, to say you were AB540.

Camila was the only participant in this study to be in a magnet program and to be
part of the Academic Decathlon team. Both of these programs are usually composed
of some of the smartest students schools have, including some AB540 students even
if they don’t share their status. She described her peers in the magnet program who
were AB540
I never knew they were AB540 until after high school, but yeah! They were
brilliant, they both excelled in anything academic, so it was kinda surprising
when they told me but I mean, there have been so many AB540 students
going through and doing Academic Decathlon, and I think that’s something
that is a little less known.

During the interview, I asked Camila what motivated her to continue her education
and this is what she had to say about motivation, at home, school and college
Home: I think that, motivation kinda changed along the course, one constant
motivation was my parents, they obviously pushed me to do well in school,
they expected me to do well in school and I guess, it was different because
my sister was a good student so they, automatically assumed that I would be
a good student as well, and you know, for the most part I was a good student.
I think there expectations were always high, do really well and go to college.
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School: Teachers I think they were a really good foundation, they always
expected the best out of myself.

College: professors I had, they had supper high expectations of me, go to
grad school, come back and teach. I think that is a really good launching
point for myself, to actually have the confidence to apply to grad school
because I know that they believe in me. For right now, that is my biggest
foundation for my motivation is professors believing in you.

As previously stated in Chapter two, resilience theories are focused more on
personal characteristics and environmental social resources that are thought to
moderate negative effects of stress and promote positive outcomes despite risks
(Kirby & Fraser, 1997). The findings point out in numerous occasions where the
subjects were among the most persistent, for example, all eight of them graduated on
time and were eligible to attend a four-year university. Seven out of eight
participants took 3 or more AP classes, six of the eight had about a 3.0 GPA and half
of them graduated with a 4.0 GPA or higher. Wendy received multiple scholarships
that paid for tuition at UCLA. Ana, Enrique, Guillermo, Laura and Sofia worked 20
or more hours to be able to pay for tuition. All eight students searched for an ally, a
mentor and institutional agent with knowledge, resources and time and willingness to
share. Suarez-Orozco, Todorova, & Loui, (2002) stated how mentoring relationships
can create considerable social good and they can make a difference in an
adolescent’s lives.
The eight participants dream about the following employment aspirations;
Sergio, Guillermo, Wendy, Sofia are pursuing a career in education to become
teachers and counselors to be able to help out in their community. Rubi is interested
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in the social sciences and would like to study sociology, and Laura dreams about
becoming a nutritionist. Enrique and Ana are both aspiring to become professors
after completing their Ph.D. or MD. Undocumented Latino students share optimism
and hope for the future in spite of the hostile environment they find at institutions
(Suarez-Orozco, 2008) and whereas the past waves of immigrants could leave the
secondary school system without unduly paying price in the work force, today’s
economy structure is such that high school dropouts are essentially sentenced to jobs
in the bottom of our economy, with little promise for status mobility (Portes &
Rumbaut, 2001). Although, the more privileged middle-class White American
student may be able to take a misstep in his or her education and recover in later
years, students of color who make up 80% of the immigrant students are far less
likely to be able to recover (Orfield & Lee, 2005).
Sergio, Sofia, Guillermo and Laura are now leaders and or founders of
AB540 support groups at their respective high schools. The 1.5 generation high
school students have become leaders in different parts of the country, particularly in
Los Angeles because their high educational achievements compared to their
immigrant parents, their English language abilities, and their recognized identity as
AB540 students (Seif, 2004). Enrique, Ana, Rubi and Wendy are also active
members in college AB540 clubs and outreach programs to high school students.
They join students clubs and organizations, contribute to community service,
develop leadership skills and formed robust attachment to the United States
(Gonzales, 2009). Their “illegal” status is a dilemma for Latino immigrant
87
neighborhoods because it demoralizes teachers and fellow students and robs
communities of the full potential of its leaders.
Using Ogbu’s Cultural Ecological theory of “acting white” to see if
undocumented Latinos students behaved similar to African American students by
choosing to do poorly in school in order to avoid being called or label as acting white
was not an issue due to the resilience described above from each of the eight
participants. The data showed that only three students, Sofia, Laura and Guillermo
had never heard the phrase acting white before, and they all reported not being teased
in school for getting good grades. Sofia believes that she did not get teased because
of her personality. She describes her school involvement
I was a good student but I was so involved with everything it was like, I was
the “cool” good student if that’s a term. I mean, I don’t think I was teased
about it, no!

Laura explained involvement allowed her to blend in with the U.S. or legalized
students
When I went to high school, that’s when I started blending in cause I started
going to theater, theater arts, track and field, that was another way to try and
blend in. I was a long distance runner, the two mile. I did MEChA, I was
president of the French club.

When I asked if she was teased for having good grades, she responded
Not really, because I was in so many other things, people they knew that,
they thought I had good grades, they would say, oh my God I am sure you
must have good grades, and I would say. Oh they are average. But you know,
people who had good grades were proud about it. So I was never teased about
that.

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Guillermo also reported not getting teased for getting good grades but quotes a
different reason
I am not going to say no that question because mmm, if your one of those
person that just likes to study, I mean you’re the one who is going to get the
good grades. In my high school, you are your own person, pretty much you
make your own decisions so like if that’s who you are than that’s who you
are, I never got teased for getting good grades or anything like that.

Wendy, Sergio, and Rubi had hear the phrase “acting white” in reference to their
behavior, completion of class work or homework. None were teased for performing
well academically, all engaged in an opposite behavior, which was, competing for
higher grades. Wendy describes her experience of competing for highest grades
No, I think what is ironic that if at all I would get um compliments. And I a
lot of students would tell me “oh, I admire you, you are so studies and you do
your work” I thought that was very weird because I did expect to get bullied
and I tried not to show it to other people, I would try not to put it out there so
that people wouldn’t judge me. But no, but on the contrary, people would
give me good comments, students, my peers, I never had that problem.

Sergio’s explanation of competing for best grades is very similar to Wendy’s
experience, he recalled
I wasn’t teased because of good grades, if anything I was teased because I
didn’t get good grades to begin with, here is kid who is not getting good
grades and after that it was competitive. Within our little group, if you got a
97% you didn’t study enough.

Similarly with Rubi’s experience,
No, I wasn’t teased, I was kinda like the geek “ok” kid. I wasn’t lame in the
sense of the teacher’s pet or something, but I got good grades, but in my
school people who get good grades are good students and the good kids,
people like them you know. I wasn’t popular but they didn’t mind me.

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Enrique and Camila were both aware of the term acting white and over time they had
come to own some of it. They were both self-identified as “nerds”. For Enrique,
acting white meant
I guess everything that is opposite to being brown or black. It means
assimilate, acculturate because your own culture sucks. Don’t act black or
brown you know, let go of your ghetto, uncivilized savaged roots because
your people are ignorant and you know, we conquered them and we beat
them and now you guys are our servants, you guys are the slave class, so
don’t like them, act more like us.

He explained how acting white could be seen in as funny or just different way of
talking
I am going to be honest, if you grew up in inner city LA, you have some
slang words for the sake of educational purposes you’ll say , you have those
vernacular English words that you employ sometimes, so you’ll say like
“damm that shit was thight” say you are a kid from the inner city and you get
a phone call from an employer, say you have been applying for jobs at the
cell phone store or this store and they call you, “Hi, this is Bob Palasky from
whatever enterprise…is this Enrique? I am not going to say “yo! Wat up
Son!” Acting white is like saying “Hello, indeed it is” you know. That to me
is acting white.

A different way of dressing
You have to act civilized, you know, you can be me that can get a 4.1 GPA at
a high school, can get a 3.9 at a university but if you are wearing baggy
clothes than you are just street kid, than they don’t care about you. Whereas,
like same grades but if I wear a blazer or something or some dress pants,
really tight, then…. “ohhh!!!, you are that very intelligent nice dressing
brown kid”

As for Camila, acting white based on her experiences took a different meaning of
belonging to a group of students, who are among the most intelligent. She retells the
setting among students at in her high school
90
Well, when you’re in a magnet program you are kinda cast aside from the rest
of the tracks so they label everyone in the magnet program as “nerdy” or
“teacher’s pet” and so, you kinda end up owning that label and um, you stick
together a lot of the times, so there was a lot of group pride, so I think we
were being balled up together as being the nerds and everyone else were the
trouble makers.

