ABSTRACT
This chapter offers an example of how critical qualitative data can help inform community partnerships and research that seek to understand the college experiences of Latino students, specifically for undocumented males, in order to improve college outcomes. It includes abbreviated data from a larger study that examined first-year college experiences. In critical race theory (CRT), racism is assumed to be a permanent fixture in US society, and expose racism within educational structures. CRT scholars use stories, poetry, fiction, and revisionist histories as important analytic tools to examine educational inequities and reveal multiple types of knowledge. Critical theorists suggest that cultural resources enable students to participate in academic settings and construct strategies for adaptation and survival. A cultural resource is a culturally based asset, material, or value that can enhance a student’s undergraduate experience.
