Hispanic-Serving Community Colleges Research Articles

“A Change Is Gonna Come”: Pedagogical Shifts in a Post-COVID World

Background/Context: COVID-19 changed how students learn, the challenges they face both in and out of the classroom, and the ways they access and engage with higher education. COVID-19 also highlighted inequalities in higher education. In response, faculty have also had to change their pedagogical approaches. Purpose/Focus of Study: This article presents ideas to address some of the challenges that COVID-19 has brought to the community college classroom. The focus of these strategies and pedagogical changes is to create a more equitable and successful environment for all students. Research Design: The author’s praxis used Paulo Freire’s 1970 work, The Pedagogy of the Oppressed, as a guide to critically examine pedagogical practices and choices for sociological curriculum development at a medium-sized, urban, Hispanic-serving community college. Changes were evaluated through final grade analysis and student feedback. Findings: Ten changes were implemented: making the course mobile phone/tablet accessible, incorporating audio transcripts for all, using additional video formats, engaging families/children, addressing student anxieties, incorporating more assignment choices, using Open Educational Resources for reduced costs, allowing more flexibility in assignments, extending submission times, and varying course length. These changes have reduced barriers, decreased student anxiety, and increased student success. Conclusions: The pedagogical changes made seemed to help students be more successful in their courses.

Understanding Computing Identity for Latina Students at a Hispanic-Serving Community College

Entrenched in whiteness and toxic masculinity, the computing field makes it difficult for Latina students to see themselves in computing careers. This phenomenological study explored computing identity development for Latina students at a Hispanic-serving community college (HSCC). Latina students emphasized the importance of leveraging competence and various forms of community cultural wealth to shape computing identities. They also articulated how gendered societal norms and socio-economic concerns influenced their computing identity experiences at the HSCC.

Creating a culture of servingness for Latinx engineering students in Hispanic‐serving community colleges

AbstractThis paper will describe the promise Hispanic‐serving Community Colleges (HSCCs) have for creating a culture of servingness, including curricular and co‐curricular supports, transfer infrastructure, engineering identity development, and other mechanisms that can positively impact Latinx engineering learners. We will outline current research and trends regarding Latinx engineering collegians at HSCCs. In addition, we will provide recommendations for how community college practitioners at HSCCs can promote a culture of servingness and encourage the development of Latinx engineering students.

Para mi gente: Community responsive civic practices at Hispanic Serving Community Colleges

AbstractThis article presents research on the role of educators at a Hispanic Serving community college in the civic development—the capacity to be socially and/or politically civically engaged—of Latinx students. The article presents educators’ perceptions of, and pedagogies used to promote, the civic development of Latinx students and communities at a federally designated Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) community college. The community college serves a region that has historically disenfranchised, excluded, and dismissed Latinx and other immigrant groups from fully incorporating into the civic fabric of the region. We present findings from interviews with educators (i.e., faculty, counselors, administrators, and staff), and document and website analysis to undercover the pedagogies that support the civic development of Latinx students and communities. The need to study the connection between HSIs, community colleges, and civic engagement is imperative because these colleges can serve la gente de la comunidad by promoting service to communities and developing leaders to evoke social and community change. This study contributes to the understanding of the critical role of Minority‐Serving Institution (MSI) community colleges and presents practical approaches to promoting the civic development of underserved Latinx communities.

Investigating the efficacy of peer tutoring to support Latinx students in Hispanic serving community colleges

AbstractAlthough open‐access Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) continue to expand across the United States, they are often under‐resourced and lack adequate institutional support services. This article presents findings from a qualitative case study of an asset‐based, peer support program for Latinx students in an open‐access HSI in the Southeast United States. The article's findings, informed by the theory of community cultural wealth, indicate that peer tutoring honors the linguistic capital of Latinx students, nurtures familia within the institution, enhances students’ navigational capital, and helps students navigate the nuances of social capital by encouraging the maintenance of their cultural integrity as they strengthen tutor‐tutee relationships and forge relationships across their institution. Therefore, this article argues that identity‐affirming peer support programs could efficiently and effectively ameliorate Latinx student challenges in under‐resourced MSIs, particularly at the community college level, thereby generating a more inclusive institutional environment conducive to student success.

