Franklin_EDUC 707 Critical Quantitative Proposal

March 18, 2015

The Effects of Resiliency on High School Completion and College Matriculation for Black
and Hispanic Students.
INTRODUCTION
Courage doesnt always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day,
that says Ill try again tomorrow. Mary Anne Radmacher. (n.d.). BrainyQuote.com
It is this same courage to try again and again that drives many of our students to strive
and persevere daily against countless obstacles. As a high school administrator for the past
twelve years, I have often considered the question what factors contribute to some high school
students having success, completing high school and then matriculating to post-secondary
education? It is reasonable to acknowledge that there are many factors that contribute to this
phenomenon, but the root question revolves around how students with a similar starting point;
low socio-economic, single-parent homes, vulnerable communities, etc. have different outcomes.
How is it that some students are able to rise above as it were, stay focused, and on track to
complete high school and then go further? Currently, I am the principal of a high school in East
Riverside County that serves three of the poorest communities in the county, largely a first
generation, high-undocumented population with a history of low familial high school completion
rates. It is from this context I plan to study the effects of resiliency.
Leaving school before high school graduation dramatically reduces opportunities over the
life course, especially among poor and minority adolescents (Ensminger, Lamkin and Jacobson,
1996). The research has shown this time and again, yet the problem persists. Bradley and
Renzulli (2011) completed a study that looked at the effects of being pushed out or pulled out of
high school. In their study they reported, It is possible that Latino students are pulled out of
school as a result of a cost-benefits analysis in which the student realizes there are institutional
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barriers to success through education and thus find greater value in other activities such as
getting a job or caring for family. (Bradley and Renzulli, 2011, pp. 526) They go on to say, It is
beneficial to conceive of dropout as occurring due to either push factors that force a student
out of school, or pull factors that interfere with a students commitment to his or her
education. Another example of factors that may lead to high school non-completion is
increased exposure to the stressors often associated with low-income status, has been examined
as a contributing factor for some minority adolescents high-risk for school failure (Gillock and
Reyes, 1999). The purpose of this study is examine further the various factors that contribute to
students being pushed out or pulled out of high school from a resiliency lens, and the resulting
impact on college matriculation. The aforementioned studies have illuminated several key factors
that either do, or may have an effect on high school completion. The objective of my study is to
examine more fully the effects of student resiliency in addressing these various factors.
It is commonly accepted that higher numbers of stressful events will affect higher levels
of stress. Higher levels of stress have been linked both with adolescents increased risk for school
failure and with ethnic and socioeconomic disadvantage (Munsch and Wampler, 1993; Seidman
et al., 1995; Takahashi and Majima, 1994). Whereas both urban and suburban adolescents
evidence similar levels of stressors typically related to their developmental level; such as
arguments with parents, dating relationships, or grade expectations (Eccles et al., 1993; Eccles et
al., 1992). Adolescents in low-income areas, largely because of circumstances unique to their
disadvantaged environment, experience higher numbers of stressors than their middle-income
suburban counterparts (Gillock and Reyes, 1999). Many studies have focused on the dropout
problem, most have looked at high school dropout from a dichotomous point of view: a student
either drops out or they dont. Few have sought to examine the various causes that may affect a

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students decision to discontinue their education. One study, however, looked at undocumented
status as a unique circumstance for many Hispanic students. It is estimated that there are 80,000
undocumented youth who have lived in the United States for five or more years by the age of 18
years, but only 65,000 go on to graduate from high school (Passel, 2003). It is important to
consider how their undocumented status affects their available paths to socioeconomic mobility
and therefore their incorporation patterns in this society (Abrego, 2006). Legal status can play an
important role in differentiating youths outlooks when older cousins and siblings who are also
undocumented become guides to their future (Abrego, 2006).

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
In a study conducted by Andrew Martin (2002), the theory of motivation and resilience
are examined as being complementary but not necessarily overlapping. Resilience is defined as,
The process of, capacity of, or outcome of successful adaptation despite challenging or
threatening circumstances. (Howard and Johnson, 2000) Martin posits that there are,
Identifying factors that underpin both motivation and academic resilience and how these can be
used to develop both. (2002, p. 34).
Martin (2002) identifies several influential theories that have provided understanding on
motivation and resiliency are; need achievement theory, self-worth motivation theory, selfefficacy theory, expectancy x value theory, attribution theory, control theory, and motivation
orientation theory. Taken together these theories a) why students do what they do, b) how they do
it, c) their confidence in being able to do it, d) their ability to surmount obstacles and challenges
before them, and e) their capacity to pick themselves up after academic setback or hold their
ground in the face of study pressure. (Martin, 2002, p.36)

