Cabrera, Cesar A.
Researchers: Cesar A. Cabrera
University Affiliation: D'Youville College
Email:
Research Question:
To determine the role HSIs play in increasing the participation and completion rates of Latino students in STEM education. Additionally, the study served to compare the experiences of Latino students in STEM at HSIs versus PWIs.
Published: No
Journal Name or Institutional Affiliation: N/A
Journal Entry: N/A
Year: 2014
Findings:
- The themes that emerged in the interviewed included issues pertaining to diversity, financing a college education, the role of the family, the precollege preparation of Latino STEM students, a lack of role models, and language barriers faced by many Latinos.
- All participants interviewed and all respondents to the STEM education online survey listed financial aid and financing a college education as a challenge or barrier to degree attainment.
- One student recounted how she felt strange in the computer science program because there were so few females in the program and she was the only Hispanic student.
- A majority of the students interviewed indicated their pre-college education did not prepare them for the rigors of a STEM college education.
- Some STEM participants noted their schools were not academically competitive.
- A majority of students in the survey said they had attended a school that was majority Latino and other minority groups.
- Study emphasizes on the need of creating a campus culture that is conducive to the retention and graduation of Latinos and other marginalized groups from institutions of higher education.
- A substantial number of respondents to the STEM education online survey noted that growing up they worked to help their parents and family financially. Many of those interviewed noted the substantial influence that their parents had on the choices they made about college.
- The fact that a Latino ELL may not be proficient in English does not mean they are not proficient in a STEM field.
- A vast majority of the students in this research reported they were not aware and were not exposed to the STEM career opportunities available to them. All participants interviewed had limited exposure to STEM activities in the K-12 system, including career and post-secondary opportunities.
- This current research study acknowledges that community colleges have now become, in many instances, part of the problem and not the solution to the low higher education attainment of Latino students.