Examining the relationship between Hispanic Serving Community college Title III grants and STEM associate degree completion

AbstractHispanic‐Serving Community Colleges enroll and educate a large share of Hispanic postsecondary students. Due to work trends and demographic changes, Hispanic and other historically underrepresented students play a crucial role in shaping the next generation of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) scholars and practitioners. We use data from the National Center for Education Statistics and a difference‐in‐differences technique to estimate the association between federal capacity building grants aimed at improving STEM degree attainment outcomes and associate degree completion. We find receipt of a Title III grant was associated with about a 30% increase in the total number of STEM associate degrees awarded. Further, the grants nearly doubled the number of STEM associate degrees awarded to Hispanic students, on average. This positive relationship is driven by institutions receiving more than one grant. We conclude by discussing these findings and providing federal and institutional recommendations.

Exploring computing identity development for Latinx students at a Hispanic-serving community college.

Exploring computing identity development for Latinx students at a Hispanic-serving community college.

Institutional agents’ perspectives of institutional support for undocumented and DACA community college students

AbstractGiven that community colleges enroll most of the undocumented and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) students across the nation, there is an economic and moral imperative to understand how the sociopolitical environment has shifted educational opportunities for undocumented and DACA students. This paper unveils how institutional agents use their agency to shape the college community college experiences of undocumented and DACA students. Findings include institutional agents’ perspectives on navigating challenges, resistance, and virtues in the current sociopolitical climate. Recommendations are discussed to enhance humanizing and holistic institutional support for DACA and undocumented college students, as well as a proposed undocuservingness framework.Practical Takeaways It is important for insititutional agents to use legal and racial consciouness to better serve undocumented and DACA students. Hispanic Serving Community Colleges need to unpack servingness within the context of supporting undocumented and DACA students

The Procedural Traps and Barriers to Receiving Aid: A Case Study of the Financial Aid Ecosystem in a Hispanic Serving Community College Students

ABSTRACT This study describes students’ experiences applying for and maintaining financial aid at a community college in Southern California. Through individual interviews and focus groups, we examined the interaction points between students, institutional actors, institutional policies, and state/federal policies. We theorize that interactions between students and their environment contribute to an ecosystem for community college students, of which penalty may be just one component. Data from the study revealed layers of interactions resulting in three consequences: prevention of aid qualification, delay of aid receipt, and loss of aid. Implications for this study indicate the need to relax further policies and procedures associated with the aid-seeking process at the institutional and policy level.

Men of Color Programs Serving Latino Men at Hispanic-Serving Community Colleges: An Organizational Identity Exploration

ABSTRACT This multi-sited case study explored Men of Color (MoC) programs at Hispanic-serving community colleges. By employing frameworks designed to make meaning of Hispanic-serving institution (HSI) organizational identity, we examined how MoC program practitioners define the organizational identity of their Hispanic-serving community college, and how these understandings shape the services provided to Latino men. Findings underscored factors and identity markers that practitioners used to define HSI identity and servingness toward Latino men. In addition, our findings highlighted the problems and inconsistencies that exist when it comes to prioritizing the educational needs of community college Latino men. We provided implications for practice tailored for community college practitioners.

“A Moral, Ethical, and Fiduciary Obligation to Serve”: Perceptions of the Role of Presidents at Hispanic-Serving Community Colleges

ABSTRACT This study utilizes interviews with five Hispanic presidents at Hispanic-serving community colleges in the United States to understand how presidents define and perceive their role in ensuring Hispanic servingness, that is, guaranteeing that the Hispanic population is being fully served, at Hispanic-Serving Institutes (HSIs). We employ Garcia and colleagues’ multidimensional framework of servingness. Past research on HSI leaders has not employed perceptions of presidents on their role to ensure servingness. Four common themes emerged from the data, indicating presidents are concerned about increasing representation, developing training, planning for the future, and exemplifying servingness.

Toward a New Understanding of Hispanic-Serving Community Colleges

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to synthesize the literature around Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), community colleges, and Latina/o/x community college students to propose practices specifically for community colleges that are officially designated HSIs or want to be more Latinx-serving. Argument: Utilizing the conceptual framework for servingness in HSIs by Garcia et al., this essay makes the case for ways that Latinx-serving, research-based practices can be implemented in Hispanic-serving community colleges. Conclusions: As more 2-year colleges reach the threshold for the HSI designation, they may look for ways to implement policies and practices that boost the access and attainment of Latina/o/x students and enhance practices that may benefit students from other minoritized groups as well.

