Intentionally Inclusive &
Enlightened Educators
UC Merced—A Hispanic Serving Institution
Dr. Linda Prieto
October 12, 2015
Barriers and Bridges to Latin@ Student
Success in Higher Education
Barriers
Bridges
• Language Loss
• Campus-Home Cultural
Mismatch
• Academic Tracking
• Standardized Testing
• Lack of Professional Role
Models
▫ First Generation
▫ Low-Income
• Balanced Bilinguals
• Culturally Efficacious
Teaching
• Enacting High Expectations
• Care for the Whole Student
• Involvement in
Extracurricular Activities
• Latin@ Role Models
• Mentors and Advocates
Supporting Latin@ Students’ Desire and
Drive for Success
Latina Students
Latino Students
• Making Education Work for
Latinas in the U.S.
• 80% of Latinas aspire to go to
college but one in three drops
out of high school
• only 15% earn a college degree
• 27% of Latinas live below the
poverty line
▫ Full Report
• Junot Díaz
• Project MALES (Mentoring to
Achieve Latino Educational
Success)
• Latino males have the lowest
high school graduation rates
and the lowest college
enrollment and completion
rates of any subgroup
Factors that Improve Educational
Outcomes for Latin@ Students
•
•
•
•
•
Encourage me
Believe in me, so I can believe in myself
Inspire me to dream
Praise me, so I can demand more of myself
Give me something to look forward to
▫ opportunities to lead
• Give me as sense of belonging
• Provide opportunities for me to learn about my
culture and express cultural pride
• Help me to pay it forward
Insights into Ourselves Help us
Understand Others
• Mexican American
• Child of immigrants
▫ transnational
• Emerging bilingual learner
• Christian
▫ Catholic home
• Blended family
▫ mother, father, 3 siblings, 1
half sibling
• Cisgender female
• Free lunch recipient
Insights into Ourselves Help us
Understand Others
Bilingual/Bicultural
Educator
Cisgender Female
Single Mom
Dr.
Linda
Prieto
U.S. Citizen
Native Spanish
Speaker
Chicana/Latina
Spiritual
• List the various identities that
inform how you experience the
world.
• What are the many aspects
that make up who you are?
• What discrepancies exist
between how you self identify
and how others perceive you?
• How can you learn about,
learn from, and honor the
various identities of UC
Merced Latin@ students?
• Be prepared to share.
Intentionally Inclusive &
Enlightened Educators
• What does it mean to be intentionally inclusive?
• What does it mean to be an enlightened
educator?
• How do I, through my own work or in
collaboration with others, positively impact the
recruitment and retention of Latin@ students at
UC Merced?
Brainstorm
• What do I need, and from whom, to help me
positively impact the experiences of UC Merced
Latin@ students?
• How will I recognize and embrace Latin@
students’ diversity, acknowledge their struggles,
and work to bring social justice and academic
excellence to their experiences at UC Merced?
Action Items
• Establish one short- and one long-term goal you
will pursue to positively impact the experiences
of UC Merced Latin@ students?
• As a Student Affairs Team at UC Merced,
develop objectives to help you achieve the goals
of…
▫ being intentionally inclusive and enlightened
educators
▫ enhancing Latin@ student success at UC Merced.
Reflective Practice
Self
Evaluation:
Where am I
now?
Reflection:
How well
did I do?
Action and
Practice
Recognize
Personal
Development
&
Acknowledge
Achievements
Action
Planning:
How will I
get there?
Target
Setting:
Where do I
want to be?
• Designing a co-curriculum without student input
is unlikely to be successful, as will any attempt to
be educationally purposeful in the absence of
important contextual information concerning
what students do, who they are, how they
perceive and respond to the environment, what
conditions facilitate productive learning, and a
host of other related topics. (Harper, 2011, p.
294)
• Dr. Linda Prieto
• Cell: (210) 527-3439
• Email: linda.prieto.2009@gmail.com