Urban adolescents' constructions of supports and barriers to educational and career attainment.

Abstract

This study presents the educational and career goals and perceptions of supports and barriers related to these goals as described in semistructured interviews of 16 students from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds attending 9th grade at an urban public high school in a large Northeastern city. Using consensual qualitative research (CQR) methodology (C. E. Hill et al., 2005), the authors identified categories and subcategories to students' perceptions of barriers and supports. The findings highlight students' understanding of how their proximal contexts serve potentially as both supports and barriers. Implications for educational and career interventions are discussed.

Factors Influencing Academic Motivation of Ethnic Minority Students: A Review

“…Five factors had a positive influence on the motivation of ethnic minority students: age (O'Hara et al, 2012;Perreira, Fuligni, & Potochnick, 2010;Sentell, 2012;Van Houtte & Stevens, 2010), being a female (sex; Kfir, 1988;O'Hara et al, 2012;Perreira et al, 2010;Plunkett and Bámaca-Gómez, 2003;Sentell, 2012;Van Houtte & Stevens, 2010), being foreign-born (Perreira et al, 2010), (general) intellectual ability/ intelligence (Hudley, 1997;Marjoribanks, 1985), and police arrest (Stewart et al, 2007). Six factors were found to be barriers in this subcategory: age (Gonzalez et al, 2013), length of residency in United States (St-Hilaire, 2002), limited knowledge of English (Behnke, Piercy, & Diversi, 2004), drug use (Kenny et al, 2007), person-based barriers (e.g., not feeling smart enough and having a good job already; Gonzalez et al, 2013), and being a male (Hill & Wang, 2015).…”

“…Here 14 factors were found to be positively related with motivation: parental support (Plunkett & Bámaca-Gómez, 2003;Van Houtte & Stevens, 2010), family (guidance, material support, etc. ; Kenny et al, 2007), negative parental influence (McInerney, 2008), parental monitoring (Hill & Wang, 2015;Lowe & Dotterer, 2013;Plunkett & Bámaca-Gómez, 2003), mothers' warmth (Lowe & Dotterer, 2013), fathers' warmth (Lowe & Dotterer, 2013), parental warmth (Hill & Wang, 2015), language spoken at home (Plunkett & Bámaca-Gómez, 2003), help given by parents (Choi et al, 1994), control of parents (Choi et al, 1994), parents' help with academic tasks (Plunkett & Bámaca-Gómez, 2003), communication with caregivers (Basáñez et al, 2013), parental autonomy support (Hill & Wang, 2015), and parent-child relationship (including parental affection, parental emotional support, and parental independence encouragement; Yuan et al, 2016). However, there were two barriers in this subcategory: negative parental influence (McInerney, 2008) and family (misfortune, lack of care, etc.…”

“…In this subcategory, we found 17 factors facilitating the motivation of ethnic minority students: leadership skills (Strage, 1999), self-perception of an internal locus of control (Strage, 1999), academic confidence (Strage, 1999), social confidence (Strage, 1999), sense of academic control (Gavala & Flett, 2005), college-going self-efficacy (Gonzalez, Stein, & Huq, 2013), self-efficacy (beliefs; Bembenutty, 2007;Eaton & Dembo, 1997), self-reliance (McInerney, 2008), positive self-concept (McInerney, 2008), self-concept (McInerney, 1990), school self-esteem (Lowe & Dotterer, 2013), effort regulation (Bembenutty, 2007), academic ability (Stewart, Stewart, & Simons, 2007), educational progress (Wood et al, 2011), fear of academic failure (Eaton & Dembo, 1997), academic effort (Esparza & Sanchez, 2008), and behavioral engagement ("including completing homework, paying attention, and participating in school activities"; Hill & Wang, 2015, p. 226). Five factors in this subcategory were barriers to the motivation of ethnic minority students: fear of success (Lew, Allen, Papouchis, & Ritzler, 1998), previous class failure (Stewart et al, 2007), negative self-concept (McInerney, 2008), lack of self-discipline (Kenny et al, 2007), and sense of futility (Van Houtte & Stevens, 2010).…”

“…Kenny et al (2007) (Posthigh school) educational and career goals (Posthigh school) educational and career goals described in semistructured interview Kfir (1988) Educational aspiration Educational aspiration to continue their study Kiang, Witkow, and Champagne (2013) Intrinsic motivation Academic motivation measured with two items: "In general, I find working on school work . .…”

Negotiating White science in a racially and ethnically diverse United States

“…has been a top educational priority in the United States, which has caused the science education community to aggressively advocate for the creation of several influential policy reports, demanding comprehensive changes in science instruction, to include previously marginalized students (Hsu, Roth, Marshall, & Guenette, 2009;Kenny et al, 2007 All of these reform documents, in principle, have a goal of providing curricular support to deliver equitable science education for all children (NRC, 1996(NRC, , 2000NCES, 2012). Yet we observe student disengagement and dismal student achievement for the very same racially and ethnically diverse and gender groups that are under-represented in the STEM fields Yerrick, Schiller, & Reisfeld, 2011).…”