As previously stated in the data, five out of eight students knew the meaning
or had heard the phrase “acting white” prior to the interview. The students who prior
to the interviews had not heard the phrase acting white did not experience being
teased at school for getting good grades. Guillermo gave this definition of what he
thought it meant; “you can be Mexican but sometimes you have to act white in order
to get where you are at” similar to the definition given by McCardle and Young,
(1970) to become more inhibited, more formal, or to lack soul.
Ogbu argued that the primary discontinuities are the differences between the
cultural norm and language of the students and the culture and language norms of the
schools they attend and several reasons why students are willing to overcome these
discontinuities are because students foresee tangible benefits that will accumulate
and accrue to their academic success (Ogbu, 1985). The undocumented Latino
students in this study have a major difference in culture and language but they have
been persistent in spite of the hostility within the educational system in order to
achieve, graduate and contribute to their families and communities.
Research Question 1:
Did AB540 college eligible high school graduates engage in learning even if
they are perceived as “acting whites”? They engaged in learning even if literally or
91
superficially acting white in a hostile environment because they were persistent and
well aware of their wellbeing depended on the level of education attained after
graduating from high school.
Access to Social Capital
Institutional agents as defined by Stanton-Salazar (2010) are “those
individuals who have the capacity and commitment to transmit directly, or negotiate
the transmission of institutional resources and opportunities” (p. 17). The narratives
below will give examples of the relationship between the student and those
individuals…
Rubi
The researcher asked Rubi about whether or not she felt supported as an
AB540 student and this is what she said
I think everyone was really supportive. I remember my government teacher,
he was like crying because he couldn’t do any more and I’ve seen other
teachers, she was crying too, you know. “Is so sad that we can’t do
anything”, so I mean. Everyone was supportive there and I don’t think
anyone at school there is not.

Sofia
Sofia was asked the same question and this is what she had to say
There was a teacher that was our sponsor for the AB540 club, we had
sponsors through like school that helped us pay for some of tuition. My
principal and my assistant principal helped me pay for one of my semesters at
Cal State Northridge.

There was one particular teacher that supported her the most, this is how she
explained her relationship with this teacher
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My advisor, we met with them every day, it was like a class, and you had a
grade for it. We would do like group work, and with the advisor, we were
with them for the four years of our high school, we didn’t switch, we were
with the same one the four years and with the same students the four years. It
became like a family, and that is what it basically was, it was like a mom in
school.

Sergio
Sergio received some sweet bitter news about a scholarship available through
the school district for AB540 students but the deadline was on the day that he found
out. Fortunately he had teachers that helped him. This was his description of that
event
There was this scholarship that I guess our district offers and I hadn’t heard
off until one teacher brought it up, “oh are you applying to this scholarship? I
was like no, I didn’t know about it. So, I got mad! And I went up to the
counselor and I told her, why didn’t I hear about this scholarship
opportunity? And she was like, “oh, I thought I passed the information out”
Last minute, I did the application and I had 3 teachers besides me like,
helping me along the way, correcting it you know because I wasn’t going to
have time to edit. I can honestly say that yeah, I was supported.

Laura
Laura had a hard time making connections with teachers and other school
personnel, when the researcher asked her if she felt supported as an AB540 student,
she explained
No, I never heard anything at school about AB540 students.

Laura was however able to make a few connections with teachers
I had a few teachers that they really helped me. Ms. Poetris, she was always
helping me and motivating me to go and do something. I had other teachers
that were great teachers.
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Guillermo
He was able to get into AP classes because some of his teachers
recommended him and encouraged him, he shared this during the interview
I mean, they were like, back then there was a lot like, teachers were like ok,
in order for you to succeed in life or in order to succeed in college you need
to take hard classes not only these prep classes (referring to A-G
requirements) pretty much I got the lecture from the teachers that teach AP
classes and they were like ok, if you can do this in my class as a regular
student than you can do more in honors.

Wendy
When the researcher asked Wendy who supported her most in high school
she explained that most teachers were very supportive, she felt challenged by the AP
and honors classes that she took during high school but there was one person that
stood out
My counselor, she got to know me a little more and slowly started working
with me and she understood my situation and that’s when she searched for
me and gave me all these sorts of scholarships applications and that’s how I
was able to um, you know, go to college at the end of the day. She would
give me applications from non-profits organizations, even from school. My
high school has a scholarship fund and I applied to that one. I received
$8,000 dollars but I would receive 2K per year for college. That was a huge
help. I remember also, the first scholarship that I got that kinda motivated me
and made me feel like I can do this, I think I am gonna be able to manage to
pay for college was a $6000 dollar scholarship that my counselor gave me the
application

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Enrique
He, like Wendy, had some good teachers and people that he felt he could
count on in school but when the researcher asked him who supported him the most,
Enrique talked about a mentor
I think my mentor from the fulfillment fund provided me with the most
support, like, everything he did for me. Like, he would take me out to these
nice restaurants and he would just tell me like, ‘oh Enrique, you are so smart,
just reach for the sky or something but if you don’t get it you’ll land on a
cloud” you know what I am saying, like ‘apply to Harvard or something, if
you don’t get in you’ll get in to this school or that school’ I think it was him
cause my high school was not well prepared to send kids to college.

Camila
Camila was part of the magnet program at her school and that gave her a lot
of support, more than students that were in regular track
I was in the magnet program and it’s very small and they care a lot more
about you graduating. Within the magnet program you have more eyes on
you. The teachers, they all supervise and they make sure that you are doing
your work and stuff like that.

Camila was also the only participant with a sibling who graduated from college; she
was able to use some of her sister’s social capital to do a few things. She described
some of the things she was able to do because of her sister’s example and support
My sister went to LA High and she was in the magnet program and it was the
same counselor cause he had been there for about 30 plus years. He knew
my sister and she was a good student so I think that also played a factor you
know of getting me admitted into the program.

Teachers also had high expectations for Camila because they knew her sister
I think a lot of the teachers and administrators, and some teachers who knew
my sister had really high expectations of me. Just because my sister was a
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really good student, I mean she graduated when she was 16, so, from high
school yeah. They had high expectations of me and I did my best to try and
fulfill them, I mean, I joined in academic decathlon because my sister was in
academic decathlon.

Parents and peers were hardly mentioned as a form of social capital; transmit
directly, or negotiate the transmission of institutional resources and opportunities.
The parents played a significant role for each student in terms of a motivational
agent, someone who pushed them to try their best and to not give up. The two main
examples came from Enrique who attributed his mother’s presence in the house as a
way to stay out of trouble and off the streets. He explained how significant that was
The fact that my mom didn’t work sort of saved me from the streets, saved
me from my own demise.

Wendy also gave an example of how important it was for her academic success to be
able to do homework at home; she recalled
The environment that my mom worked to have at home which was that I was
not given so many chores and responsibilities throughout the week, Monday-
Friday. She knew that I had homework, that I had a test to study for so I
really appreciated that because I had friends that they had so many chores
when they got home, they had no option.

Finally, peers were not mentioned during the interviews as institutional
agents but all eight participants talked about having positive relationships with their
friends, where if there was some kind of competition it was, “good” competition.
Chattopadhay (2007) talks particularly how members of the lower-status society find
ways to empower themselves. This is often in with the aid of supportive
relationships with certain institutional agents who act to provide subjects with
institutional support (e.g., social worker, community and labor organizers, teachers,
96
etc.). The participants in this study were able to identify one or more agents that
acted on their behalf to transmit or negotiate the transmission of, highly valued
resources (e.g., high school course requirements for admission to a four-year
university).
Cultural and social resources are differently and arbitrarily valued, there is no
underlying rationale for why one accent, a certain vocabulary, a way of acting, or a
particular type of reading material should have higher social value than the others.
This value in itself is worthless, resources must be converted into social capital, then
activated, to gain benefits (Stanton-Salazar, 1997). Those who hold the power in a
society or social context determine value. Teachers and counselors as potential
agents, determine the value just as the dominant segment of society determines the
value of, or what counts in, the resources and actions of others. Schools and teachers
determine the value through their expectations. Often these expectations are low for
low-income, non-English speaking, immigrant students (Garcia, 2001).
Rubi
She talked about having good relationships with most of her teachers in high
school. When the researcher asked Rubi what kind of expectations her teachers had
for her, she replied
I think, since I was in 8
th
grade I was in like honors classes, so they always
expected me to do good and oh ‘this is Rubi, you know, she is good at this’ I
wasn’t really good in math but since I was in honors, it was expected of us to
go to the highest level of math, just keep going. I didn’t want to go in, but I
passed my class but not the A.P. Exam. Teachers have high expectations of
me.

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Rubi explained to me how she passed all of her classes with A’s and B’s and she
knew that she was in a harder situation than her peers because she was not eligible
for financial aid. When the researcher asked her if she knew of any scholarships
available for AB540 students, she said
The first one that I got is from my school, they have a scholarship program,
they fundraise for scholarship through the play they made in school my year.
Ms. Herman she is the Drama teacher and all the money from the play goes
to the scholarship and from there they split it up and give it to AB540
students and I got money from there.

