The Latina/o population constitutes the largest racial and ethnic minority group in the U.S. and is disproportionately under-represented in college and in graduate programs. This is the first book specifically to engage with the absence of Latinas/os in doctoral studies. It proposes educational and administrative strategies to open up the pipeline, and institutional practices to ensure access, support, models and training for Latinas/os aspiring to the Ph.D. The under-education of Latina/o youth begins early. Given that by twelfth grade half will stop out or be pushed out of high school, and only seven percent will complete a college degree, it is not surprising so few enter graduate studies. When Latina/o students do enter higher education, few attend those colleges or universities that are gateways to graduate degrees. Regardless of the type of higher education institution they attend, Latinas/os often encounter social and academic isolation, unaffordable costs, and lack of support.This historic under-representation has created a vicious cycle of limited social and economic mobility. There is a paucity of the Latina/o faculty and leaders whom research shows are essential for changing campus climate and influencing institutions to adapt to the needs of a changing student body. As a result, Latina/o graduate students often have few role models, advocates or mentors, and limited support for their research agendas.By reviewing the pipeline from kindergarten through university, this book provides the needed data and insights to effect change for policy makers, administrators, faculty, and staff; and material for reflection for aspiring Latina/o Ph.D.s on the paths they have taken and the road ahead.The book then addresses the unique experiences and challenges faced by Latina/os in doctoral programs, and offers guidance for students and those responsible for them. Chapters cover issues of gender and generational differences, the role of culture in the graduate school, mentorship, pursuing research, and professional development opportunities for Latina/os.The book closes with the voices of by Latina/o students who are currently pursuing or recently completed their doctoral degree. These narratives describe their cultural and educational journeys, providing insight into their personal and professional experiences. These stories bring alive the graduate experience for anyone interested in successful recruitment, retention, and graduation of Latina/o doctoral students – an inspiration and guidance to those aspiring to the doctorate.

This timely volume challenges the ongoing underrepresentation of Latina women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), and highlights resilience as a critical communal response to increasing their representation in degree programs and academic posts. An Asset-Based Approach to Advancing Latina Students in STEM documents the racialized and gendered experiences of Latinas studying and researching in STEM in US colleges, and centers resilience as a critical mechanism in combating deficit narratives. Adopting an asset-based approach, chapters illustrate how Latinas draw on their cultural background as a source of individual and communal strength, and indicate how this cultural wealth must be nurtured and used to inform leadership and policy to motivate, encourage, and support Latinas on the pathway to graduate degrees and successful STEM careers. By highlighting strategies to increase personal resilience and institutional retention of Latina women, the text offers key insights to bolstering diversity in STEM. This text will primarily appeal to academics, scholars, educators, and researchers in the fields of STEM education. It will also benefit those working in broader areas of higher education and multicultural education, as well as those interested in the advancement of minorities inside and outside of academia. Elsa M. Gonzalez is Assistant Professor of Higher Education at the University of Houston, USA. Frank Fernandez is Assistant Professor of Higher Education at the University of Mississippi, USA. Miranda Wilson earned a Ph.D. in Higher Education Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Houston, USA.

Providing a comprehensive review of rigorous, innovative, and critical scholarship relevant to educational issues which impact Latinos, this Handbook captures the field at this point in time. Its unique purpose and function is to profile the scope and terrain of academic inquiry on Latinos and education. Presenting the most significant and potentially influential work in the field in terms of its contributions to research, to professional practice, and to the emergence of related interdisciplinary studies and theory, the volume is organized around five themes: history, theory, and methodology policies and politics language and culture teaching and learning resources and information. The Handbook of Latinos and Education is a must-have resource for educational researchers, graduate students, teacher educators, and the broad spectrum of individuals, groups, agencies, organizations and institutions sharing a common interest in and commitment to the educational issues that impact Latinos.

