Undocumented Latino students in higher education represent a resilient, determined,and inspirational group of high achievers who persevere and serve as a model for success. Here, Frances Contreras presents a qualitative case study consisting of twenty semistructured, in-depth interviews with undocumented Latino students in an effort to help readers understand the experiences and challenges facing them in higher education in Washington State. Contreras's research explores the navigational processes these students employ in pursuing higher education and fulfilling their educational aspirations. Her findings provide insight into the implementation of HB 1079—the Washington State DREAM Act—in multiple institutional contexts and make recommendations for national and state policy communities. Her findings also demonstrate the critical need for universities to examine their institutional practices and efforts to support these achievers who have already beaten tremendous odds by entering the halls of higher education.

Hispanic serving institutions (HSIs) in California have the potential to play a key role in raising Latino college completion rates. However, while HSIs provide access to higher education for Latinos, student success, persistence, and completion rates remain low. This study utilized the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System and the California Community College Data Mart to examine student outcomes at 2-year and 4-year HSIs in California. Among the key findings, the majority of HSIs show lower college completion rates between Latino students and their peers despite promising persistence rates and college units earned. The findings suggest that traditional models of success may be less relevant for Latino students in predicting college success and 4-year degree completion. Finally, this study introduces new approaches for HSIs to consider in their data collection, reporting, and analytical processes to better serve Latino students and increase college success and completion.

This exploratory study illustrates the differences in achievement between Latino college-bound students compared to their White counterparts with respect to key background and achievement variables. This research presents the gaps in "inputs" that Latino students possess regarding disparate income, parent education levels, access to Advanced Placement courses, and performance on standardized exams. The author presents descriptive statistics on college-going students, comparing Latino students to other high school test takers in the country.Resumen: Este estudio exploratorio ilustra las diferencias en aprovechamiento entre estudiantes Latinos en ruta universitaria comparados con sus contrapartes de estudiantes Blancos, con respecto a antecedentes claves y variables de aprovechamiento. Esta investigación presenta lagunas de "información" que estudiantes Latinos poseen con respecto a ingreso desigual, nivel de educación paterno, acceso a cursos Avanzados, y nivel de ejecución en exámenes estandarizados. El autor presenta estadísticas descriptivas sobre estudiantes universitarios, comparando estudiantes Latinos a otros estudiantes de preparatoria que tomaron exámenes en el país.As admission to selective colleges and universities becomes increasingly competitive, the use of SAT and Advanced Placement (AP) exams will continue to play a distinct role in setting applicants apart for acceptance. High school students appear to be responding to this culture of accountability as seen in the increasing number of SAT test takers, the proliferation of AP courses, and participation rates in AP exams. Close to half (47.8%) of the 2.94 million high school graduates took the SAT in 2003 (n = 1,406,324) (see Table 1). And 34.6% of all high school graduates took an AP exam (n =

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Several approaches to raising the academic success of minority high achievers exist in the form of school, community, nonprofit, and university programmatic efforts. This article represents a review of K-12 intervention programs in multiple organizational contexts that serve to strengthen the bridge to higher education for academically promising underrepresented students. The article begins with a framework and context for promoting academic success and college readiness through the educational pipeline, as well as an overview of access issues that impede high-achieving underrepresented students from realizing their full potential, followed by a discussion of specific intervention programs that are designed to remedy this situation.