Sofia
Sofia described one of her favorite classes and teachers
I enjoyed my AP Spanish class, and I think it went back to my first Spanish
class in the school because the teacher was just really good. The first year,
she..well I kinda didn’t like her because she was really mean but in reality it
was just her doing her job and making us do the work but then I got used to
her and I just saw that she wanted us to try our best and work as hard as we
could, and that’s part of the reason why I got into the AP Spanish class, she
saw potential.

She had other teachers that were very supportive or her, felt like all teachers cared
about their students wellbeing and learning
The teachers were, are great, they care about their students, everyone,
everyone was just great! It was a great experience.

Sergio
He talked to me about the different colleges that he applied to but he also
talked about the financial burden he experienced for not being eligible for financial
98
aid. Sergio decided to continue his education at a community college. The
researcher asked him how he was paying for community college, he explained
I decided to apply for scholarships and since they saw that I had turned
around my grades… I received $3,000 dollars in scholarships for a
community college. I was able to…you know, I was able to pay for it up to
two years.

Laura
Laura is the student that felt supported the least by her teachers and
counselors, the whole school experience wasn’t what she would have expected it to.
She never received information on AB540 or scholarships for AB540 students until
she went to a community college. She explains her experience in high school as an
AB540 student
I never heard anything at school about AB540 students, no information,
meetings, nothing. I learned about it, I learned about the program AB540
when I went to community college.

Guillermo
Guillermo took several AP classes in high school, he always felt encouraged
and motivated by his teachers who had high expectations for him. He shared his
opinion about his teacher and how he felt supported as an AB540 student
There is like, a lot of support by part of the teachers. There is one person, she
is very supportive of AB540 students, and up to this point she has been
helping AB540 students, if they have any questions, she either calls me or
one of my friends, she is the president of another AB540 club on campus, her
campus. She is very supportive and she is willing to help those AB540
students that are in need.

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Wendy
Wendy found one person in high school that was able to change the course of
her life forever but she explains how at the beginning it was not an “ideal”
relationship. She talks about her counselor
She was great, I would reach out to her, I believe starting sophomore year of
high school. At first I would get frustrated because she hardly had time for
me, she was always busy or I would always seem to reach out to her at the
wrong time. I explained to her my situation and at first she gave me like a
very negative response, she said ‘well, if you’re not documented you should
see about getting documented because otherwise you’re not going to be able
to continue studying after high school’ I thought that was very negative of her
and I tried to explained to her my situation, that you know that there was no
way that I could get documents and what were my other alternatives? At first
she kind of, you know she made me feel like I didn’t have any options, that I
was just at a dead end but eventually she got to know me a little more and
slowly started working with me and she understood my situation and that’s
when she searched for me and gave me all these sorts of scholarships
applications and that’s how I was able to um, you know, go to college at the
end of the day.

Her counselor provided numerous scholarship applications for Wendy and in the
end, she explains the outcomes of those applications
I believe I applied to like about 7 scholarships and I received money from all
7 that I applied for.

When asked her if she had to put money out of her own pocket to pay for college,
she gave this answer
Oh, yeah! For books, my mom…I never worked throughout college because I
was a fulltime student and I commuted. So my whole day evolved around
school, so I had no time for work, so my mom with her savings would help
me pay for books, transportation, food, so yeah, I did.

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Enrique
He talked about being a kid growing up in inner city Los Angeles and being
smart at the same time. He also talked about the attitude that teachers had towards
students
Teachers kind off had this attitude: I am only going to help the ones that
show interest, umm, sooo, hence the fact, I was one of those kids you
know… like the one AP class…there was pretty much one AP class and those
kids would get all the love from the teachers you know.

When I asked how he got into AP classes, he shared that teachers saw potential in
him
Teachers believed in me, and the other kids, that weren’t getting into trouble,
that weren’t in gangs. I guess I was showing like I have the ability to maybe
go to a good university.

Camila
Camila enjoyed high school particularly because she was accepted into the
magnet program at the beginning of her freshman year and also because she felt
challenged by her teachers and motivated by her peers to do her very best
I think a lot of the teachers and administrators had high expectations of me
and I did my best to try and fulfill them. That was the expectation of me, to
do well in all my classes, to get accepted into a UC and all that.

There was a lot of pride in being a magnet student, she explains
When you’re in a magnet program you are kinda cast aside from the rest of
the tracks so they label everyone in the magnet program as “nerdy” or
“teacher’s pet” and so, you kinda end up owning that label and um, you stick
together a lot of the times, so there was a lot of group pride, so I think we
were being balled up together as being the nerds and everyone else were the
trouble makers and stuff like that, there was never any inner group conflicts
as far as I knew or experienced, not that I can say that they were any put
101
downs or anything like that. Everyone just has high expectations of the other
person so, it’s a constant challenge.

The social capital students received in form of resources and or information
can vary depending on who is providing, who is receiving, and who is making use of
it to gain short-term or long term benefits. Stanton-Salazar (2010) makes us aware
that not all agents have the human, cultural, and social capital to alter an adolescent’s
social mobility, especially when we are talking about working-class, poor or
immigrant youth. The participants in this study received different social capital in
different forms of resources and information. They continued to be persistent in face
of hostility because they were self-confident, worked hard and had one or more
agents that provided them with enough support to keep moving forward.
The last section of the findings will show examples of the neglect or abuse
instead of the social capital students should receive from institutions. Institutional
agents often work in institutions, schools, and positions that serve members of the
middle-class, providing valued connections to networks and key forms of
institutional support (Lareau, 2003).
In contrast, “gate-keeping agents” in institutions, schools and positions that
serve a mixture of people and communities differentiated by class, race and ethnicity
often is the one who decides if to give resources and to whom to give resources
(Stanton-Salazar, 1997 & Lucas, 1999). They can close or open those gates. The
eight students in this study had many encounters with institutional agents, most
which were positive encounters like the relationship Wendy established with her
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college counselor that helped her get multiple scholarships, or the relationship
between Enrique and his mentor, whom he met since middle school and always
believed in him, pushed him to apply to best universities in the country, but they
each had one or more encounters with what Stanton-Salazar and Lucas called the
“gate-keeping agents”. Below are some examples from the student’s perspective.
Rubi
Rubi had one class her senior that was meant to help all students by assigning
them to one advisory class. The teacher’s job was helping the students with college
applications, personal statements, financial aid etc. The counselor and teacher
consciously or unconsciously failed to provide her with information that was relevant
and of use for Rubi. She described how she felt in class
I mean, 12
th
grade was the hardest but because the kids that go to like the 4
year university, I was part of them but because I wasn’t sure if I was going,
they would focus more on them because them they could help and would
focus and say ‘do this guys and do that,’ and they would tell me ‘oh but you
can’t do that’ and I would feel bad because they are doing all this work, and
applying to scholarships and I couldn’t. I think, is where they help you if you
go to college and they give you money and they help you stuff like that.
(Referring to the EOP program) they made me apply for it but I wasn’t even
eligible for it, no, I thought it was a waste of my time, I didn’t feel part of that
class, and it was kinda depressing.

Sofia
In summary, Sofia’s experience was great in high school. There is only one
person that she wishes would have been more open and supportive of her academic
endeavors. This person’s negligence has become one of her motivation to graduate
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from college and become a high school counselor. She explained her counselor’s
lack support
I mean they would meet with me, “oh yeah, your grades are great, blah blah
blah blah…but they would never be like, “so yeah, what’s the plan for
college?” you know, my advisor would do that but my counselor would never
do that. And I feel that there, there... he should’ve done that. I want to be a
counselor and part of why I want to be a counselor is because of what
happened with my counselor because I don’t want kids to feel left out.

Sergio
Sergio explained to me how he doesn’t understand why someone with such a
closed mentality is allowed to work with children of color. He went on to explain
the hostile relationship between him and his counselor
my academic counselor, you know I’m just going to keep it brief but she
basically said, I feel, I don’t know but I feel that she is racist, I feel that she is
racist and I can honestly say that, that’s my opinion and she honestly said I
should consider, she said “oh you know, students in your situation sometimes
go back home because of lack of opportunities here” in other words you
should go home.

The researcher asked Sergio if his counselor made such remarks because of
academic performance, he shared this answer with me
No, it was because of my status, yeah, um because my grades were really
good when she came in, I mentioned that I did really good my first two years
and that’s when she came in. um but, I am assuming she said that because of
the lack of opportunity that I might, you know, have to deal with.

Laura
Laura did not have a lot of options in high school at least not options that
gave her access to valuable resources. She shared with me that she has dyslexia and
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that her school never tested for it, she was diagnosed once in community college.
She explained how her school refused to do anything
I wanted to keep going to school because I wanted to fix it, I always told my
teachers, I want fix this problem because I know my writing is bad, I kept
saying it, I kept looking for people to help me, and I remember Ms. Poetris
saying, ‘I think you have Dyslexia, you need to be tested but I am not sure’.
She tried to get me the help but she was unable because they considered this
out of Hispanic students. They said: “oh is because you speak Spanish and
Spanish was your first language, there is nothing wrong with you, just need to
take, you know the, what is it? You know, for you to learn English”.