Through conducting an ethnographic study about doctoral students from traditionally underrepresented groups who are learning to conduct ethnographic research, this volume offers unique insight into the challenges and experiences through which these students develop their skills and identities as qualitative researchers. Foregrounding the stories and perspectives of students from minority backgrounds including Latinx, Black, differently abled, and queer students, Graduate Students Becoming Qualitative Researchers identifies how the process of learning to conduct ethnographic research underpins doctoral students’ success, confidence, and persistence in the academy. Chapters follow students during a one-year ethnographic research course during which they learn about ethnography, and also conduct observations, write field notes, interview participants, and gather artifacts. Offering important pedagogical insights into how ethnography and academic writing are communicated, the text also tackles questions of access and diversity within scholarship and highlights barriers to first-generation and minoritized students' success, including impostor syndrome, stereotype vulnerability, and access to time, knowledge, and capital. This volume will prove valuable to doctoral students, postgraduate researchers, scholars, and educators conducting qualitative research across the fields of education and rhetoric, as well as the humanities and social sciences. It will also appeal to those interested in multiculturalism and diversity within the education sector.

Learning from Latino Teachers offers insightful stories and powerful visions in the movement for equitable schools. This compelling book is based on Gilda Ochoa’s in-depth interviews with Latina/o teachers who have a range of teaching experience, in schools with significant Latina/o immigrant populations. The book offers a unique insider's perspective on the educational challenges facing Latina/os. The teachers’ stories offer valuable insights gained from their experiences coming up through the K-12 system as students, and then becoming part of the same system as teachers.

While mentorship has been shown to be critical in helping graduate students persist and complete their studies, and enter upon and succeed in their academic careers, the under-representation of faculty of color and women in higher education greatly reduces the opportunities for graduate students from these selfsame groups to find mentors of their race, ethnicity or gender.Recognizing that mentoring across gender, race and ethnicity inserts levels of complexity to this important process, this book both fills a major gap in the literature and provides an in-depth look at successful mentorships between senior white and under-represented scholars and emerging women scholars and scholars of color. Following a comprehensive review of the literature, this book presents chapters written by scholars who share in-depth descriptions of their cross-gender and/or cross-race/ethnicity mentoring relationships. Each article is co-authored by mentors who are established senior scholars and their former protégés with whom they have continuing collegial relationships. Their descriptions provide rich insights into the importance of these relationships, and for developing the academic pipeline for women scholars and scholars of color. Drawing on a comparative analysis of the literature and of the narrative chapters, the editors conclude by identifying the key characteristics and pathways for developing successful mentoring relationships across race, ethnicity or gender, and by offering recommendations for institutional policy and individual mentoring practice. For administrators and faculty concerned about diversity in graduate programs and academic departments, they offer clear models of how to nurture the productive scholars and teachers needed for tomorrow’s demographic of students; for under-represented students, they offer compelling narratives about the rewards and challenges of good mentorship to inform their expectations and the relationships they will develop as protégés.

Despite their numbers, Latinos continue to lack full and equal participation in all facets of American life, including education. This book provides a critical discussion of the role that select K–12 educational policies have and continue to play in failing Latino students. The author draws upon institutional, national, and statewide data sets, as well as interviews among students, teachers, and college administrators, to explore the role that public policies play in educating Latino students. The book concludes with specific recommendations that aim to raise achievement, college transition rates, and success among Latino students across the preschool through college continuum. Frances Contrerasis an Associate Professor of Higher Education in the area of Leadership and Policy Studies in the College of Education, University of Washington in Seattle “Prof. Frances Contreras is one of the nation’s leading authorities on Latino educational problems and on policies that will effectively address these. This book presents a unique and incisive analysis of the Latino educational achievement gap and its connections to concomitant gap in educational opportunities for Latinos. This very readable book combines rigorous scholarship with clearly stated policy recommendations. It should be read by all who are interested in understanding and addressing one of the most serious problems of our times.” —Jorge Chapa,University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign “Rich in data and social context, Contreras presents a compelling and comprehensive picture for the collective need to invest fully in the education of our Latino youth. As important, she delineates a bold public policy pathway for Latino student success that encompasses K–12 and higher education.” —James M. Montoya,Vice President, Higher Education, The College Board “This book offers valuable insights and productive recommendations for addressing a critically important topic: how to improve educational equity for Latinos, one of our nation’s fastest-growing but most-underserved populations.” —Laura Perna, Professor, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania