Given the substantial presence of Latinos in the U.S., their academic underachievement is highly problematic because it leaves them, on average, under-prepared for higher education and less likely to attain economic and occupational outcomes associated with higher educational attainment. The overarching objective of this Social and Behavioral Sciences Minority Post-Doctoral Fellowship research and training activity is to increase understanding of processes associated with variation in academic outcomes among Latinos. This objective will be accomplished using the data and resources of the New York University Center for Research on Culture, Development and Education (CRCDE, currently funded by the National Science Foundation), an interdisciplinary, multiple method center dedicated to examining cultural and ecological influences on the academic outcomes of diverse youth in New York City. Quantitative and qualitative data will be used to test the extent to which one prevalent minority achievement framework adequately explains differences in achievement processes within Latino groups and between Latinos and other minority groups. The examination of these issues entails advanced methodological training in mixed methods approaches which will be undertaken via coursework and participation in seminars offered by the university and the CRCDE. Across the disciplines of psychology, sociology, anthropology and education, one prevalent framework for explaining the academic underachievement of minority youth, including Latinos, suggests that educational outcomes are a function of social barriers, such as group discrimination and societal devaluation of ethnic minority groups, which lock youths' opportunities for educational attainment. This framework has not been extensively tested among Latinos, whose educational experiences have been characterized by social exclusion but whose members vary in their history and status in the U.S. Therefore, a major contribution of the research is that it will test the adequacy of the blocked-opportunities framework for explaining academic outcomes among Latinos. Furthermore, because the blocked-opportunities framework assumes that students' perceptions of barriers for their particular social groups are also, consciously or otherwise, what they believe about their personal barriers, it does not account for within group variability in the influence of social barriers on academic outcomes. A second major contribution of this research is that it will test this assumption by developing measures of perceived personal barriers. The extent to which differences in academic outcomes are a function of perceived personal barriers, rather than group barriers, will subsequently be examined. The training period at the NYU CRCDE will facilitate the fellow's collaboration with a network of interdisciplinary faculty and students that includes several distinguished minority scholars. The fellowship entails participation in research activities, seminars and coursework that will enhance understanding of the use of multiple methods for examining within and between-group differences in academic outcomes among minority youth. The development of perceived personal barriers measures, especially among Latinos, will provide knowledge that will help translate research findings into intervention efforts. Knowing how youth view personal barriers to educational attainment is essential in developing programs and policies to help Latinos become more adequately prepared to participate and succeed in higher education. The findings from the research studies conducted will be disseminated to a wide range of audiences interested in promoting the academic achievement of groups traditionally underrepresented in higher education, including the research community, schools and parents, educational practice and policy organizations, and to the general public through the CRCDE website.