Laura was a hardworking and dedicated student but she knew her reading and
writing English skills were not AP or college level. She was placed in AP because of
her good behavior. When I asked how she did in her AP class, she responded
Ok, I had an A.P. class, English. And the thing is that I have Dyslexia, when
I write I cannot write, I could read and maybe I’ll read even slow for the
normal person in college but when I write, my grammar is really bad,
sometimes, at a time it was to the point where you couldn’t even understand
what I wrote. Yet, I still passed the AP class, it was English AP you know.

The researcher asked what grade she received in that class
It was an A+ it was really sad because if you were a good student, you didn’t
give trouble you had an “A”. I participated in class because I know I did, I
was really good at that but yeah! The quality in school was really bad back
then.

Wendy
Wendy’s counselor was not always supportive. It took time, it took
persistence and it took a lot from Wendy to keep going back and not taking no for an
answer. She explains how their relationship began
At first I would get frustrated because she hardly had time for me, she was
always busy or I would always seem to reach out to her at the wrong time. I
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explained to her my situation and at first she gave me like a very negative
response, she said “well, if you’re not documented you should see about
getting documented because otherwise you’re not going to be able to
continue studying after high school” I thought that was very negative of her
and I tried to explained to her my situation, that you know that there was no
way that I could get documents and what were my other alternatives? At first
she kind of, you know she made me feel like I didn’t have any options, that I
was just at a dead end

Enrique
He mentioned how teachers tried to teach and they were selective of those
students that show interest, those whom they thought were going to make it to
college and then decide if they will invest time and resources in a particular student
I guess the teachers, they were alright….you know…they tried to teach
“tried” you know. Umm, the students were out considered for the most part
violent, not yearning to strive in school, not really caring about school, umm,
teachers kind off had this attitude: I am only going to help the ones that show
interest.

During Enrique’s senior year, long after he had been identified by some of the
teachers as one the Latino students who was going to be in AP classes and had a
bright future after high school, he found himself in a class he did not enjoyed. He
explained what he did not enjoy about it
This class was taught by the same teacher at this high school, I remember his
name very clearly Mr. Dean and I think I didn’t enjoy this class because he
sort of umm, I don’t know, I want to say he was like a bit of ah, what’s the
word I am looking for? I don’t want to say bigot, he was kinda like the type
of teacher that smiled in your face and sort of like, and he would tell you
nicely that you were not good enough you know.

According to Enrique, he knew what his teachers were saying was wrong but he
didn’t feel confident and knowledgeable to challenge him, here is an example
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I’ll give you an example, we were covering some part of history or something
and it had to deal with like affirmative action and then he would, that class
there was a lot of brown kids in the AP class and black kids because that
school was predominantly minority and um, he said “a lot of you guys will
get into college, you’ll get into UCLA, you’ll get into Santa Cruz but it’s
because they have quotas to fill is not because you are capable of it and I
don’t say this to discourage you, I say this to be realistic.

Enrique’s class was composed of mostly Latinos and African American students. He
shared his feelings toward this kind of remarks his teacher made
He would say “a lot of you guys wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for 1954
Brown vs. Board of education so you should thank this country for doing you
this service” you know, and I guess at that time I knew what he was saying
was not right but I didn’t really have the research or the knowledge to sort of
tell him that, so you kinda just take it, dam, we were are not good enough you
know, brown and black people, were just not good enough. So, I guess we
deserve to be in the prisons and we deserve to be in the marginal settings of
society, you know.

Camila
As I have mentioned before Camila was the only student the magnet
program, a program that for the most part embodies some of the best students as well
as arguable some of the most efficient and passionate teachers in the profession .
During the interview the researcher got the sense that it was a very special closed and
small group of students who also had an excellent cohort of teachers that had high
expectations and work hard to prepare them for college based on the kind of answers
that she was giving. I was not expecting to hear anything in relevance to a bad
teacher or a bad counselor. Unfortunately for Camila, it happened
I remember one teacher, it was an English teacher and I really liked him he
was a really nice teacher. I told him one time that, or he asked me I think,
whether I was born in the U.S. or somehow it came up in the conversation
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and I told him that I wasn’t born here, I was born in Mexico, and he was like
“oh, but your English is so perfect!” I could see that he had lower
expectations of my after that, ‘oh well you know, you are clearly proficient in
English’ you know, I don’t know, it changed. I still respected him but having
that impact just because I wasn’t born in the U.S. and it was an English
course, I guess he expected me to do ok in it. As oppose to excelling in it.

Disclosing her nationality or the simple fact of being born somewhere else made her
teacher change the perception of what Camila was academically capable of doing in
his AP English class. She also shared how her AP Environmental studies teacher
wasn’t a good teacher either
For AP Environmental the teachers wasn’t always there but I always read the
book and I did well in my quizzes but he never really went into, I guess the
application you know, like the graph, how do you determine something
based on the information you are given, cause they were two short answer
questions and you had to answer using a graph, and so I had never encounter
that, and he never taught us that, or even told us that, that was a factor within
the AP exam, so yeah, teachers definitely make it or break it.

Stanton-Salazar (2010) social capital framework was used to interpret the
findings and analyze the data presented above. Students were able to identify
multiple adults within the school that were willing to help, give advice or take the
time to give tutoring or review an essay. Rubi, Sofia, Camila, Sergio, were able to
identify the most support from teachers at school. Guillermo and Laura, only talked
about a few teachers and they both seemed confident in their personal abilities to
make it work. Enrique was the only one who had a mentor, a person outside of the
school who gave him confidence and see college as something real and attainable for
the first time. Last, Wendy was able to connect with someone with what Dulworth
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described as “quality” network. She would have not been able to afford to go to
UCLA without her counselor’s support.
The experiences shared through these narratives shed light on one major
component of this theory; relationships. Social capital as envisioned by Bourdieu,
Coleman and Putnam can only exist within a pattern of relationships. AB540 high
school graduates gained access to access to institutional key personnel, access to
institutional resources and social capital groups that made them eligible to attend a
four-year university in part by the relationships they established with agents, in
particular with empowerment agents. Empowerment agents only share valued
institutional resources when there is a commitment to empower students with
consciousness, and with the tools to transform themselves, transform their
communities and society (Stanton-Salazar 2010).
Research Question 2:
How do AB540 students gain access to institutional key personnel, access to
institutional resources and social capital groups that would increase post-secondary
educational opportunities? All of the eight participants in this study gave examples
of relationships that gave them access to institutional key personnel; supportive
teachers that acted on the student’s behalf, how they accessed institutional resources
and social capital groups like school counselors; information regarding the
guidelines for the Assembly Bill 540 in order to pay in state tuition, and access to
rigorous curriculum like honors and advance placement classes that increased their
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opportunities, made them eligible to apply for private scholarships and eligible to
attend a four-year university.
Schooling as a Subtractive Process
The findings to the third and final research question are organized in two
parts; how students experienced a less than adequate schooling process and what was
the student’s reaction to these experiences that potentially could have shaped their
academic future. The narratives that follow shed light on the experiences of
undocumented Latino students and how they experienced schooling in a subtractive
process but in spite of being in a hostile environment, they managed to seek key
agents of social capital that saved them from being another statistic and opened the
doors of a post-secondary education.
The first three students Rubi and Sergio graduated from the same charter high
school and Sofia graduated from a sister charter school. These schools shared
common factors such as predominately Latino population, in low socio economic
communities, small student population, and mostly new teachers. They also had
similar positive experiences with teachers and staff. However, they also neglected to
having access to certain people, resources and programs. For example, Rubi’s
physical description of her school
At first I was skeptical because it was a brand new school and the building
was really bad! I didn’t want to go there.

This is what Sofia said about her first impression of the school
In the beginning it was kinda scary you know, they didn’t have any, like
history.
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Sergio knew it was a new school, he didn’t know the teachers were also new
They are young, I don’t want to say in contrast to being an old teacher, but
they are young and they are fresh, they are coming out of graduate school or
things like that but so is scary in both parts the student and the teacher.

Although Rubi, Sofia and Sergio all felt supported at school, that wasn’t always the
case. Here is an example of what Sofia experienced with her counselor when it was
time to fill out applications
I asked my counselor, but I can’t, you know, there is no way I can summit it,
and he goes; ‘oh, that’s right! I forgot’ and I was like what do you mean you
forgot? Is like, ‘you couldn’t apply for this and I forgot’ And then I was like,
so what your telling me is that I just wasted my time and he said, ‘basically’
and it hurt so much.

Sergio reflects on why his counselor advises him to go back to his home country
after completing high school
I guess she is closed-minded because they are so many students that are doing
it and they are so many friends that I have, friends of mine at UCLA you
know and they are undocumented and they are doing it.