Teacher and SHL Student Beliefs about Oral Corrective Feedback: Unmasking Its Underlying Values and Beliefs

This study provides a critical discussion on oral corrective feedback (CF) in the Spanish heritage language context by analyzing the language ideologies of both teachers and students relating to this everyday pedagogical practice. Despite the undeniable relevance of oral CF within the SHL language classroom, it is an area mainly studied within the field of SLA and, thus, primarily grounded in cognitive perspectives of the individual L2 learner and their subsequent language development. Drawing on scholarship that has long contested the discrimination that U.S. Latinxs face at the macro, meso, and micro-levels of society, this study interrogates and presents the core beliefs and values that legitimize the underlying asymmetrical power relationships propagated by oral CF. As critical paradigms continue to gain currency in the field of SHL education (e.g., critical language awareness), unmasking the various ways by which monolingual ideologies operate within language education is key to developing pedagogy that promotes Spanish language maintenance and, ultimately, dismantling such structures of domination. This study focuses on exploring the ideologies about oral CF by asking: (1) What language ideologies are prevalent in relation to participants’ conceptualization of oral CF? and (2) What are the instructor’s goals for oral CF? To answer these questions, this study analyzes interview data of a language instructor (n = 1) and SHL learners (n = 4) in an elementary-level, mixed Spanish course at a Hispanic-serving community college. The results show how the instructor utilized oral CF as a mechanism to enact dominant ideologies regarding SHL learners’ non-prestige varieties, while simultaneously advocating for an approach to learners’ varieties based on appropriateness. The instructor grounded her corrective practices in beliefs and values regarding the “deficiency” of SHL learners’ cultures and social categories that she considered to be the root causes of the “problem” that SHL learners spoke non-prestige varieties of Spanish. This study sheds light on the need to reexamine current L2-based oral CF taxonomies and teaching principles that do not account for the wide-ranging ways that corrective feedback becomes entrenched in educators’ culturally shared ideologies of language, learning and the learners themselves, and as normalized by the programmatic context wherein such practices are embedded. Finally, the study concludes by proposing several guiding considerations based on CLA to develop reflective practices for pedagogues to promote a consciousness of the ideologically charged nature of CF within the SHL learning context.

STEM Faculty Mentoring and Advising at an Urban Hispanic-Serving Community College

ABSTRACT This article provides a detailed description of how faculty mentoring and advising occurred at an urban Hispanic-serving community college for future replication. Three research questions were pursued: (1) What were the most important successes and challenges? (2) What are the key components of a faculty mentoring and advising program? (3) What theoretical approaches in the existing research best align with these results for use in future faculty mentoring and advising programs? Data was analyzed from two grant-funded projects (NSF STEP and ED HSI STEM). Quantitative and qualitative data included program and administrative data, two faculty mentor focus groups, an online faculty survey, and an online student survey. Taken together, the results emphasize the multifaceted nature of the STEM faculty mentoring and advising program from the perspective of students, faculty, and STEM counselors. Six key components emerged from the results: (a) an approach to faculty release time; (b) tracking student outcomes using available administrative and program data; (c) program wide aspects; (d) readiness to address challenges; (e) qualities of faculty mentors; and (e) qualities of STEM counselors. Similarities with existing research were found across multiple theories. Most notable was how mentors and advisers simultaneously addressed the psychosocial and academic needs of students, provided both academic and interpersonal validation, created meaningful social relationships, addressed the psychological, social, and cultural needs of Latinx students, and used proactive advising. These results can be utilized by other programs to increase the number of Latinx students in the STEM workforce.

Enacting Spiritual Activism to Develop a Sense of Belonging: Latina Community College Students Choosing and Persisting in STEM

Guided by the theoretical frameworks of sense of belonging and spiritual activism, this study examines the experiences of first-generation Latina community college students who navigated the choice to major in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and their experiences as they prepared to transfer to a 4-year college from two Hispanic-serving community colleges. Informed by semi-structured interviews with eight Latina students, the study found that participants chose to major in a specific STEM field only after they had explored other options. After choosing a STEM major, the participants experienced academic and interpersonal invalidations, which made them question whether they belonged in STEM. However, they had access to multiple institutional resources, including scholarship funds, a supportive peer group, and validating faculty, which supported healing from previous invalidations and contributed to their sense of belonging. As individuals who encountered both inequities and microaggressions, spiritual activism reinforced a sense of belonging in STEM for Latina students.

