Theses and Dissertations from UMD
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New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
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Item A family affair: African immigrant families conceptualizing and navigating college choice(2014) George Mwangi, Chrystal Annunciata; Fries-Britt, Sharon L.; Cabrera, Alberto F.; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this study was to understand the postsecondary aspirations, expectations, and access strategies of sub-Saharan African immigrant families in the United States. This study generates knowledge around how 1.5- and second-generation African immigrant college going students and their first-generation immigrant parents conceptualize and navigate the college choice process. The primary framework utilized for this study was Hossler and Gallagher's (1987) combined model of college choice, with funds of knowledge (Moll, Amanti, Neff & Gonzalez, 2005) and ecocultural theory (Weisner, 1997) serving as supplemental frameworks. Following an ethnographic multiple case design, four families (cases) from Nigeria and Kenya were recruited to participate. Data from demographic questionnaires, in-depth interviews, participant observations and participatory diagramming were used to identify how families conceptualize and navigate college choice. While Hossler and Gallagher's (1987) model was useful, findings reveal a much more rich and complex college choice process that reflects the development of a college-going culture. Therefore, this study presents a new frame for understanding the college choice process of the cases by using baobab trees as a metaphor to illustrate how the families in this study engaged in college choice as Baobab Families. Baobab Families engaged in college choice as a family process, which emphasizes the development of a college-going culture within the home and community. Although Baobab Families experienced challenges in navigating the U.S. educational system and the college choice process, they used a number of proactive strategies as well as familial and culturally based resources to socialize children into a college-going culture as well as to navigate the college choice process. These included college-going legacies, active home-based parental involvement, high academic expectations and pressure, the use of cultural and familial identity, and extended family/community networks. This study can contribute to emerging scholarship on African immigrants in higher education and push education research, practice and policy to keep pace with today's changing student demographics.Item THE COLLEGE CHOICE PROCESS OF FOUR STUDENTS FROM RURAL APPALACHIAN KENTUCKY(2013) Harris, Kristen L.; Monte-Sano, Chauncey B; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study examined the extent to which the college choice process of four students from one high school in rural Appalachian Kentucky aligned with Perna's (2006; 2010) nested process model of college choice. I used qualitative case study methodology and inductive analysis to describe how four high-academic achieving students of varying family income backgrounds in the particular context of one community in rural Appalachian Kentucky decided to enroll in an institution of higher education. In brief, three of the four students enrolled in the closest, most familiar institution after relying on an adult other than their parents for guidance in selecting a college. The remaining student, despite her low socioeconomic status and family income, enrolled in a selective private university in Kentucky after an expanded college search. School practices that supported students' access to higher education are highlighted. This research adds to the theoretical knowledge in the field of college access and choice, which indicates that different student populations experience the college choice process differently, but has yet to fully include research on rural students. My analysis revealed a number of influential factors for these four students' college choice decisions that were in Perna's (2006; 2010) model, such as guidance counseling, college costs, and financial aid. The analysis also showed the meaning of identified factors for students given the context of their community in rural Appalachian Kentucky. Additional influential factors that were found for these students, such as the role of athletics in increasing demand for higher education, and factors that were not present, such as parental support during the college choice process, added nuance to the model. By learning how and why some students from rural Appalachian Kentucky are able to go to college, we can begin to understand how to increase the low level of educational attainment of individuals in the region.