Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Availability

Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Academic achievement; Hispanic American college students; Hispanic American young men; Academic theses;

Abstract

Review of the prior literature on the topic of academic achievement among U.S. Latino students reveals both problematic performance and systematic disadvantaged obstacles that impede their ability to achieve expected academic accomplishments. Despite such conditions, however, there are Latino students from disadvantaged backgrounds who graduated from high school and enrolled in a four year university. Interpretations of action theory were used as a theoretical framework to interview 15 collegiate Latino males, who grew up in disadvantaged socioeconomic communities (barrios) and enrolled in a four year university. Three findings emerged from their interviews that explained the academic achievements from both these traditional and non-traditional participants: a supportive academic culture, access to post secondary education preparation resources, and a significant life changing experience. The implications for the findings are to guide academic professionals, social workers, and public policy decision makers who pursue a continued mission to encourage U.S. Latino students to graduate high school, attend college, and assist them in their endeavors.

Year of Submission

2010

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology

First Advisor

Kristin Y. Mack

Second Advisor

Phyllis L. Baker

Third Advisor

Phillip Mauceri

Comments

If you are the rightful copyright holder of this thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to scholarworks@uni.edu and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.

Date Original

2010

Object Description

1 PDF file (108 leaves)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

Included in

Sociology Commons

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