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This study is unique because there are few studies that focus on student resiliency as it
relates to high school completion and college matriculation. I will utilize Critical Race Theory
(CRT) with specific focus on Critical Race Quantitative Intersectionality (CRQI) to guide my
research. The intersectionality aspect I feel is crucial in understanding the various factors that
affect high school completion and how they intersect and influence each other. There are
countless studies that identify various at-risk factors for non-high school completion, and either
qualify or quantify the results. Within the dropout literature, there has been a general trend
towards offering class related explanations for race-specific difference in rates of dropouts
(Bradley and Renzulli, 2011). These studies, however, may obscure some reasons that students
drop out because they do not take into account the social and economic contexts of school and
the communities in which students reside (Stearns and Glennie, 2006, as cited in Bradley and
Renzulli, 2011, pp. 522).
In other words, they do not take into account the intersectionality, or analyze their
findings from the perspective of a quantitative criticalist. Quantitative criticalist was used to
describe a researcher who uses quantitative methods to represent educational processes and
outcomes to reveal inequities. (Stage and Wells, 2014, p.1) Rather than focus solely on
identifying dropout data, my study will highlight students who faced these challenges and
persevered. Combining this data, with the strategies these students used, I believe, will help to
expand our understanding of the high school non-completion and provide applications to dropout
prevention programs. CRQI in the field of education challenges the lasting legacy of an
erroneous, and arguably racist, application of statistical methods (Covarrubias and Velez,
2011, p. 271). Essentially CRQI refuses to let the numbers speak for themselves, as is often

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quoted in research reports. Understanding the factors that contribute or enhance the potentiality
for students to be push-out or pulled-out must be analyzed in context.

LITERATURE REVIEW
The literature lists several well-known factors; low-socioeconomic status, undocumented status,
low incidence of familial examples of high school completion, stressors, and oppositional
cultures. These are the what. My driving question is the how. Given these various societal
roadblocks, what factors or coping mechanisms are utilized to remain resilient and persevere
leading to high school completion and college matriculation.
Adolescence is an inherently stressful stage of life, given the associated myriad
biological, cognitive, and social changes (Conger and Peterson, 1984; Licitra-Kleckler and Waas,
1993: Munsch and Wampler, 1993). Add to this the challenges faced by many minority students,
specifically Hispanic students in underserved and rural areas, and you create an additional layer
of complexity that for many simply becomes too daunting. In their study, The rural dropout
problem: An invisible achievement gap (Johnson, Strange and Madden, 2010) examine the
dropout issue in 15 rural high schools throughout the South and Southwest, with the intent of
illuminating effective strategies to mitigate this growing problem. The 15 chosen districts were
derived from the Rural 800 list developed by the Rural School and Community Trust, based on
those districts with the highest rates of Title 1 eligibility. Scholars and journalists have focused
attention primarily on schools located in urban settings, with little attention to the ways in which
the dropout problem plays out in rural areas (Johnson et al., 2010).
Rural isolation as it relates to access to services and supports, has often been pointed out
as a contributing factor to high school non-completion, and low or non-post-secondary

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matriculation. It has been suggested that some proportion of minority adolescents high risk for
school failure is associated with their increased exposure to stressorsmore specifically, with
their residence in resource-poor communities- including poverty, racism, conflict and violence
(Gillock and Reyes, 1999).
One study conducted by Dunham & Wilson (2007), examined the effects of social capital
among Whites, Blacks, Hispanics and Asians as it relates to high school dropouts. Their findings
indicated that there is a relationship between dropout, socioeconomic status and social capital,
but with an inverse relationship. Whereas Whites and Asians had relatively similar low dropout
rates, Blacks and Hispanics had relatively similar high dropout rates. The methodology used was
the Explanatory Sequential Mixed Method Design because the authors used data from the
National Educational Longitudinal Study (NELS) of 1996 to compare with that of the same study
conducted in 1988. The measures utilized focused on Dropout, categorized as either dropped out
of school or never dropped out of school, Within-family social capital, Socio-demographic, and
control variables such as gender and type of school; public versus private. Within the family
social capital measure, six sub-categories were utilized; monitoring, family structure, parental
discussions about school, parents attending school events or meetings, attachment to parents.
Two categories were combined into one. Their study was precise, comparing two national
cohorts of students; they compared data for 2,998 dropouts and 2,995 non-dropouts from the
1996 NELS. Their study sought to address two shortcomings in the current sociological literature
on dropouts, by using nationally representative data, and the relationship between parents and
students as a crucial source of social capital. The limitation of the study is the national scope of
the data used. While producing some generalizable results, it does not provide specific regional
data that can be used to target a specific population.

