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In this qualitative, participatory action research study, we examine how six Black women undergraduate students develop, cultivate, and sustain their healthcare career aspirations while examining challenges Black women undergraduate students experience during their pursuit of a healthcare career. Using community cultural wealth to frame our study, we collected two interviews per participant along with participant-generated photographs. We found that student participants experienced multiple forms of oppression, financial challenges, and lack of access to academic resources, but they were able to persist through support from family, faculty, and peers, along with faith-based practices and creative arts. Findings provide insights for higher education leaders, STEM and health sciences faculty, and the healthcare industry to advance equity for Black women pursuing healthcare careers.

This qualitative study examines the progress of a rural New Jersey school in addressing longstanding racial conflict after implementing a Youth Participatory Action Research project two years prior. Here we take up the thread as students continued to develop activities meant to increase awareness of ongoing issues, and as adults used professional development time to model best practices in managing racialized interactions. Eight teachers and staff not originally involved and nine students who had been directly involved were interviewed and a student focus group conducted. All participants agreed that progress had been made though issues around curriculum and discipline remained. Both the adults and the students engaged in considerable self-reflection about their roles. Adults reported the impact of hearing the students’ voices on school practices, and students discussed how their roles as researchers and peer leaders had contributed to their standing as experts.

The purpose of this article is to highlight a critical approach for practice, youth participatory action research, that can be used to invite rural youth to collaborate with school administrators, educators, and community leaders to identify and examine challenges, while building upon the strengths of a school and community to address challenges. Our youth participatory action research project was a collaboration between adult researchers and five students from a rural high school to examine and address postsecondary education access challenges. The adult and student researchers developed and implemented two evidence-based products: (a) a conference and (b) a resource corner in the school library. Student co-researchers demonstrated an increased commitment to the project, development of postsecondary education knowledge, and development as leaders during the project. Our project demonstrates evidence of youth participatory action research being an effective approach to address problems of practice in rural education.

To support Black students in earning undergraduate science degrees, faculty need to understand the mechanisms that Black students use to succeed. Following an anti-deficit achievement approach, we used the community cultural wealth framework to investigate the strengths that Black undergraduates bring to their science majors. Community cultural wealth consists of capital or "knowledge, skills, abilities, and contacts" that students of color can use in their education. Through participatory action research, we studied academically successful Black science majors in the final year of their undergraduate degrees at a research-intensive predominantly white institution (PWI

Researchers explore factors that influence retention and persistence of queer and transgender students and examine retention and persistence among Black students. However, there is a dearth of retention and persistence scholarship centering the nuanced experiences of Black queer and transgender college students at the intersections of their gender, racial, and sexual identities. Using the queer of color critique conceptual framework and an anti-Black racism lens, the authors present a systematic literature review to illuminate opportunities for scholars to (a) disrupt singular narratives that erase queer and transgender experiences from Black student retention discourses and (b) address the ways scholars erase Black racial identity from broader queer and transgender student retention research. Centering the case of Joshua, a Black queer cisgender male-identified college student, the authors highlight research, practice, and policy implications that consider social class, institutional type, multilevel intervention strategies, and intersectionality in Black queer and transgender college student retention discourse.

Background/Context College access programs aim to enhance students’ college-going capital, which includes the “knowledge, skills, or dispositions” that support students’ pathways to and through higher education. While some college access programs aim to remedy students’ “deficiencies” in capital, strengths-based approaches recognize and amplify the cultural assets and capital that marginalized individuals and their communities possess. One such approach is community-based youth participatory action research (YPAR), which empowers young people as co-researchers to investigate topics of importance in their lives. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: This study explored how participation in a community-based YPAR project facilitated the college aspirations and perceived development of college-going capital among underserved (low-income, first-generation, and racially and ethnically minoritized) youth in a college access program. Setting: The setting for this research was a university-based college access and success program, Achievement Program (pseudonym). Population/Participants/Subjects Ten high school tenth-graders in Achievement Program participated in the YPAR project. All are low-income and first-generation students and eight identify as Students of Color. Intervention/Program/Practice YPAR project participants assisted in designing and executing a qualitative research study on the barriers and opportunities that first-generation and/or low-income college students face. Participants also engaged in related activities such as reflective journaling, a trip to meet with national higher education policy organizations, and community engagement. Research Design: This research utilized an interpretive case study approach. Data Collection and Analysis: Data were drawn from three one-on-one, semi-structured interviews with each participant, photo elicitation, and one focus group with all ten participants. For analysis, the authors collaboratively developed a codebook focused on the impact of YPAR participation on development of college-going capital. Findings/Results Participants showed evidence of beginning to understand that although the college-going barriers they have faced are systemic, they hold power to challenge those barriers and effect positive change. YPAR participation also enabled participants to recognize their connections with and responsibility toward their communities and helped them connect educational pursuits such as research with working to improve college access and success for other low-income and first-generation students. Conclusions/Recommendations This study provides evidence for how incorporating community-based YPAR into college access programs can empower youth from underserved populations as agents of their college-going journeys by connecting them with college-going capital located within their communities. Therefore, we recommend that college access program professionals incorporate YPAR projects into their curricula to better support underserved students’ college-going journeys.

