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Abstract
As educators and service providers in urban schools encourage student college going at higher rates than ever, policy and practice on school improvement discourses would benefit from incorporating students’ perspectives underlying family-based, college-going dilemmas that frame their college preparation. This qualitative article features the voiced experiences of 11th-grade adolescent boys, one Black and one Latino, from one school, as they grapple with both internal dilemmas (e.g., fear of changing and being distanced from their family) and external dilemmas (e.g., their expected familial commitments) inherent in their college access, success, and graduation. Using a conceptual framework that considers the social, cognitive, and institutional factors influencing their college preparation, this article focuses on social factors and advocates for institutional practices that better meet student needs.
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Author Biography
Roderick L. Carey, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the department of Human Development and Family Sciences within the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Delaware. He earned his PhD from the College of Education at University of Maryland College Park and was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Center for Urban Education at the University of Pittsburgh. A former high school English teacher, coach, summer camp counselor, and instructional leader within urban learning contexts, Dr. Carey studies urban education, youth program development and specializes in researching the college-going and future ambitions of Black and Latino adolescent boys and young men in urban settings.