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The findings from this study serve to inform crucial conversations around the
intergeneration transmission of racial stratification. It also suggests that, widespread perceptions
of race-based injustice and discrimination that are particularly prevalent among AfricanAmericans and Hispanics, limit commitment and inclination to display acquire skillsthat are
viewed as producing only limited results for them (Roscigno and Ainsworth-Darnell, 1999). This
study does suggest future research focus on an improved understanding of the sources of social
capital and its consequences for dropouts.
Another study conducted by Gillock and Reyes (1999), looked at the effects of stress,
social support and academic performance for low-income Mexican-American adolescents. Their
study revealed two key factor that contribute to the damaging effects of stress on these
adolescents. Families in disadvantaged areas are often rendered powerless as a source of support,
as they grapple with the same disadvantages as their adolescent children (Munsch and Wampler,
1993; Seidman et al, 1995). For recent immigrants and non-native English speaking groups, such
as Latinos, language barriers and acculturation difficulties can compound stress and family
dysfunction while reducing family supportiveness (Martinez, 1998). The sample used for this
study consisted of a 10th grade class at an inner-city high school in Chicago that was 99% Latino,
with the majority being of Mexican- American descent. At the start of the academic year the
class enrollment was 596, by years end the enrollment was 497. 200 students volunteer ether
participation, of this number only 173 actually participated due to varying circumstances. Stress
was assessed using two instruments, The Major Life Events Checklist (Johnson and
McCutcheon, 1980) and the Chronic Stress Inventory (Cole, 1992).
The methodology used was an Ethnographic Qualitative design because the researchers
studied the shared patterns of behavior of this ethnic group over a period of time, in this case one

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school year. The primary measurement instrument was a 50 minute structured interview that
incorporated the above-mentioned surveys. The randomness of the selected population measured
in Gillock and Reyes (1999) study increased the validity of the study. In total there were 80
stressors (44 Major Life Events and 36 Chronic Stressors), the average number of stressors
endorsed by the participants was 22.73 or 28% of all items. The limitations of the study include
the design, which limits the overall generalizability of the results. Another limitation of this study
is the brevity of the period of observation. Following this 10th grade class through graduation
may provide more insight in how repeated stress impacts academic performance and ultimately
high school completion. The results of this study indicate that more research is needed to
understand the relevant stressors and their effects on urban minority students.
In a study conducted by Bradley and Renzulli, 2011, an expanded view on high school
dropout was provided. In place of the typical dichotomous stance in much of the literature, the
authors introduced a model that offers three outcomes: in school, pushed out or pulled out. The
methodology used is a Quasi-Experimental Quantitative Design, in that from a sample size of
5,130, students were eliminated from study consideration based upon various set parameters.
Independent and dependent variables were also utilized to help look at the study results. The
limitations of the study stem from one source of data being used, the NELS from 2002 with a
follow up two years later. The study used the nationwide data sample to follow 10th graders
through their 12th grade year. Students who had dropped out were asked to identify any and all
contributing factors for their decision to drop out (Bradley and Renzulli, 2011). 21 possible
responses were collapsed to a total of 14 reasons (7 push out and 7 pullout).
The findings of this study indicate that there are unique patterns of pushout/pullout for
different race-gender groups (Bradley and Renzulli, 2011). The study indicated, inconsistent with

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the current dropout literature, that there is a need to go beyond the often-offered class related,
race-specific explanations for the differences in dropout rates. One limitation included factors
that were beyond the scope of what was being studied. Measures of class difference could be
improved if a measure of family wealth were available (Conley, 1999; Gittleman and Wolff,
2004). Another limitation of the study focused only on event dropouts-students who dropped out
in a given year, rather than status dropouts-students aged 16-24 who never completed high
school or its equivalent. The study points to future research that would examine the effects of
how pushout and pullout may work simultaneously as it relates to the dropout process for
students.
The aforementioned research studies suggest that there are multiple factors that
contribute to a students choice to discontinue their education. There is evidence that the effects
of pushout versus pullout, stress, rural isolation, undocumented status, and the lack of social
capital have varying degrees of impact on high school completion and post-secondary
matriculation. However, there is little research that addresses the effects of self-efficacy and
resiliency. The objective of this study is to examine more fully the effects of student resiliency in
addressing these various factors.
A study conducted by Hubbard and Stage, 2009 looked at the shifts in population and
demographics at various colleges and universities, and how the perceptions and attitudes of
faculty at these colleges and universities affected student outcomes. This study is unique in that it
measured faculty attitudes and perceptions towards teaching and their students. The study
revealed that much of the change in student demographics was due to population shifts and
geographic location as opposed to a conscious choice in recruitment by the college or university.
A second finding pointed out the role faculty serves to enhance or detract from students self-

