Education Commons^™

The Role Of Cultural Capital In Improving Advanced Placement Outcomes, Kolbe Ricks

Education Theses and Dissertations

This work delves into the potential benefits and criticism of Advanced Placement (AP) courses, with a specific focus on the necessity of cultural capital to address disparities in access and success. The researcher argues that the broad content coverage in AP courses often leads to conventional lecture-based instruction that does not value cultural capital and limits student engagement and outcomes. To rectify this, recommendations are made to incorporate pedagogical approaches like culturally relevant teaching and providing teacher feedback and support that allows for the successful implementation of these practices. Numerous studies indicate that participation in AP courses predicts success in …

Retention And Persistence Of Low-Income, First-Generation Rural College Students From West Virginia, Rachel D. Nieman

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

A considerable body of research demonstrates that first-generation college students face greater obstacles to college retention, persistence and completion compared to their non-first-generation counterparts. However, the extant literature rarely explores rurality as a salient factor to understand these challenges. Even less visible in the literature are the experiences and voices of West Virginians. West Virginia is a predominantly rural state and ranks 49^th in the nation in terms of educational attainment, with only 19.6% of residents over the age of 25 having earned at least a bachelor’s degree. While rural areas may experience multifaceted struggles, the educational attainment of …

A Case Study Of Parentschool Relationships: How Spanish-Speaking Latino Parents Of Elementary Multilingual Learners Perceive Parental Involvement In Schools, Ingrid Corpuz

Theses & Dissertations

This study examined how Spanish-speaking Latino parents of multilingual learners (MLs) perceived their participation in the school community and their role in the educational process of their children. It explored several factors that can influence the involvement of Spanish-speaking parents in their children's education. Social capital, cultural capital, and social learning theories guided this study to provide a deeper understanding of the parental involvement of Spanishspeaking Latino parents in schools. Ten participating parents shared their experiences and described their view of parental involvement in their children’s school. This study concluded that Spanish-speaking Latino parents displayed characteristics of highly involved parents, …

Understanding Which College Academic And Social Integration Factors Are Important In Predicting First-Generation College Students’ Retention In The First Year, Nicole Battaglia

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Retention concerns remain high for postsecondary institutions and even more so when focusing on populations such as those who are the first in the family to attend college, first-generation college students. First-generation students account for 34% of the collegiate population, yet 40% of first-generation students do not return for their sophomore year. While prior theoretical frameworks and research points to academic and social integration as key indicators of retention, first-generation students are less likely to integrate into their institution. First-generation students are about 30% less likely compared to their continuing generation peers to be integrated at all on campus.

Utilizing …

The Bursting Of The Non-Profit Bubble: Why Non-Profit Kids Simply Won’T Catch A Break, Jederick Estrella

Senior Theses and Projects

Studying conceptions of success within nonprofit and boarding school students and how they envision their future. Through an understanding of students' individual conceptions of success, one can start to analyze how reliant students were on elite educational institutions and nonprofit scholar programs to make them worthy of sponsored mobility through their track record of success.

Prüfung: A Deconstruction Of Assessment Across Three Languages, Thomas Erich Benz

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This research aims at deconstructing and questioning certainties about assessment as an educational institution on its most fundamental levels. To achieve that, I am utilizing theoretical frameworks inspired by concepts on the existence of cultural and social capital, by artifact mediated cognition, and by a recently proposed discipline on pedagogy of assessment. The research operates with the application of narrative synthesis and network text analysis of material, on which they have not previously been used. As such, I aim to contribute to a methodological application of both methods on exam data, understood as the totality of curricular documents which govern …

Examining Strategies That Promote Success For Adult Basic Education Students: A Professional Development Seminar For Educators, Andrew Brottlund

Ed.D. Dissertations in Practice

ABE writing courses have historically helped students develop White, westernized cultural capital. Yet they often fail to acknowledge community cultural wealth that students bring with them to the classroom or build upon these strengths that students possess, and this has a negative impact on student persistence. This dissertation argues that to increase retention and persistence, ABE writing instructors must look at how curriculum can center a diverse range of identities and better reflect the lived experiences of all their students. To address this problem of practice, this dissertation is divided into three parts. First, it explores ABE legislation and critiques …

The Appalachian Medical Student Experience: A Case Study, Jason Scott Hedrick

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The Appalachian region is a rural swath of mountainous terrain home to a historically distinct culture. The region’s population suffers from a multitude of health issues and disparities. Notably, the region also experiences a major healthcare provider shortage despite the fact that states, like West Virginia, produce per capita, a high volume of physicians. Appalachia, and particularly West Virginia, also suffers from a number of educational disparities, which culminates into low numbers of college graduates within the population. There is a plethora of research that has explored the first-generation college student, students from rural and Appalachian backgrounds, first-generation and rural …