Constructing a Monolith: State Policy, Institutional DEI Plans, and the Flattening of Latinx Identity at Hispanic-Serving Institutions

As racialized institutions, Hispanic-serving institutions educate large portions of racially minoritized students within organizational and policy structures that advance Whiteness. This research considers how the institution-level diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) plans, produced in response to state-level DEI policies in Florida, California, and New York, construct narratives of intersectional diversity and a racialized Latinx identity at Hispanic-serving community colleges (HSCCs). Engaging critical discourse analysis, drawing together critical race theory and LatCrit, the analysis expands the consideration of DEI policy implementation at HSCCs. The findings illustrate the interconnectedness of state-level policy, policy implementation guidance, and institution-level discourse related to defining intersectional diversity and demographic data. Furthermore, it captures a lack of attention to racial composition among Latinx students and the limited characterization of HSI status. This study highlights how the implementation of state-level DEI policies can advance or erase the considerations of intersectionality among Latinx students.

Seeking to Serve or $erve? Hispanic-Serving Institutions’ Race-Evasive Pursuit of Racialized Funding

This critical qualitative study explores Hispanic-serving institutions’ (HSIs) pursuit of racialized federal funds and theorizes the connection between grant seeking and servingness at HSIs. Specifically, the study’s guiding research question was: Why do HSIs pursue racialized Title V funding? Based on interviews with 23 institutional actors at 12 HSIs, including public Hispanic-serving community colleges and both public and private 4-year institutions, the findings suggest that HSIs vie for Title V grants for assorted and, at times, conflicting reasons. Specifically, they seek this racialized funding to (a) pool money, (b) address broad-based institutional needs, (c) signal legitimacy, and (d) support all students. Importantly, some of the reasons have little to do with immediately serving students generally or Latinx students more specifically. Thus, I argue that in their race-evasive pursuit of Title V funds, many HSIs capitalize on their Latinx students, rendering serving into $erving and ghosting the “H” and “S” in HSIs.

Time Perspective and Grade Expectations as Predictors of Student Achievement and Retention in the First Year of Community College

The authors examined three motivational factors (first-year grade expectations, present-focused time perspective, and future-focused time perspective) as predictors of achievement and retention outcomes for students ( N = 844) in their first semester at a predominately Hispanic-serving community college, accounting for student background characteristics. In this correlation research study, instructors administered surveys to students in a required first-year orientation course. Survey data was then merged with institutional data. The results of the multiple regression analysis suggested that first-year grade expectations, present-focused time perspective, age, ethnicity, first-generation status, and academically underprepared status were statistically significant predictors of first-semester GPA and explained 9.0% of the variation, whereas future-focused time perspective, sex, and economically disadvantaged status were not. First-year grade expectations and economically disadvantaged status significantly predicted second-semester retention; the other study predictors did not. This study expands research on malleable motivational factors educators could target to support students in their first year of community college.

Recognized to Serve: Do (Emerging) Hispanic-Serving Community Colleges Expand Access?

ABSTRACT Over the years, more colleges and universities have gained the designation of Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) and emerging Hispanic-serving institutions (EHSIs). The Hispanic-serving community colleges (HSCCs) have a dual mission of authentically serving both Latinx students and other marginalized student population. This study aims to examine if community colleges have effectively served this dual mission by expanding access for Latinx students, low-income students, and other students of color upon being designated with the EHSI/HSI status. To answer the research question, we used a national dataset which was drawn from multiple sources between 2010 and 2017 and a generalized difference-in-differences approach. Our findings show that the EHSI/HSI designation increased the proportion of Latinx students and low-income students, but this expansion can be at a cost of access for other students of color. Practical implications are provided, including continuous federal funding, strategic enrollment management, and constant consideration of the dual mission of HSCCs.

Antiblackness in the Hispanic-serving community college (HSCC) context: Black male collegiate experiences through the lens of settler colonial logics

ABSTRACTThis qualitative longitudinal study explored the experiences of Black males attending a public, two-year, community college Hispanic-serving community college (HSCC) in Southern California. Drawing on the perspective of HSCCs as reflecting a colonial relationship between whites and Students of Color, we outline specific forms of anti-Black racism that include the rejection of Black intellectualism, presumed ownership of Blacks’ intellectual and material property, and psychological violence and rejection of Black suffering. We articulate a need for researchers to attend to institutionalized forms of anti-Blackness across structurally diverse institutional contexts – as well as predominantly white ones – and a need to articulate realities that exist outside the ‘settler colonial logics’ that permeate higher education.