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image as scholars. This study identified five key distinctions for labeling colleges or universities.
These distinctions were; HBCU referring to historically black colleges and universities, PBI
referring to predominantly black institutions or institutions with at least 25% black student
enrollment, HSI referring to predominantly Hispanic serving institutions or institutions with at
least 25% Hispanic student enrollment. MSI referring to minority serving institutions which
include HSIs and PBIs, and finally PWI referring to predominantly white institution or
institutions with 10% or less of minority student enrollment. The institutional mission of many
HSIs and some PBIs do not directly address the special needs of students of color. (Contreras
and Bensimon, 2005).
The National Study of Postsecondary Faculty from 1999 (NSOPF-99) provided the data
set for this study. Included in the NSOPF-99 were two questionnaires- the institutional survey
and faculty survey. The data set included 19,213 faculty and instructional staff at 819 institutions
in the United States. This number was narrowed to include only full time faculty from Doctoral,
Comprehensive, Liberal Arts and Community Colleges, who indicated their principal activities
as research and teaching. The resulting sample was 5,870 faculty from 636 institutions. The final
sample was narrowed to 300 PWIs with less than 10% Hispanic, 300 PWIs with less than 10%
Black, 300 from HSIs and 300 from PBIs. Hubbard and Stage (1999) indicated, An institutional
ethos regarding a belief in the ability of all students to learn prevailed at HBCUs. This
contrasted with HSIs who did not have an institutional mission or historic rationale for serving
Hispanic students. The result was a lack of clarity or purpose and understanding on how to best
serve and support the needs of students of color.
A study by Estela Bensimon et al (2003) raised several key points surrounding the
continued difficulty in measuring equity in public higher education. Inequity of educational

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outcomes in higher education has not been as prominent a concern, as it is with the K-12 system.
Due to NCLB student data is required to be disaggregated by race and ethnicity. This same
mandate does not exist for higher education, and as a result is largely non-existent. The focus for
higher education is more about affirmative action and diversity as opposed to accountability. The
authors of this article propose the development/implementation of an Academic Equity
Scorecard (AES). The AES consists of four concurrent perspectives that affect or determine
institutional performance in terms of equity in educational outcomes for students. These four
perspectives are: access, retention, institutional receptivity, and excellence. The access
perspective allows institutional leaders to be more fully informed about the extent to which
underrepresented students have access to institutions, programs and resources. The retention
perspective provides leaders with more concrete data on student outcomes. The institutional
receptivity perspective looks at institutional supports which create affirming campus
environments for underrepresented students. The excellence perspective informs leaders about
student outcomes with high achievement.
A second measure the Academic Equity Index (AEI) is a measure of proportionality
based on the population for each racial and ethnic group under analysis, developed by Bensimon
et al (2003). A score of 1.0 represents equity, a score less than 1.0 indicates below equity, and a
score higher than 1.0 signifies above equity. The major conclusion from this study was the
inability to obtain baseline disaggregated data. Where the data are available, they are not
reported in a manner that permits policy makers to make a quick assessment of the state of equity
in higher education. (Bensimon, et al, 2003, p 21) As a result policy makers are prevented from
considering equity as a policy goal.

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RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1) What do college students say are the coping mechanisms they used while in high school
in order to graduate and then go onto college matriculation?
2) How does student resiliency manifest itself to counter the effects of push-out and
pullout factors?
3) What unique forms of resiliency do undocumented students utilize to counter legal
barriers as they pursue post-secondary education?
METHODS
I will utilize a non-experimental design to conduct my research study that will include a
previous constructed survey that measures resiliency, and that has been previously vetted for
reliability. In addition, I will use historical research, observation and analysis of existing data
sets. The interview sample will be drawn from a source of nearly 200 Hispanic and AfricanAmerican second year college students at California State University, San Bernardino-Palm
Desert (CSUSB-PD). I will also utilize data from the National Education Longitudinal Study
(NELS) and California Department of Educations (CDE) Data Quest site.
I have chosen second year college students versus newly minted high school graduates to
allow for experiences of success at the post-secondary level, combined with maturity and the
ability to effectively reflect on the path that led where they currently are. A newly minted high
school graduate, it is reasoned, is likely still in the moment, and unable to reflect with
sufficient clarity on what led to their current level of success.
After conducting the interviews I compile the results and compare against historical
research and data obtained from the NELS and CDEs Dataquest to determine if a correlation or
pattern is observable. The research design is a correlational using a multivariate Pearsons-R
analysis which attempts to determine the extent of a relationship between two or more variables

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using statistical data. Relationships between and among a number of facts are sought and
interpreted to recognize trends and patterns in data. For the purpose of this study, a bivariate
analysis will be conducted in order to determine the empirical relationship between student
resilience and high school completion and college matriculation.

CONCLUSIONS
The conclusions drawn from this study will help inform policy utilizing the perspective
of Critical Race Theory and Critical Race Quantitative Intersectionality. The policies developed
will address the push-out, pull-out factors and their relation to student resiliency. The
frameworks developed alongside these policies will have a high transportability into the
classroom, as it is desirable that students not only be motivated to achieve, and resist the effects
of push-out and pull-out, but also be better prepared to deal with academic setback and pressure
from a resilient perspective.

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