Bridging Multiple Worlds: How African American and Latino Youth in Academic Outreach Programs Navigate Math Pathways to College

Universities have launched outreach programs to enhance their ethnic diversity, yet little developmental research examines students' pathways to college. This study compares capital models (highlighting family background) with challenge models (highlighting students' challenges and resources) in predicting pathways to college. The Bridging Multiple Worlds Model frames this longitudinal study of 120 African American and Latino youth in outreach programs. We examined students' family backgrounds; challenges and resources across family, school, peer, and community worlds; and high school math pathways as predictors of college eligibility and enrollment. African American students more typically had U. S. born, college-educated parents, and Latino students, immigrant parents with high school education or less. Second, students saw parents as greater resources than teachers, siblings, and themselves; peers and teachers were their greatest challenges. Youth distinguished resources and challenges more by their so...