Shaping Students of Color from Preschool to Graduate School: The Impact of Families on Education

Illuminates how family-student interactions enhance the educational achievement of students of color/first-generation academics and applies these lessons to institutional goals.

Shaping Students of Color from Preschool to Graduate School argues that family socialization and parent involvement in education influence paths to graduate school. Based on personal interviews with over thirty graduate students of color and first-generation graduate students, the text shows that families and parents use a complex system where cultural knowledge and behavioral modeling socialize children over the life course to promote specific values, including prioritizing education and hard work; building family unity and spirituality; honoring familial and ancestral sacrifices; fostering individual agency and personal autonomy at a young age; resisting gendered and racialized norms; and managing relationships in both personal and professional settings. These stories lay the groundwork for developing an asset-based understanding of what graduate students of color and first-generation graduate students bring to campus. Institutionally, what we learn can continue to build on the unique experiences and strengths of graduate students and enhance connections between personal and familial backgrounds and inclusive educational programming.

Nathan Durdella is a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at California State University, Northridge. He is the author of Conducting Research with Human Participants: An IRB Guide for Students and Faculty and Qualitative Dissertation Methodology: A Guide for Research Design and Methods.