Rubi shared positive experiences, she explains how the only drawback with her
counselor was the fact that the counselor was relatively new to the position and was
not able to find any scholarships for AB540 students like her
My counselor’s try to look for options and they would be like, you know ‘I
wish I could do more’.

Laura, Guillermo, Wendy, Camila and Enrique graduated from what would
be considered more traditional or large public high school. The examples from the
narratives will provide some examples of how for these students experienced a less
than adequate schooling process. Laura tried to seek help from her school to be
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tested for possible dyslexia, and even though she talked to teachers and
administrators, no one took the time to assess her condition. She was tracked in to
the ESL program even though she had lived in the U.S. since the age of 3. She
explained
I want fix this problem because I know my writing is bad, I kept saying it,
and I kept looking for people to help me. They considered this out of
Hispanic students, they said: “oh is because you speak Spanish and Spanish
was your first language, there is nothing wrong with you, just need to take,
you know the, what is it? You know, for you to learn English.

Guillermo, asked how the administrators at his high school supported him or
supported other AB540 student, shared this comment…
Back then we had, we had mmm, we had a white principal so, he was one of
those racist ones and so he wasn’t like… pretty much he was there to take the
spot and to run the school but he was never involved with the students.

Wendy recalls the different kind of student that went to her high school. She shared
that it was sad to see how these students were not in school to learn, she explains
further
Some students were not into school, hated coming to school, didn’t like to
read um, yeah! School was not their thing, they could just, all they could
think about was dropping out or not coming to school.

In addition, she also shared that they were teachers that didn’t tried, particularly with
struggling students
Some teachers were good but most were pretty bad, they weren’t as
committed or passionate about their students and making sure that they
achieve well. It was like they were doing their jobs just to complete the day,
but I felt that they lacked that extra passion and commitment.

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Camila’s experience in high school was very different than all the others, not only
because she was probably the one that received the most academic support but also
because she never received any kind of information about resources such as
scholarships for AB540 students…
Interviewer: Did you get any scholarship information during high school?
Camila: No, none!
Interviewer: How did you pay for community college?
Camila: I worked!

She never shared her undocumented status with anyone, she explains how only two
people knew but not because she shared it
I didn’t tell anyone, not a single person, not a single teacher, I guess. I think
my counselor knew to an extent but he didn’t really know how to go about it.
I had to, there was one person! There was ahh, his secretary, she actually was
a lot of help to my sister when she was there and then myself when I was
there, she was always very encouraging to take courses at LA City College,
to do well in classes, um, so, she knew.

Enrique talked about the different treatment students received based on two things;
one, the teacher’s perception and expectations and two, based on how each student
had assimilated and acculturated to be more like the white kids. He explains in
details
The treatment that you got was based on how much you were willing to
acculturate and assimilate to the dominant culture, it wasn’t really based on
your ability to think, your ability to be a smart person, and yeah Latino kids
did get treated different at different.

He explained three different kinds of Latino students
First kind: I just remember the smartest AP kids, which I wasn’t one of them,
I was probably at the bottom tier of the smarted tier of the AP kids, the
smartest kid got like the Bill Gates Millennium Scholarship, so I obviously
wasn’t him, they got even better treatment, and this kid was brown and there
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were a few white kids in there, but this kids was brown, and he got treated a
little better than I did, you know, because he was a little bit more assimilated,
acculturated and more fit, you know to go to an Ivy League school or
something like that.

Second kind: Where I was still wearing you know, kinda big t-shirts, baggy
pants, and so, you have hope but your more like a community college
material, your more like a cal state or something like that so um, we
definitely got treated differently.

Third kind: Not to mention that if you weren’t doing good in school and you
were wearing baggy pants, you were done, you were just being kicked out of
school and just being um, shun out, that little community.

The eight participants in the study have graduated from high schools where
the quality of education could be considered less than adequate. Enrique, one of the
participants proved this point when he made the statement comparing the two high
schools he attended, this is what he said “The differences were major, particularly
with regards to resources, I noticed the quality of education that you receive at
HS1…even at that age I noticed it was a lot, higher than the one I got at HS2”.
Every single one of them pointed out what could have been different and perhaps
even better. To start, the AB540 law that was passed in California in 2001 has not
been implemented and many school counselors lack the knowledge. In California,
estimates suggest that in 2005 about 1,620 undocumented students were enrolled in
the University of California and California State University systems under the
AB540 law (Perez, 2009). While this number does not include community colleges,
where the majority of undocumented students matriculate because of its
affordability, it is only a fraction of the 2.5 million students enrolled in California
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higher education institutions, 208,000 in the University of California system alone
(Gonzales, 2007).
An example of this is demonstrated when Camila’s counselor didn’t know
what to do, “I think my counselor knew to an extent but he didn’t really know how to
go about it,” and she didn’t see the benefits of identifying or to use her words,
“Cause I’ve met a lot of AB540 students in high school and if there is no support
group already established, it feels a little, like you have to weigh it in your head
weather you come out or you don’t. And a lot of the times is really no incentive for
or benefit to you, you know, identifying as AB540 in high school. In a different high
school, Claudia never heard anything about this law, “No, I never heard anything at
school about AB540”.
AB540 students in Los Angeles are creating support groups and taking
leadership roles organization such as DREAM TEAM Los Angeles (DTLA) which
aims to create a safe space in which undocumented immigrant youth and allies
empower themselves through education. Sergio is currently the president of an
AB540 club at the community college and like him, Rubi, Sofia and Guillermo are
also members of AB540 support groups on campus. They have made the
commitment and have returned to their high schools to give support to other AB540
high school students. This is what Sofia had to say why she got involved…
Because I want to help them. Because I went through that, I was a high
school student that was undocumented, that didn’t know about scholarships,
and I don’t want them, like I tell them, I told them this last time. “I really
wish if I could, that they don’t have to go through it, I really wish that it
would’ve stopped with us” you know. I don’t mind going through it, but now
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that I see them and I see how smart they are and how much potential they
have, I really just wish they would just be able to go above and beyond, like
without anyone stopping them.

Guillermo is one of the most active in terms of supporting AB540 students on his
college campus and neighboring high schools. He shared how presenting to other
AB540 students is important but he thinks school districts should have some similar
training for its teachers and staff
I’ve been presenting, the first time I presented to students and they were all
“ok, this is really good” they were all AB540 students, I presented to them,
they were really excited about the information From that point on, I have
been trying to get into the district and I finally did, and I might be presenting
to them in like two months, so hopefully if it goes through them, and if they
like it then maybe I can present to like other different high schools that are
around, because my high school is not the only one doesn’t have the
requirements or the information they need to assist AB540 students.