Identifying The Unique Characteristics Of First-Generation College Students Whose Parents Never Attended College, Reena Patel

Theses and Dissertations

In this descriptive study, I examined data from the Bill and Melinda Gates Millennial Scholars Cohort 3 Longitudinal Survey which comprised of high- achieving, low-income and historically marginalized college students, to compare students whose parents never attended college (“True” FCGS) to students whose parents attended but did not graduate along five variables: academic preparation, academic transition, academic and social integration, and academic outcome patterns. This study addressed a significant void in prior research with respect to the need for a clearly established FGCS definition. Bourdieu’s social and cultural capital framework is the theoretical foundation for this study because his theory …

A Study Of Social And Cultural Capital In Graduation For African American Students In Four-Year Colleges, Andrew Oni

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The prevalence of the persistent low graduation rate among African American students in four-year colleges gave rise to the examination of the role of social and cultural capital in improving graduation for African American students. This study examines the role played by the relationship between social and cultural capital and other factors for African American students’ graduation. Guided by social and cultural capital as the theoretical framework which presents social and cultural capital as acquired by parents’ and students' social networks and cultural endowment and tenets. These two levels of social and cultural capital are available for students to utilize …

Cultural Capital, Habitus, College Persistence And Graduation Among Black Immigrant-Origin Undergraduates: A Basic Interpretive Qualitative Study, Erica M. Richards Chew

Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations

Black immigrant-origin students are a significant sub-population of the total Black college student population, and they are persisting and graduating more frequently than Black U.S.-origin students. This study explored cultural capital and habitus and how they shaped the college persistence and graduation of Black immigrant-origin undergraduates and alumni from four-year postsecondary institutions. A basic interpretive qualitative design, guided by cultural capital theory, was used to explore thirteen Black-immigrant-origin students’ and graduates’ perspectives in-depth; and to describe their subjective meanings, actions, and social contexts from their point of view. Participants grew up with a habitus of achievement that came from the …

Cultural Capital, Habitus And Academic Achievement, Tevin Vaughan

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Education in the United States is directly tied to social mobility for students with low socioeconomic status. The fact that these same students are less likely to succeed academically and that the interaction between cultural capital (knowledge, skills, mannerisms, etc.) and habitus (dispositions and attitudes) are understudied has led to the formulation of this study. This study looks to identify a mechanism that can be leveraged by low SES students for educational attainment. This research will follow an exploratory, cross-sectional design, that will use quantitative methods to examine the influence that cultural capital and habitus on low income student academic …

Southeast Asian American Students’ Perspectives On Influences That Lead To High School Dropout, Elizabeth D. Kuo

CGU Theses & Dissertations

High school dropouts continue to happen in the U.S. without a clear solution. Southeast Asian American (SEAA) is a population with significantly disproportionate high school dropout rates and one of the lowest enrollment rates in higher education. This study seeks to challenge the notion that “all” Asians are high-achieving by analyzing the reasons why a surprising number do not do well, i.e., drop out of school. A better understanding of the perspectives of Southeast Asian American students on the factors and influences that lead to their decision or cause to drop out of high school is the focus of this …

College Choice And African American Males: A Case Study Exploring The Intersection Of Family, School, And Society On The College Choice Decision-Making Process, W. Samino Scott Ii

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the factors that influence the college choice decisions of African American male first-generation college students. This study employed a strength-based approach, instead of the more traditional narrative centered around values, cultural norms, and deficits. This research study utilized a single-case study design and a qualitative research methodology. The study examined the college choice influences experienced by five African American males attending a mid-sized college in the Midwest to develop a more nuanced understanding of the strengths they exhibited that allow them to successfully navigate impoverished conditions at home, in the neighborhood, and …

Use And Perception Of Beyond-The-Classroom Learning Skills By Students In High School, Alyssa Nicolina Yusko

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

College readiness in the United States is a multifaceted and complex concept, with many contributing factors that often overlap, and many students leave high school and enter college lacking the skills or knowledge necessary to succeed in higher education. This study investigates a set of study skills and self-management skills related to college readiness. I label this set Beyond-the-Classroom Learning Skills (BCLS). I investigate these skills as they relate to factors of cultural capital both in the home and at school. Using the theory of cultural capital, I determine probable sources of cultural capital in each of these settings and …

A Phenomenological Study Of Parent Experiences With Postsecondary-Admission Counseling, Anthony Espitia

