Translating rural Latinx students’ cultural wealth to college campuses

Abstract

Asset‐based thinking and practice is a necessary approach to meeting the needs of rural Latinx students. This chapter provides an overview of asset‐based narratives among Latinx and rural Latinx students while offering recommendations for educators to enhance their capacity to facilitate the success of this population.

Rural Latinx Students’ Spatial Imaginations of Their College Choices: Toward a Student Understanding of “Rural-Serving Institutions” in California’s San Joaquin Valley

“…Limited access to nearby and quality higher education institutions has been found to negatively impact rural student college access and enrollment, as proximity to colleges significantly affects the likelihood of college application, especially at four-year colleges [6]. While these studies highlight some challenges rural students face when accessing higher education, research has also found that they have high college aspirations [7] and cultural wealth [8][9][10] that higher education institutions can nurture to ensure their collegiate success.…”

Strengthening rural college student career development

“…Rurality is often portrayed in a monolithic light, but this does not mean that rural people are identical (Means, 2019;Cain & Willis, 2022;McNamee, 2019). For instance, research on Black and Latinx rural youth highlights the intersectionality of race and rural identity and encourages educators and policymakers to consider these dynamics as a way to advance equity (Hallmark et al, 2023;Marlow-McCowin et al, 2020;Means, 2019). Similarly, the research of Cain and Class (2023), Kryst et al (2018), andLi (2019) bring to attention the wide spectrum of socioeconomic status and family wealth in research on rural students.…”

“…Several scholars have noted that intentional collaboration between high schools and colleges has yielded successful results for college access (Harmon, 2017;Ohlson et al, 2020, Marlow-McCowin et al, 2020. For instance, when colleges share some of their resources with high schools (e.g., guest faculty presentations or the use of equipment or space), the high school students both benefit from the resources while also become familiar with the idea of college as an option.…”

“…Several scholars have turned their attention to rural students of color and higher education equity (Hallmark et al, 2023;Marlow-McCowin et al, 2020;Means et al, 2016). Rural does not equal white, rural students are not monolithic, and it can be further stigmatizing to group them as such.…”

“…Another strategy studied with middle and high school rural youth involves creating embedded career exploration programs and curriculum designed to help students map possible paths. The work ofGibbons et al (2020) with middle schoolers suggests that rural students may need more intentional exposure to the wider world of work given that they may have only seen a narrow slice of options thus far Marlow-McCowin et al (2020). studied the efficacy of high school programs designed to help rural…”