Laura decided to start her own AB540 club with just a few members at her local
parish, and Wendy volunteers at her former high school to meet with other AB540
students during parent or college nights to share information and her experience.
Enrique and Camila did not mention working with high school AB540 students but
they are both active in the AB540 Safe Zone program. Enrique and Camila both
made a reference to another organization that is supporting AB540 who are planning
of going to graduate school. The name of the organization is Graduates Reaching A
Dream Deferred (GRADD).
Research Question 3:
Did college eligible AB540 students perceived/experience schooling in U.S.
schools as a subtractive process that devalues their social and cultural capital? The
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college eligible AB540 students did experience a less than adequate schooling and to
some degree managed to limit their access to social capital. None of the above
participant’s culture capital was devalued, on the contrary, the eight confirmed their
strong cultural and family traditions, one that is often viewed as a form of
motivation.
Conclusion
The data presented here demonstrate that for AB540 college eligible high
school graduates the path to college is a test of assimilation, persistence, intelligence
and motivation. The challenges these students encountered are ones that can lead
even the most determined student off the college path. The presence of teachers,
college counselors and the availability of private scholarships were not enough to
ensure that these undocumented students received the resources, information and
support they needed to get desired college. Forcing five of the eight to start at a
community college, two at a California State University (CSU) and only one of the
eight to attend a University of California (UC). Yet, these students were resilient
and continued to plow ahead, knowing all along that their futures were uncertain.
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CHAPTER 5
DISCUSSION
A total of eight students provided the data for this study -- five females and
three males. Their ages at the time of arrival to the United States ranged from two
years to nine years. Of the original 12 students who were selected using purposeful
and snowball sampling and invited to participate in the study, only eight completed
the interview process. Females were over represented in the student participation
population. This result was not intentional, simply the result of gender
characteristics of the participants who responded and completed the interview. Two
additional attempts to conduct interviews of one male and one female student were
unsuccessful. Both decided not to participate after learning that the interview was
going to be audio recorded for transcription purposes.
Discussion
Undocumented students are currently enrolled in high schools across the
United States. Their access to one vital institution, the U. S. system of K-12 public
education, however, provides these students with a glimmer of hope that their
circumstances might change. Upon graduating from high school, these students are
faced with the reality of being uncommented in this country, making them ineligible
to receive financial aid and without any legal options to seek employment or option
to begin a process of legalization to remain in this country. Nonetheless the
students’ perception that with higher education their professional dreams might
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someday be a reality strongly influenced their determination to continue their
education.
The data in chapter 4 illustrates, the eight participants shared many of the
same experiences and characteristics. Yet, there were three common characteristics
that severely limited their ability to access higher education. These were:
(a) their undocumented status
(b) their limited financial means
(c) the fact that they were first generation college-goers.
First, the students’ undocumented status was their biggest challenge as it left them
with restricted access to college, financial aid, and employment. These limitations
created doubt and uncertainty whether or not college would eventually pay off.
Second, the students’ limited financial means posed a question of affordability for
them and their families, making the affordability of a university education nearly
impossible. With no government aid and limited eligibility for scholarships, needed
to find their own way of racing funds. Lastly, the fact that only one of the students
had a family members who attended college left most of them to navigate the U. S.
educational system, and the college preparation and application process almost
entirely to each individual student. The effect of having these limitations meant that
the participants were extremely dependent in the social capital the school and
institutional agents were willing to share. Even though the school experience was far
from adequate, it was the only possible way for them to attain knowledge,
information and resources.
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As stated in chapter 1, the purpose of this study was to address the following:
1. Did AB540 college eligible high school graduates engaged in learning
even if they are perceived as “acting whites”?
2. How did AB540 students gain access to institutional key personnel,
access to institutional resources and social capital groups that would
increase post-secondary educational opportunities?
3. Did AB540 college eligible high school graduates perceived/experienced
schooling in U.S. schools as a subtractive process that devalues their
social and cultural capital?
With these research questions in mind, the researcher uses this final chapter
to provide an analysis of the data presented in chapter 4. I begin by discussing the
themes that emerged from this study. Followed by a discussion of how cultural
ecology and the treatment of colored youth and the importance of social capital in
the lives AB540 college eligible students as they pursue higher education. Hence, I
share recommendations regarding its significance in relation to theory and research.
I conclude the chapter by offering recommendations for policies and practices that
will improve access to higher education for AB540 college eligible high school
graduates.
Discussion of Findings
The purpose of this research was to examine the experiences of
undocumented Latinos college eligible high school graduates and the social capital
that made it possible for them to attend college. The researcher used three distinctive
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theoretical frameworks to identify common factors regarding undocumented Latino
high school graduates who were college eligible but were denied financial aid. In
this concluding chapter, the students’ responses will be synthesized with their
relationship to the foundational theoretical frameworks. In doing so, the researcher
can offer possible links as to how students can access social capital and institutional
agents who can intervene and offer valued and recognizable support and
opportunities to get to college. The opportunity to offer suggestions to increase the
number of undocumented youth who meet college entrance requirements should
have a positive benefit on both the students and the school community as a whole. In
addition, school districts can address the high dropout rates by having a better
understanding of the needs of undocumented youth and work towards the
implementation of policies that will encourage and motivate more undocumented
students to graduate from high school.
The narratives share common characteristics identified previously in the
literature. The participants attended segregated schools in impoverished communities
(Waters, 1999) and where safety was of great concern (Orfield, 1998). By applying
the cultural ecology acting white model (Ogbu & Fordham, 1986), the researcher
was able discern and examine students’ persistence in a hostile environment,
engagement in spite of the hostility, hostility for being undocumented and
experienced hostility for being persistent. Stanton-Salazar (2010) social capital
framework allowed the researcher to distinguish and evaluate student’s access to
social capital in the form of institutional agents, access to social capital in the form
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of resources and information, and access to social capital in the form of institutional
support. Finally, the researcher used Valenzuela’s (1999) subtractive schooling
framework to see and assess the schooling process and the student’s abilities to
adapt.
Finding #1:Acting white was not a factor for undocumented youth who strived
for academic excellence to be eligible to attend a four-year college.
Research findings indicate that all 8 of the AB540 youth when describing
what acting white meant referred to not acting black or brown. The students thought
of the term as refereeing to how one dresses or speaks, it meant not dressing or
speaking like someone that could be viewed as a person of color (wearing baggy
clothes and using street slang words), and it meant speaking proper English. Most of
the participants failed to describe acting white as doing well in school, completing
homework or studying. A majority of students implied that earning good grades was
viewed as positive by other students, they described those factors as a way to be
better prepared for college and success in life.
The preceding analysis appears to contradict some of Ogbu’s (2003)
contentions about academic performance in low income schools. He suggested that
peer pressure by other African American students led to academic disengagement,
because earning good grades was equated to acting white. None of the eight
participants reported experiencing any kind of teasing from peers for their academic
persistence. On the contrary, five of the eight identify group competition among
peers to earn higher grades. Most if not all students implied that, in contrast to
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Ogbu’s (2003) premise, immigrant students was proud of one another when they
achieved high levels of academic success. The data did not completely contradict
Ogbu’s (1993, 1995b, 2003) research, there are some underlying factors that support
his work as well. According to Ogbu (1995b), it is the voluntary minorities who are
more willing to overcome these differences in order to succeed. Ogbu & Simon’s
(1998) dual frame of reference is supported by this study. The participants in this
study stated that they have been trying to assimilated, to followed rules and to earn
the highest academic grades possible because they believed that anyone who works
hard and has a good education will succeed. They perceive the discrimination as
temporary and most importantly; they feel like they have much better opportunities
in this country.
Finding # 2: AB540 youth were able to access valuable social capital by showing
characteristics of someone “deserving” and by the ability of the student to
establish a supportive relationship with one or multiple agents.
According to the participants, most believe it was not easy to gain access to
AP classes. At least half of the students noted that teacher’s recommendation was
needed for them to be considered to take their first AP class. All students concurred
that in order to be admitted they had to have a combination of good academic record,
positive attitude and a strong desire to graduate and attend college. Seven of the
eight students decided to take honor and AP classes because they believed they were
capable of doing the rigorous work, they wanted to improve their GPA and they
wanted to prepare to attend a good university. The only student who did not take any
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AP classes was Sergio, he was not tracked into honors given his low academic
performance during his 9
th
and 10
th
grade. The other seven participants reported
taking one or more AP classes. Guillermo took a combination of 12 honors and AP
classes, making him the student with the highest GPA at 4.6 in this study.
The eight participants graduated on time, they passed the CAHSEE, met the
A-G requirements and were eligible to attend a four-year college. The lowest GPA
in the group was a 2.9 GPA and the highest was a 4.6 GPA. One of the eight was
able to identify an agent in the form of a mentor outside from school. Likewise, only
one of the eight had a sibling who had graduated from high school and had attended
college. The eight participants were considered first generation college students, and
seven of eight were the first in their families to attend college. The parent education
level ranged from completing 3
rd
grade to completing some college outside of the
United States.
One of the major themes is the lack of parent engagement. All of the
participants reported receiving moral support from their parents but limited parent
involvement in their education. The participant’s parent engagement level decreased
as they moved from elementary to middle school and into high school. The parents
felt unsecured help with homework, were not confident to approach school
teachers/staff and felt less knowledgeable about the education system as a whole.
This support the findings of Caspe (2006, 2007) when he states that parents with low
levels of educational attainment feel insecure about their ability to help with
124
homework, these findings underscore the need for parents to learn how to scaffold
their children’s skills appropriately.
Although meaningful investment in family involvement have been limited in
the past, promising initiatives such as Miami’s Dade’s connected schools in which
families and communities are an integral part of the education system by establishing
the parent academy, a community wide initiative helping parents learn about their
roles, rights, responsibilities and opportunities to support learning (Crew & Dyja,
2007). Another example of a promising initiative is through community organizing
and enabling parents to develop collective leadership for family involvement and
school improvement. The Logan Square Neighborhood Association (LSNA) a
leader in community organizing on the Norwest of Chicago is another example. This
system takes the concept of continues and systematic family involvement to a new
level, both by reinforcing the value of family involvement community-wide, and by
incorporating the parent’s own personal development as a key component of family
involvement (Emerging Knowledge Forum, 2007).
There are several others such as Conditional Cash Transfers model being
tested in New York City and is meant to improve and support a family’s education,
health, and employment status by providing cash incentives to parents and children
or another example is Building Pathways across Context and through the School
Career (Harvard Family Research Project, 2006). As recognition of the importance
of out of school learning and of building comprehensive continuous supports for
learning, communities are building complementary learning systems with family
125
involvement from cradle to careers. The best known is the Harlem Children’s Zone
(HCZ).
Strong effective community efforts positioning family involvement within a
complementary learning system requires leadership at the state level to support,
sustain, and coordinate local efforts, align the necessary funding, and maintain
visibility and momentum for family involvement with state leaders, agencies, and
organizations.
Some studies find that when disadvantage parents do get involved, children
benefit from this involvement more than their middle class peers (Dearing et al.,
2006). As previously stated in the literature review, there has been steady
accumulating evidence that family involvement is one of the strongest predictors of
children’s school success and that families play pivotal roles in their children’s
cognitive, and emotional development from birth through adolescence. From
national to the local levels, resources for and commitments to promoting meaningful
family involvement have been few, weak, and inconsistent. In addition, there is not
enough research to understand the lack of parent involvement among the
undocumented student population.
None of the participants reported receiving assistance during the college
application process from anyone outside of their respective schools. These findings
also support the research of Stanton-Salazar (2010) that concluded how this group of
children is one of the most dependent on institutional support and at the same time
the most unfamiliar with the educational system.
126
Social capital as conceived by Bourdieu, Coleman and Putnam, can only exist
within a pattern of relationships that has been proven to be true for all students.
Whether the relations were a positive or negative, each of the participants
experiences supportive relationships with teachers and counselors. They also
experience relationships with agents who are described as “gate-keepers” and one
who intentionally or unintentionally chooses to share information or knowledge with
the students (Stanton-Salazar, 1997 & Lucas, 1999).
Finding #3: AB540 students experienced a less than adequate schooling process
but knew there was no other alternative schools and decided to work hard and
take advantage of the limited resources available to graduate and fulfill the
dream of getting a college education. In sum, the less than adequate schooling
did not equate to a subtractive experience for these students or something like
this.
The eight participants graduated from schools in impoverished communities.
Four of the eight students talked about taking classes with teachers who lacked
content knowledge, who lacked classroom management skills and or who lacked
cultural sensitivity. Three students described teachers, counselors or administrators
as a being “racist”. Six participants also described problems with the other students
in terms of experiences a hostile environment due to drugs, gangs or simply lack of
desire to learn. This perspective aligned with the research conducted by Valenzuela
(1999) where teachers and staff were acting in a manner that created a hostile
environment for most students. In contrast to Valenzuela (1999) findings on
127
immigrant girls having a stronger sense of family and obligations, all male
