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There is a large gap in college access and success for undocumented students. This emergent population remains uniquely and precariously situated within campus environments, despite the passage of Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Acts in some states. These inequities have sparked activism for DREAMers associated with the undocumented youth movement. Using data from interviews of 16 undocumented students at a selective California research institution, this study explores the ways in which DREAMers constructed an empowered undocumented identity through activism. Constructivist grounded theory was used as a frame to guide data interpretation and analysis with the aim of uncovering invisible societal processes and power dynamics affecting this population. Three categories were saturated: coming to activism, pushing for existence, and inscribing power. These categories reveal the way in which DREAMers derive power through their activism, sustain that activism despite oppressive societal conditions, and embrace tenets reflective of global social justice. Implications for institutions and policymakers that support success for this student population are drawn.

This study compares the psychometric utility of Classical Test Theory (CTT) and Item Response Theory (IRT) for scale construction with data from higher education student surveys. Using 2008 Your First College Year (YFCY) survey data from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program at the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA, two scales are built and tested-one measuring social involvement and one measuring academic involvement. Findings indicate that although both CTT and IRT can be used to obtain the same information about the extent to which scale items tap into the latent trait being measured, the two measurement theories provide very different pictures of scale precision. On the whole, IRT provides much richer information about measurement precision as well as a clearer roadmap for scale improvement. The findings support the use of IRT for scale construction and survey development in higher education.

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In this chapter findings from a nationally representative longitudinal study offer insights into how the experiences students have during their first college year affect their intention to be retained at their initial college for the second year.