Education Commons^™

Who You Know And How To Go: The Impact Of Social Capital On Higher Education Access For Black Males, Morgan E. St. John

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This qualitative case study explores the relationship between social capital, or the social networks in a young man’s life, and access into and persistence in higher education for a group of six Black, male, upperclassmen students at Heartland University. Heartland University is a predominantly White, four-year institution in the Midwest region of the United States. The literature review discusses reasons for the steadily declining rate of males choosing to pursue a college education, particularly young Black men, whom have been referred to as an “endangered species” in society (Johnson, Farrell, & Stoloff, 2000). Providing a framework of social capital theory, …

Understanding The Role Of Social Capital And School Structure On Latino Academic Success, Jeremiah Gonzalez

LUX: A Journal of Transdisciplinary Writing and Research from Claremont Graduate University

This paper investigates the role of social capital and school structure on the academic success of Latino students. A review of the literature on previous explanations of Latino failure, research on academically successful Latinos, and the role of social capital and school structure on Latino academic success are investigated. The research shows that the way students are tracked in school plays an important role in gaining access to school agents and other academically successful peers. These relationships give access to social capital and increase college access. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.

"Makin' It": A Study Of First Generation College Graduates Lives Out Of Poverty, Sharla Benson-Brown

Theses and Dissertations

Scholars across various disciplines concur that poverty , especially when experienced generationally, is difficult to escape (MacLeod, 2009; Bowles & Gintis, 2002; Nieto, 2005; Corak, 2006; Sawhill & Haskins, 2008). Yet, while much is known about the existence and persistence of poverty, we know less about how and why those individuals who successfully escape poverty are able to do so (Hardaway & McLoyd, 2009).

Guided by critical social and institutional theory this qualitative study, examined the experiences of individuals who grew up in generational poverty (with parents who had no high school diploma), yet became first-generation college graduates, and entered …