Alexandria Digital Research Library

Taking a leap to close the gap: Early academic success of low-income Latino/a children facing multiple risks

Author:
Gonzalez, Victoria M.
Degree Grantor:
University of California, Santa Barbara. Counseling, Clinical & School Psychology
Degree Supervisor:
Michael J. Furlong
Place of Publication:
[Santa Barbara, Calif.]
Publisher:
University of California, Santa Barbara
Creation Date:
2013
Issued Date:
2013
Topics:
Psychology, General, Education, Educational Psychology, Psychology, Developmental, and Latin American Studies
Keywords:
Mixed-Methods
At-Risk
Children
Resilience
Achievement Gap
Latino/a.
Genres:
Online resources and Dissertations, Academic
Dissertation:
Ph.D.--University of California, Santa Barbara, 2013
Description:

The achievement gap is a persisting problem faced by schools nationwide. Although student achievement is on the rise overall, the achievement gap between minority/disadvantaged students and those of their White/advantaged peers continues to persist. What is even more discouraging is that this gap is evidenced on the first day children enter Kindergarten (Rumberger & Arrellano, 2007). Researchers have identified both risk and promotive factors contributing to school readiness. This study contributes to resilience and school readiness research by highlighting familial promotive factors that contribute to early academic success. This mixed-methods study investigated which factors contributed most strongly to the academic success of Latino/a students at the end of the Kindergarten school year, by utilizing and creating cumulative risk and cumulative promotive indices. The promotive index significantly predicted the children's academic outcomes, yielding higher early literacy scores at the end of the year. The risk index did not, however, significantly predict students' scores. The risk index was used to identify students who had multiple risks, but despite these risks were able to improve their academic trajectories by the end of the school year. Qualitative interviews were conducted with the parents of these children. Common familial factors that contributed to early academic resilience among these families were highlighted. These themes included: parent involvement at school, strong emphasis on family unity, parent acknowledgement of the child's positive attributes, fostering autonomy, and an open and explanatory style of communication. Clinical and research implications of these findings are discussed.

Physical Description:
1 online resource (175 pages)
Format:
Text
Collection(s):
UCSB electronic theses and dissertations
ARK:
ark:/48907/f39c6vcx
ISBN:
9781303538681
Catalog System Number:
990040924510203776
Rights:
Inc.icon only.dark In Copyright
Copyright Holder:
Victoria Gonzalez
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