Latino/a/x have become the largest student population of color in higher education and represent 25 percent of community college students nationwide. When compared to Whites, Latino/a/x are more likely to choose a community college, even after controlling for academic achievement and socioeconomic status. Thus, upon completing high school, 46 percent of Latinx enroll in the community college sector. When entering the community college system, approximately 51 percent of Latino/a/x aspire to transfer to a four-year college, but less than 14 percent will earn a bachelor’s degree within six years of enrollment. Ultimately, 35 percent of Latino/a/x earning a bachelor’s degree are transfer students, which is the highest among other racial groups.
U.S. community colleges are complex organizations to lead. Upholding the multiple missions of the community college; responding to the nation’s developmental education crisis; addressing low completion and transfer rates; contending with dwindling, insufficient, and shifting revenue streams; (re)building relationships with board members; and operating within a culture of increased audit and accountability are but a few of the challenges with which community college leadership and faculty must grapple. Additionally, an increasing number of community college leaders and faculty now face decisions centered on the added role of conferring baccalaureate degrees.
Within this context, the discussion frames the community college as a sector that can facilitate college access for Latino/a/x students as well as a context where students, faculty, and leaders have to navigate and overcome institutional challenges to bridge degree aspirations with completions.
This panel will highlight the multiple ways in which community college Latino/a/x students and leaders respond to and challenge institutionalized obstacles in the community college pathway, levels, apprising different constituencies—from academia to policymakers to school districts—on the conditions of Mexican-American/Latino students and their families.
Introduction:
- Dr. Martha Rivas, Dean, Office of Institutional Effectiveness, Moreno Valley College
Featured Speaker:
- Eloy Ortiz Oakley, Chancellor, California Community Colleges
Moderators:
- Dr. Edna Martinez, Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Leadership & Technology, CSUSB
- Dr. Nancy Acevedo-Gil, Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Leadership & Technology, CSUSB
Session Remarks:
- Dr. Daniel Solorzano, Professor of Social Science and Comparative Education, Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, Chicana and Chicano Studies, and Women’s Studies, University of California, Los Angeles
This panel is date/time stamped: March 30, 2017; 11:25 a.m. to 12:00 noon.
Recommended Citation:
CSUSB - Latino Education and Advocacy Days (LEAD), "Featured Speaker: "Latinx and the Community College: Promoting Pathways to Postsecondary Degrees," Eloy Ortiz Oakley" (2017). Latino Education and Advocacy Days (LEAD) Video Recordings. 11.
https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/lead/11
