College of Education and Human Development Faculty Research
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12588/195
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Browsing College of Education and Human Development Faculty Research by Department "Educational Leadership and Policy Studies"
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Item Applying Intersectionality to Address Racial and Spatial Postsecondary Disparities—Rural Latino Youth(SAGE Publications, 2023-06-12) Sansone, Vanessa A.Background/Context: There is a growing concern about the ways in which geography affects the educational opportunity for America’s rural youth. Most research on this population has assumed that rural America is primarily White and that rural college access is stratified by an individual’s ability to complete the application process. Such approaches ignore race and the interplay among geography, admissions practices, and individual behavior and decision-making. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: This study examines the postsecondary experiences and opportunity structures for Latino youth living in rural Latino communities in South Texas. The purpose of this study is to understand quantitively and qualitatively how the geographic context of a predominantly rural Latino area shaped the college-going process and pathway decisions for the Latino youth living within these rural communities. To critically understand beyond the individual and learn about how systemic conditions in rural Latino communities can usher in (dis)advantages in their postsecondary experiences and sort students into pathways, this study employed Núñez’s (2014) multilevel model of intersectionality framework. As such, this study asked the following research questions: (1) What is the college access experience for Latino youth living in rural communities in South Texas? (2) In what ways, if any, do rural Latino youth describe how their rural geography structures (in) equalities in the college-going process? (3) How are rural Latino youths’ college access and opportunity structured, and does this differ from other geographic contexts? Research Design: Using a three-phase mixed-methods design (QUAL→quan), this study interviewed 101 Latino youth living in three different rural areas in South Texas toward the end of their senior year of high school. The quantitative component of the study used descriptive and spatial data to further expand on, complement, and confirm the intersectional findings in the qualitative data. In the last phase, data were integrated, and inferences were made about how college access opportunities are structured for Latino youth living in rural communities. Conclusions/Recommendations: Using an intersectionality framework, this study identified several ways in which the geography of rural Latino communities is structured that render and perpetuate inequities and disadvantages for Latino youth pursuing college. Rural Latino youth lived in communities that systemically experienced higher poverty, lower median incomes, and less access to resources and opportunities as compared with (sub)urban metro areas. Most students discussed how these geographic conditions played a role in the ways that bounded the opportunities they experienced during their college-going process and their decision to enroll at a college within close proximity to their rural region. This study has implications for how intersectionality frames can expand our understanding of the unique characteristics of rural regions that creates both opportunities and challenges for rural Latino youth pursuing postsecondary opportunities. This is significant given that most higher education researchers, policymakers, and practitioners conflate the racial/ethnic diversity of rural areas with whiteness and being White. In doing so, they overlook the presence of Latinos in rural areas and ignore their intersecting assets and challenges, hindering effective policy solutions that can better support historically marginalized students.Item An Exploration of CARES Act Funding Policies Affecting Hispanic-Serving Institutions in Texas(Intercultural Development Research Association, 2023-05) Sansone, Vanessa A.Context: Despite the laudable efforts to tailor federal funding via the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act: Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) in a way that supports underfunded minority-serving institutions and students, the allocation of funds did not consider the unique characteristics of public Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) and their students. This resulted in distribution to each HSI a lower share of CARES Act funding than what was necessary to support their students, which handicapped relief efforts to the very institutions these funds are meant to support. As a result, public four-year HSIs responded to CARES Act funding in disproportionate ways. Methods: Using federal CARES Act reporting data and legislative appropriations requests data, I carried out a comparative case study analysis of CARES Act spending patterns among selected HSIs within Texas. Centering decision-making in uncertain times within a resource dependency framing, I synthesize the educational policy funding context that each