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to better understand parent experiences with the postsecondary-admission counseling of high school students in California. As a state, California exceeds the ASCA’s student-to-counselor national recommendations, impacting the delivery of postsecondary-admission counseling on high school campuses. To understand the postsecondary-admission counseling experiences in California, a qualitative phenomenological study consisting of 12 parents of current or recently graduated high school students was utilized. Open-ended interviews captured parents’ lived experiences with the postsecondary-admission counseling of California high school counselors. The data analysis for this study was accomplished by utilizing a four-step process outlined by Moustakas (1994), which …

Identity Fluidity, Empowerment, And Engendered Poverty: Performing A Veteran-Latina-Online-Graduate Student, Maricela Burns

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this project is to use critical race theory and gendered discourse to shed light on engendered poverty, cultural capital and resilience in efforts to identify how the American educational system affects marginalized groups when the systems of power and privilege were not created for them. It is through a poignant narrative of one of these students (myself) in the educational system that I reflect, recollect, write and interweave my lived curriculum with what the literature says about ethnic experiences like mine. The efforts here serve to analyze the processes of constructing and building social and gender identity …

Routes To A Western Undergraduate Degree: Chinese Families’ Mobilization Of Capital And Flexible Citizenship, Qinghua Zhao

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Today, an increasing number of Chinese families send their children to study in the West to open up future opportunities. While studying abroad has a long history in China from late Qing dynasty (1836–1911), in the last couple of decades Chinese student mobility occurred on a much larger scale. Chinese families view an undergraduate degree from the West as a way to enhance career opportunities and familial social status. My study examined Chinese families’ intentions and strategies to gain advantage in their transnational trajectory. Specifically, I explore how forms of capital accumulate and transfer through transnational educational routes. Pierre Bourdieu’s …

Searching For Silver Linings In Foreign Grounds: Children Of Immigrants And Their Quest To Post-Secondary Education, Ashley Mejia

Sociology Senior Seminar Papers

In recent years there has been an increase of immigrants in the United States and upward mobility has become extremely challenging through secondary education. Higher education is deemed to be one of the most important factors associated with upward mobility and economic stability. While the achievement gap continues to widen, children of immigrants continue to struggle to assimilate and in gaining access to the white middle-class mainstream. Ultimately, the snowball effect of intergenerational low socioeconomic status rolls over on to the disadvantage immigrant children in the new generation. I propose that children of U.S. born parents have a greater educational …

Arts Smarts Or Random Visits: Arts Field Trips In The American Education Policy Context, Angela R. Watson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The school field trip is as much a part of the American educational experience as letter grades and recess. However, in response to a variety of pressures such as accountability, safety, and funding, the school field trip is reported to be in decline. Traditional field trip destinations, like museums and zoos, claim that attendance has declined. Further, these institutions feel pressure to connect field trips directly to state educational standards, or even design field trips to meet state standards that may be outside their areas of expertise, in order to justify a field. In this collection of three studies, I …

The Use Of Social And Cultural Capital As Refugee Mothers Transition Their Children To Ontario Education, Courtney A. Brewer

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study focused on Syrian refugee mothers’ experiences in transitioning their children to new school systems in Ontario, Canada. In 2015, the Canadian government committed to resettling 25000 Syrian refugees and processing higher numbers of refugee claims in the years following. Despite the increased number of refugees in Canada, there has been limited attention to perspectives of mothers in relation to transitioning children to the Canadian education system (Brewer, 2016). As well, the intersection at which all aspects of this study are situated in—refugees, motherhood, school transitions, and social and cultural capital—lacked scholarly attention. Drawing on Bourdieu’s (1990) theory of …

Influence Of Deliberate Peer-To-Peer Interactions On First-Generation College Students’ Educational Outcomes, Junelyn Pangan Peeples

CGU Theses & Dissertations

First-generation college students are first in their families to go to college and may not have the resources to help them navigate a college setting. They have parents who have not received a four-year degree, which diminishes the amount of knowledge they accumulated to help them navigate a college setting effectively. They are typically underprepared academically and socially, which can impede their ability to adjust and negatively influence their persistence and ultimately degree attainment. There is research that suggests there are ways to retain students and provide better support systems that help them graduate. Studies have found that peer-to-peer interactions …

Examining Alumni Perceptions Of Social And Cultural Capital Accumulation Through Ursinus’S Summer Fellows Program, Sydney Dickson

Anthropology Honors Papers

A common offering among undergraduate institutions is an intensive summer research program, which allows students to complete a project independently without any other academic obligations. These programs are designed to foster useful skills, valuable relationships, and scholarly work. Ursinus College, a small liberal arts college in Pennsylvania, has such a program: Summer Fellows. With colleges attempting to appeal to a decreasing number of high-achieving applicants, student desire to pursue intellectual interests, and employers looking for skilled job candidates, it is worthwhile to examine the perceived efficacy of this program. This paper utilizes the perspectives of alumni reflecting on what they …

