Lorena Claeys - Böcker

Latinas Pathways to STEM: Exploring Contextual Mitigating Factors presents transnational case studies of Latinas and Mexicanas pursuing a STEM degree/career from the United States (Georgia, New York, Texas) and México. The authors underscore that the experiences of the participants highlighted in this book provide insights into how to support successful Latinas and Mexicanas in STEM career pipelines and pathways. In doing so, the authors address the need for a set of approaches to STEM education policy that acknowledges that institutionalized pipelines often create replication by funding intervention programs that attempt to sterilize context by identifying variables and ignoring the associated contextual mitigating factors (CMFs). Researchers and funders of STEM intervention efforts can learn from the analysis of these case studies that successful Latinas and Mexicanas developed tactical understanding, which reinforced their identity and resisted how they were positioned by negative CMFs, reaffirming their aspirations and successes in STEM. Education graduate students, research methodologists, policy makers, and practitioners will find CMF analysis a useful methodological tool to interrogate how sociocultural factors position designated underrepresented people in STEM pipelines and pathways. Education policies that advocate for the existence and maintenance of pipelines that increase underrepresented Latinas and Mexicanas in STEM are important but are often crafted with blind spots that leave out how context mitigates policy especially at the individual level.

Latinas Pathways to STEM: Exploring Contextual Mitigating Factors presents transnational case studies of Latinas and Mexicanas pursuing a STEM degree/career from the United States (Georgia, New York, Texas) and México. The authors underscore that the experiences of the participants highlighted in this book provide insights into how to support successful Latinas and Mexicanas in STEM career pipelines and pathways. In doing so, the authors address the need for a set of approaches to STEM education policy that acknowledges that institutionalized pipelines often create replication by funding intervention programs that attempt to sterilize context by identifying variables and ignoring the associated contextual mitigating factors (CMFs). Researchers and funders of STEM intervention efforts can learn from the analysis of these case studies that successful Latinas and Mexicanas developed tactical understanding, which reinforced their identity and resisted how they were positioned by negative CMFs, reaffirming their aspirations and successes in STEM. Education graduate students, research methodologists, policy makers, and practitioners will find CMF analysis a useful methodological tool to interrogate how sociocultural factors position designated underrepresented people in STEM pipelines and pathways. Education policies that advocate for the existence and maintenance of pipelines that increase underrepresented Latinas and Mexicanas in STEM are important but are often crafted with blind spots that leave out how context mitigates policy especially at the individual level.

Crafting Culturally Efficacious Pedagogies and Practices is based on cultural efficaciousness derived from the work of the nationally recognized Academy for Teacher Excellence at The University of Texas at San Antonio. The book is grounded in a research-based model, situated within the needs of the school-local community, and based on collaborative partnerships. Given the under-representation of ethnic/racial minority teachers, to accomplish social justice, all teachers must become culturally efficacious. In this book, authors provide an overview of the culturally efficacious evolution model used to anchor teacher preparation and present the culturally efficacious observation protocol as a tool to assess teachers’ development. The authors present four exemplar case studies of culturally efficacious teachers who have a strong identity, a positive teaching cultural efficacy, are critical reflective thinkers, and believe that they can make difference in minority students’ lives. As culturally efficacious teachers, these educators are also committed to social justice and equitable education. Cross-case findings reveal that the critical teacher development model serves as a culturally sustainable pedagogy that effectively prepares teachers in the field.

Although empirical evidence indicates that HSIs (Hispanic Serving Institutions) are making some progress in recognizing that enhancing the racial and cultural experiences of Latino/a/x students, “Latinx-enhancing” is part of their role as institutions that enroll and serve large numbers of minoritize students (Garcia, 2019), there are still institutional gaps on prioritizing opportunities for Latino/a/x students to engage in leadership development.Latino/a/x students often rely on informal out-of-college support systems found in their community-- comunidad, such as family and peers to thrive within college (Ceballo, 2004; Easley, et al, 2012), it is important to assist them in their development and implementation of strengths-based problem-solving communication approach (Guerra, 2015, 2016).