For this qualitative case study we explored students' perceptions of institutional support and sense of belonging within the college environment. Following 10 low-income, first-generation college students out of a college access program and through their first year of college, we examined institutional support structures that have been reported to increase students' sense of academic and social belonging, including comprehensive scholarship programs, social identity-based centers and student organizations, residence hall communities, faculty relationships, academic support services, and high-impact educational experiences. In spite of the positive and stabilizing potential of these support structures, several of them simultaneously undermined students' sense of belonging.

Using an intersectionality and Black queer studies framework, this article presents reflections from Black gay men who are current doctoral students or recent graduates of higher education, student affairs, and leadership studies programs to provide a deeper understanding of the challenges and successes that they experienced during their doctoral journey. The authors conclude with recommendations for providing comprehensive support for doctoral students who are at the intersection of identities, specifically Black gay men.

This qualitative study explores how the spiritual epistemology of Black, gay and bisexual, cisgender men in college changed during their spiritual journeys and how participants used spirituality in their collegiate lives. External forces, such as family members, religious text, and church settings, initially shaped many participants’ spirituality, but their spirituality expanded to integrate participants’ passions and interests, such as science and music, as they moved towards developing their own spiritual guidelines. Students also used their spirituality as a source of motivation during college and a guide for collegiate decisions.

This qualitative case study explores the career and educational aspirations, college choice process, and college barriers and opportunities of 26 rural, African American high school students. Data included interviews with 26 students and 11 school staff members. Findings suggest that the students’ rural context shapes aspirations. In addition, students have emotional support and motivation to attend college from their family members and schools, but the students did not always have the “know how” to prepare for college. Finally, students described financial and academic preparedness barriers for college, but they also mentioned grades and teenage pregnancy as potential barriers for college.

This study explores whether performance in remedial English and remedial math is a predictor of success in a college-level introduction English or college-level math class; and whether demographic variables increase the likelihood of remedial English and remedial math as a predictor of success in a college-level introduction English or college-level introduction math course. Participants included two cohorts of students from a degree-granting, for-profit institution taking either face-to-face or online courses. There were 1,091 students for math and 1,297 students for English in the fall quarter of 2007 cohort and 1,098 students for math and 1,372 students for English in the fall quarter 2008 cohort. Analysis showed that remedial class performances for both math and English were weakly associated with college-level class performance. Additionally, results showed that family income and race/ethnicity appear to be significant predictors of performance in their corresponding college-level course.

This qualitative study explores the perceived impact of college-going capital gained during participation in a college access program. In three, semistructured interviews spanning the first-year college experience, 10 first-year college students who participated in a college access program articulate the value of access programming and also raise questions about the long-term efficacy of access lessons. Findings reveal that participants experienced surprise and discomfort around two primary issues: their racial and socioeconomic difference from their more majoritarian peers and their academic underpreparedness for college-level work. Students’ narratives of college revealed how the college access program may be presenting a false reality of college in some ways. Implications include the need to restructure college access programming and the need for higher education institutions and college access programs to partner together to better support underrepresented students.

This case study explored the spiritual journey and spaces of one Black gay male college student. Data collection included semi-structured interviews, field observations, and photovoice. Findings indicate that the student experienced tension during his spiritual journey because of his racial and sexual orientation identities but was able to reconcile his multiple identities through family support, developing a personal relationship with a higher power, and finding spiritual spaces where all his identities were embraced.

To address the persistent failure of schooling to support underserved students, youth participatory action research (YPAR) has emerged as an alternative and critical para- digm for educational practice. YPAR re-centers authority on marginalized voices and understands research as a tool for social change. Grounded in critical pedagogy, such projects enable students to collaboratively critique oppressive structures and envision more equitable possibilities. In this article, the authors analyze a YPAR project on educational inequities conducted with high school students in a college access program. Through case study analysis of in-depth interviews with student- researchers and participant observation of the research process, the article suggests that the YPAR model moves students towards praxis by helping them develop more authoritative voices, renegotiate identity as part of a social process of belonging, and begin to envision their roles in creating a more just world. We argue that the ten- sions inherent in critical pedagogical processes like that of YPAR present fruitful challenges for continuing reflection on working both within and against existing educational systems.

Despite improvements in the rates of college admission over the past few decades, college persistence, retention, and graduation rates continue to be problematic for underrepresented students—students of color and students from low-income and/or first-generation families. This article presents a cas