Can high school educators bridge the gap?: Message construction as a process of anticipatory socialization for marginalized students’ transition to higher education.

Abstract

Previous research has identified the important role high school educators play in the postsecondary advancement of racially marginalized students. However, research has yet to examine how educators construct messages to facilitate these students’ transition from high school to college. Therefore, this study explores how teachers make sense of factors impacting postsecondary advancement and, as a result, how they construct messages about higher education for diverse students. In-depth interviews with educators from three school districts in central Texas revealed several perceived factors, including the equalizing effect of SES across racial lines and a color-blind mentality toward student advancement. Educators constructed a variety of messages about higher education, including both generalized and individualized messages about the more pragmatic aspects of college (e.g., the application process, study habits, and daily life), and motivational messages meant to encourage college decision-making. Based on these findings, I make suggestions for future research about higher education messaging for racially marginalized students.

“The Hawkins bubble”: How a private, religious college supports lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other gender and sexual minority students to thrive.

“…Even more sparse is the research surrounding the climate of institutions of higher learning in the geographical regions known as the “Bible Belt” or the South. While there is a dearth of research regarding the college experiences of minority students (Blass & Weston, 2011; Ford et al, 2023; Swail et al, 2003) and marginalized populations (James & Taylor, 2022; McKay-Cody, 2020; Sousa, 2022) in higher education, research about the southern college experience is almost nonexistent. Most of the research pertaining to southern institutions of higher learning concerns the evolution of women in higher learning (Gage, 2022), policing of curriculum (Carter, 2007; Crane, 2005), or the stories of Black men in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields (C.…”