selected HSI was operating within before the pandemic to better understand how each HSI spent federal emergency relief aid during the COVID-19 pandemic. Implications: Results from this study can be used to inform understandings about state and federal financial investments for public HSIs, public HSI revenue and expenditure trends, and federal relief aid spending among public HSIs. Findings can also be used to learn how to reform federal relief aid policy for HSIs as well as help guide other HSIs on how to spend federal relief aid in better ways that enhance long-term financial sustainability and offer reparative justice for Latinos and other communities of color enrolled across HSIs.Item Exploring Hispanic-Serving in Minority Serving Institutions: Pathways, Racial Equity, and STEM Doctoral Degree Production in the United States(Ali Khorsandi Taskoh, 2022-09-30) Sansone, Vanessa A.; Sparks, Corey S.Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) can play a role in advancing racial diversity in STEM Ph.D. production and STEM workforce participation in the United States. To understand the role of MSIs, it is necessary to consider the institutional pathways of racial/ethnic STEM Ph.D. recipients that considers Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), which are federally designated MSI campuses with an enrollment of 25% or more undergraduate full-time equivalent Hispanic students. Due to national data limitations, HSIs often are excluded in the discussion of MSIs and STEM Ph.D. attainment despite awarding STEM doctoral degrees. Our study found that U.S. STEM Ph.D. production differs by race/ethnicity across types of institutions. Among HSI campuses, we found HSIs did not graduate more Hispanics STEM Ph.D. holders as their federal classification would suggest. At the same time, HSIs graduated a larger share of Hispanic STEM Ph.D. holders than HBCUs or PWIs. Suggesting that STEM Ph.D. production at HSIs might be more inclusive and serving a greater share of students beyond one racial/ethnic group.Item Federal-State Partnerships: Why Centering Support for Rural, Regional, and Minority-Serving Institutions Can Improve College Affordability and Student Success in the U.S.(The Institute for College Access and Success, 2023-04) Sansone, Vanessa A.Since the passage of the Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965, America’s colleges and universities have struggled to increase the affordability of a college degree. The HEA policy established the creation of need-based grants, work-study opportunities, and federal student loans, helping the poorest Americans pay for college. The efforts were an attempt to codify college affordability and civil rights to those who had previously been excluded due to financial and racial barriers (Hillman & Orfield, 2022). [...]Item Metro and Non-Metro Variation in Postsecondary Enrollment: The Role of Race, Ethnicity, and Residential Location in Texas(Iowa State University Digital Press, 2020) Sansone, Vanessa A.; Sparks, Corey S.; Cano-McCutcheon, PaulinaThis study used a spatial approach to explore metropolitan and nonmetropolitan variation of college enrollment at the interplay of place and race within the state of Texas. Analyzing Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS-USA) data and using population proportions as well as regression methods, we pay particular attention to the racial/ethnic diversity in non-metro (i.e., rural) areas and its relationship with college enrollment. We find geography is a mediating factor in the college enrollment racial/ethnic gaps for rural Texans, but there are considerable regional disparities. These disparities show diverse trends among rural regions where large proportions of Latinxs reside. This indicates a need for more research to explore geographic post-secondary opportunity and college access practices and policy with the racial/ethnic diversity of place in mind, especially regarding rural communities of Color.Item Working beyond borders to cultivate knowledge and support for Puerto Rican colleges and universities: Post-traditional student characteristics, STEM outcomes, and financial context in Puerto Rico(Association for the Study of Higher Education, 2022) Abeyta, Melissa E.; Acevedo, Nancy; Burgos-López, Luz N.; Cammarota, Julio; Labandera, Emily; McNamee, Ty C.; Doran, Erin; Davis, Raeshan D.; Rodriguez Vargas, Lorainne; Perez-Felkner, Lara; Smith, Matthew R.; De Leon Rodriguez, Natasha; Arroyo, Cassandra; Garcia, Nichole M.; Haynes, Gabriele; Kim, Jeongeun; Rubin, Paul; Vega, Blanca ElizabethTo span our knowledge about Puerto Rican higher education, the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) invited college and university leaders across the Puerto Rican higher education landscape to a day-long program. Taking place ahead of the 46th Annual Conference, the Institute engaged three teams of Ascendium Fellows and Puerto Rican higher education leaders to address various streams of student success and its intersections with institutional, commonwealth, and federal policy. Resulting from the Institute is this report that considers the context of Puerto Rico in relation to educational pathways for students and its significance to advancing postsecondary education in the United States. [...]