“I Feed You. I Clothe You. I Send You To School”: Barriers To Involvement Of Low-Income Minority, And Immigrant Parents For The Academic Achievement Of Their Children, Myrtle Dickson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Parental involvement has long been held as a critical variable in the academic outcomes of students. While research in this area consistently cites the positive impact of parental involvement across all racial/ethnic and socioeconomic groups, much still remain to be discovered regarding the parental involvement as well as the cultural parental practices that are unique to low income African American, Hispanic, and immigrant parents and families. Furthermore, this population of parents faces barriers to involvement that provide challenges not only for families but also for schools. Administrators and teachers in the k-12 settings must still consider the forms of capital …

Roles Of Parents’ Capitals In Children’S Educational Opportunities, Liping Pan

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Bourdieu, the French sociologist, proposed some significant concepts (e.g., habitus, capital and field) to help to explain how social agents play roles in social occurrences. Among his theories, Bourdieu’s trilogy of economic capital, social capital and cultural capital has now been used as a powerful theoretical framework to explain class reproduction and education equity. Over the past decades, his theories have begun to be introduced and recognized in Chinese academic world. And this research attempts to see whether this western theory works in the Chinese educational context.

Shanghai, one of the biggest cities in China, has a huge migrant population. …

Funds Of Knowledge And The College Success Of First-Generation Students, Low-Income Students, And Students Of Color: A Transformative Mixed Methods Study, Delma Margot Ramos

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Increases in college enrollment have led to assessments of college success. These assessments consistently reveal disparities between students from historically underserved communities and students from the majority. Specifically, first-generation to college students, low-income students, and students of color continue to experience unequitable success in college. In response to these concerns, the scholarly community engages in research that expands our understanding of college success of these students and offers solutions to bolster their success. Nonetheless, much of this work engages a deficit oriented approach that centers attention on the resources that historically underrepresented communities do not possess and attributes lower college …

Spit Shined And Polished And Ready For College: A Critical Race Analysis Of Program Directors’ Perspectives On The Contexts Of College Access Programs, Jillian Havard

Theses and Dissertations

College access programs work to prepare underserved students for college admission and enrollment. It is important to identify how the assumptions of college access program leaders affect their common practices and implementation of programs serving African American students, as well as to identify the tensions that exist among theory, research and practice in the college access field. This qualitative study explores the perspectives of college access program directors on the contexts of college access program. Using critical race theory as a theoretical framework, the impact of whiteness, perpetuated by the college access of ideology, is examined.

Implications Of Acceleration On Student Success Course Curriculum: A Comparison Of Accelerated And Traditional Course Modalities, Alice L. Picardo

Theses and Dissertations

Many individuals enter community colleges with high expectations of improving skills, yet are underprepared for the demands of college. Student success courses and acceleration are promising interventions created to improve success rates in developmental education, however, research on accelerated student success courses is virtually non-existent. This explanatory, sequential mixed methods study compared accelerated and traditional student success courses on the attainment of course learning outcomes, term grade point average and retention from fall to spring, while participants' motivation and use of learning strategies were analyzed in both strands. Students' experiences were also analyzed. Findings indicate 1) that the nature of …

Cultural Disparities: An Ethnography Of First Generation Students Of Rural, Generational Poverty, Theresa Anne Spanella

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative, ethnographic study was to identify the cultural norms, beliefs, languages, values assumptions and rituals of first generation college students from rural, low socioeconomic status in order to better understand how social and cultural capital create obstacles that affect persistence in rural, low socioeconomic status students. The study was conducted at one, liberal arts college in rural Pennsylvania. All participants were the first in their family to attend college, had grown up in two or more generations of poverty, and lived in rural areas. Data were collected in two phases encompassing two academic semesters. Participant observation, …

Uncovering The Truth: A Phenomenological Study Of Parent Perceptions About Parent Involvement In A Rural North Carolina Community, Kate Pascoe Smith

Education Dissertations and Projects

Numerous studies have been conducted over the years to define the concept of parent involvement. This phenomenological study sought to understand parent perceptions from bicultural families of varied race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status through the personal experiences and lived stories of each participant using Irving Seidman’s qualitative method of an “in-depth interview process.” This phenomenological study looked to discover the following question: What are the meanings, structures, and essences of the lived experience of parent involvement by bicultural families in a rural North Carolina school? Grounded in Bourdieu’s (1986) Cultural Capital Theory and Olivos’s (2010) Theory: Paradigm of Tension, Contradiction …