participants identified the home, family, and parents as one of the main reasons of
their academic success. A majority of the participants seemed to have positive
concepts about themselves as students. Almost all the participants in the study
described themselves as hardworking, dedicated and smart.
Implications for Practice
With regards to improving educational outcomes for AB540 students, the
data suggest that teachers, counselors and other school personnel need to be trained
of how they can serve as either agents of social capital or institutional abuse and
neglect. Most of the participants were unable to accumulate sufficient social capital
from their parents to increase their secondary educational opportunities. Social
capital obtained from parents took the form of emotional support and for some of the
student’s economic support, both being vital to their academic achievement. As a
direct consequence, they were dependent on individuals and programs within the
schools to accumulate social capital that expanded the student’s opportunity such as,
meeting college requirements, meeting applications deadlines, and being
academically prepared to succeed college. In addition it is crucial that the schools
provide bilingual support for building the parent’s social capital, which will bring
important improvements to teacher and student’s communication and relationships.
With regards to parent engagement, when parents are mentioned in the
national dialogue about education reform, the tone is often of blame and family
members are seen as a problem rather than an asset, particularly in the case of
128
disadvantaged and ethic families. Family involvement is not a quick fix and it would
be a serious mistake to not take action at the national level to make sure that
economically disadvantaged children get access to school and out of school learning
opportunities. It will be difficult if not impossible to close the achievement gap
without parent involvement and the national, state, and local infrastructure to
develop strong, high quality, continuous and accountable involvement efforts.
With regard to the AB540 students as a group, developing policies to expand
the rights of undocumented students, system-wide efforts must be made to educate
teachers, counselors and administrators about existing policies like AB 540, AB 130
and AB131. As was the case with the students in this study, AB540 eligible students
often possess little or no knowledge about their right to pay in-state tuition. It is
unfortunate that those institutional agents responsible for providing students with the
information of such resources were also uninformed. Together, these realities
negatively impacted the students’ access to higher education. As such, high school
and college-based professionals responsible for providing college support ought to
receive training on how to best serve the needs of undocumented students who aspire
to attend college such as completing the AB540 affidavit, completing the AB130 and
AB 131 applications and information about scholarships available for AB540
students.
The California Student Aid Commission training to high school professionals
responsible for providing college support for AB540 students this year was
conducted through an online live video chat. High school seniors, recent high school
129
graduates, and current college students were invited to participate in a live video
event to learn how to apply for the California Dream Act and receive scholarship
information. The form of distribution of information is problematic in many ways.
First, online training was scheduled during a school day. Second, it was during
school hours while students were in class. Finally, it was done online and not all
students have access to the technology. My final recommendation is for AB540
college support groups organize to introduce and try to pass legislation that would
make it a requirement for all high schools to offer information on AB 540, AB 130,
and AB131 as part of implementing the California Dream Act and being compliant
with the California law. If legislation is not introduced and or passed, AB 540
students will continue to receive information based on the willingness and
discrepancies of adult responsible at high school or college recruits.
Recommendation for Research
Further research is needed to understand the interplay of factors that
contribute to the access and mobilization of social capital. There is not enough
research to fully comprehend what tools and characteristics are needed to be a more
effective agent. In addition, someone needs to research how to lessen subtractive
schooling for undocumented Latinos and other students who typically are undone by
poor schooling. Finally, further research is needed to understand parent engagement
of the undocumented students, how to increase it, know how to take parent social
capital and how to align their social capital in order to produce better students.
130
Conclusion
Educators, policy makers, and politicians should work together to make sure
that all students including our AB540 student population can reach their full
potential and stop robbing communities of the full potential of its future leaders.
Work towards a solution that can help someone like Rubi find the motivation that
she lost. That can allow Sofia to return to CSUN with the financial stability she
needed during her first attempt to become the first in her family to graduate from
college. That can give Sergio the opportunity to return to his beloved high school
and make a difference in his community, or stop Laura from feeling like her dream is
being challenged by politicians and their absolutely nothing left for her future. That
can help Guillermo find a stable job after he completes his math and Spanish majors,
or that opens the doors to graduate school for Wendy, Enrique and Camila. We need
more Wendys in law school and more Enriques in PhD programs and more Camilas
in medical graduate programs. They have earned their right to be taken into account,
they have been faithful to their country, it is time that their hard work is recognized
and their human dignity restored.
AB540 students in high school and in higher education are the most
vulnerable student population because of their status, both as residents and as
students, is constantly in flux and at the will of the policy and legal communities.
This level of instability, coupled with a pervasive anti-immigrant climate in the
nation today, has fueled inconsistent levels of implementation of the Dream Act in
Washington. As this study illustrates, many AB540 college eligible high school
131
graduates are determined, hardworking, engaged, and optimistic despite the
additional layers of fear and anxiety they experience due to their legal status. Their
stories are part of American story, with a common history of immigration,
persistence, optimism and initiative. The future of the United States will be severely
impacted by the continual denial in educational opportunity of these extremely
deserving students who already positively contributed to the place they call home.
132
GLOSSARY
Social Capital: Social ties and networks carry the potential to generate valued
resources. Relationship with institutional agents and network that keeps these
relationships into units.
Cultural Ecology: The setting, environment or world people live and how
they perceive it and behave in it.
Institutional Agent: people who have the capacity and commitment to
transmit directly, or negotiate the transmission of institutional resources and
opportunities.
Empowerment Agent: A concept which highlights the motivational and
ideological characteristics of those adults willing to counter to the established and
hierarchical social structures.
Voluntary Minorities: People who moved to the United States by choice
looking for better opportunities.
Involuntary Minorities: people who have been conquered, colonized, or
enslaved.
Acting White: The requirements for school success, which involve mastering
the school curriculum, learning to speak and write standard English, and exhibiting
“good” school behaviors, are interpreted as white society's requirements designed to
deprive minorities of their identities.
Subtractive Schooling: It divests these youth of important social and cultural
resources, leaving them progressively vulnerable to academic failure.
133
AB540: Assembly Bill 540: Allow qualified undocumented students to be
exempt from paying significant higher out-of-state tuition at public colleges and
universities in California.
California Dream Act: Assembly Bill 130: Allow students who meet AB540
criteria to apply for and receive non-state funded scholarships for public colleges and
universities. Assembly Bill 131: Allow students who meet AB540 criteria to apply
for and receive state-funded financial aid such as institutional grants, community
college fee waivers, Cal Grants and Chafee Grant.
Federal Dream Act: The Development Relief and Education for Alien
Minors Act.
A-G requirements: High school courses are required by the Academic Senate
of the University of California as appropriate for fulfilling the minimum eligibility
requirements for admission to the University of California. It also illustrates the
minimum level of academic preparation students ought to achieve in high school to
undertake university level work.
California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE): A test that all students must
pass to earn a high school diploma. Except students with disabilities.
English Language Learner (ELL): English as a Second Language or (ESL)
formally used to designate ELL students.
134
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144
APPENDIX A
HIGH SCHOOL STRUCTURED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ALIGNMENT
Research Question Theoretical Framework Interview Items
1. Did AB540 college
eligible high school
graduates engage in
learning even if they are
perceived as “acting
whites”?
Cultural Ecological
Theory of Minority
Student Response to
Schooling, acting white
and coping with the
burden of acting White
(Fordhan 1996; Ogbu,
1978; Rodriguez-Cazares,
2009), dual frame of
reference (Gibson and
Ogbu, 1991)
1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 17,18, 19,
20, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30,
31, 35, 44, 51, 54.
2. How do AB540
students gain access to
institutional key
personnel, access to
institutional resources and
social capital groups that
would increase post
secondary educational
opportunities?
Social Capital-
Institutional Agents
(Stanton-Salazar 1997),
Empowerment Agents
(Stanton-Salazar, 2010),
Subtractive-Schooling
(Valenzuela, 1999)
4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 23,
24, 42, 43, 52, 55
3. Did college eligible
AB540 students
perceived/experience
schooling in U.S. schools
as a subtractive process
that devalues their social
and cultural capital?
Social Capital-
Institutional Agents
(Stanton-Salazar 1997),
Empowerment Agents
(Stanton-Salazar, 2010),
Subtractive-Schooling
(Valenzuela, 1999)
4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,
13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 23, 24,
27, 32, 33, 40, 42, 43, 47,
54.
4, 13, 16, 17,23,24,
42,43(SS)
8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 27,
41(SC)
3, 5, 6, 12, 16, 32, 33, 35,
37, 38, 39, 40, 42, 43 (SS
& SC)
145
APPENDIX B
STUDENT PROFILE
Background of the Participant
What is your name? Age?
Where were you born?
Where was your mother born? Where was your father born?
At what age did you come to the U.S.? At what grade did you enroll in school in the
U.S. for the first time?
Where do you live? How long have you lived there?
Who are the members of your family and where are you in terms of birth rank?
Were you the translator to your parents in the outside world?
Have other members of your family graduated from high school? College? Graduate
School?
What was your cumulative GPA in High School? ___________
What is your cumulative GPA in college? ____________
What did you score on the SAT? ______________
Email _________________ Cell # ______________________
146
APPENDIX C
HIGH SCHOOL STRUCTURED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
The structured interview questions were centered on Ogbu’s (1987) Cultural
Ecology Theory, and Social Capital (Stanton-Salazar, 1997). Cultural Ecology
theory was used to determine if the “burden of being Latino” by Rodriguez-Cazares
(2009) is found and how it affects Latino/as adaptation to the dominant group. Social
capital was used to determine the role institutional agents play in the lives of
Latino/as students as they navigate their high school experience with hopes of
attending college.
Perception of School Culture
1. How long were you a student at this high school?
2. How did you feel about attending this high school?
3. How would you describe this school to another student who is thinking of going
there?
4. How would you describe the people at this school? Students? Teachers?
Counselors? Administrators? Others?
5. Did you take any AP or Honor classes during high school? Why did you decide
to take the more challenging classes? (Probe for AP/Honors)
6. Were there other AB540 or Latino/a in your classes? Why or why not?
7. How did you do in those classes?
8. Describe a class that you enjoyed during high school and what it is about that
class that makes this the case?
147
9. What were this teacher’s expectations of you?
10. How did this teacher treat you? How does this teacher treat other students like
you? (Probe for AB540 Latinos)
11. Describe a class that you did not enjoy and what it is about that class that makes
this the case?
12. Did your high school do a good job supporting you?
13. Was there anyone in the entire school who you believe supported you as a
AB540 student or as a Latino/a heritage? If so, describe this person.
14. Did AB540 or Latinos get a different kind of treatment by school personnel?
15. Who provided you with the most support? In what ways did he or she support
you?
16. How did the school support AB540 students or students of Latino/a heritage?
148
Academic and Racial Identities
17. What kind of students usually did well, better or best in this school? Why is this
so?
18. How are you different or similar to the students you have just described?
19. How did AB540 students and students of Latino/a heritage do at this school?
Why do you say that?
20. How is this similar or different from your experiences?
21. What was it like being an AB540 student at this school?
22. How are you similar or different?
23. Did you have any specific person or a group of people that you considered your
support system? Who is this person or group? What relation is this person to
you?
24. If you needed personal advice, who did you asked? Who is this person? What
relation is this person to you?
25. Do you think you act the same person or in the same way at home and at school?
With friends? Why is this the case?
26. How did you feel about being an AB540 student or a student of Latino/a heritage
in this high school?
27. Is there anything that teachers, administrators or others did to contribute to you
feeling this way? If so, what?
28. What is something you enjoy about being of Latino/a heritage? Something
difficult?
149
29. Were you ever been taunted (teased) by your friends for getting good grades
during high school? What happened? How did you feel?
30. Have you ever heard the phrase “acting White?” What does it mean to you?
(Probe for language, speech, music, dress, school behavior, cliques, etc.)? Did
your friends of Latino/a heritage believe getting high grades equals acting White?
31. Have you ever felt you had to give up something about your ethnic/racial identity
in order to do well in high school? (Probe what they gave up or how they
compartmentalized or managed identities. Probe do they assume that every
student of Latino/a heritage had to give up their ethnic/racial identity to do well
in school.
32. Did you think other people considered you less intelligent because of your
Latino/a heritage?
33. Have you ever been told “people like you don't do well in school”? If so, does
this make you afraid you will prove them right?
34. Did you ever avoid taking a class in which you would do poorly even if the class
was very interesting? Why? (Probe if they avoided the class because only Whites
and Asians do well in those classes.)
35. Did others feel that you wouldn’t do well on standardized tests like the SATs?
36. Would you avoid taking academically challenging classes? Why is this so?
(Prove if they avoided the class because only Whites and Asians do well in those
classes.
150
Life for AB540 Students
37. What is the most challenging aspect of being an AB540 student?
38. Has your AB540 status made you reconsider your college plans? In what ways?
39. How do you think Americans view AB540 students?
40. What is the biggest challenge you have right now?
41. Has there ever been a time when you were afraid that something would happen to
you or your family because of your legal status? Tell me about that.
42. Do you know any AB540 students who are in college or who graduated from
college? Have they given you any advice? How have their experiences
influenced you?
43. Do you know about scholarships available to AB540 students? How did you find
out?
44. How does your college experience differ from those of U.S.-born peers?
45. Did your AB540 status influence you to apply to certain colleges and not others?
Tell me about that.
46. If you were not an AB540 student, would you have applied different colleges?
Would you currently be enrolled in a different college?
47. Does your college assist AB540 students? In what ways?
48. What are your occupational aspirations? What professions would you pursue if
you did not have any limitations?
49. What occupation would you pursue if your current limitations continued?
50. How do you think you have contributed to society?
151
51. What motivates you to continue your education?
52. How many of your friends have gone to college or plan to go to college?
53. What makes you different from those students who do not get good grades and
do poorly in school?
54. What is one thing that contributed the most to your academic performance?
55. If you could say anything to policy makers in Sacramento or D.C. (those in favor
or against the Dream Act) what would you say?
56. Is there anything else that I didn’t ask that you would like to share with me or
that you think would be important for me to know?

Abstract (if available)

Abstract Using the methodologies of individual interviews, this dissertation examines the experiences of eight undocumented college-eligible high school graduates who chose to pursue higher education. Cultural ecology, social capital and subtractive schooling frameworks are used to shed light on the various challenges to college access and financial aid that these low income, first generation undocumented students encounter along the path to college. Given the dearth of literature focusing on the experiences of undocumented students, this study aims to provide new insight into the practical, procedural, and policy-related difficulties faced by undocumented students as they experience a hostile environment, receive less than adequate schooling, and yet, as these students’ voices demonstrate, still making it to college by taking advantage of limited forms of social capital.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Alvarado, Joaquin O. (author)

Core Title Understanding undocumented students' resistance of acting white as they persist to gain access to college-valued information and resources

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Education

Publication Date 08/27/2012

Defense Date 07/11/2012

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag AB540 students,acting white,college access,DREAM Act,OAI-PMH Harvest,social capital,undocumented

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Baca, Reynaldo (committee chair), Green, Alan Gilford (committee chair), Jimenez y West, Ilda (committee member), Venegas, Kristan M. (committee member)

Creator Email joalvara@usc.edu,joaquin.alvarado@lausd.net

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c3-92597

Unique identifier UC11289179

Identifier usctheses-c3-92597 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-AlvaradoJo-1168.pdf

Dmrecord 92597

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Alvarado, Joaquin O.

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA