Coloring the College Pathway: A More Culturally Responsive Approach to College Readiness and Access for Students of Color in Secondary Schools

Considering the current structural challenges that exist for students of color (SOC) in accessing a higher education, an epistemology is needed that better represents the complex process SOC endure in this pursuit. College access literature either proposes stages (Hossler and Gallagher in Coll Univ 62(3):207-221, 1987), contextual layers (Perna in Higher education: handbook of theory and research. Springer, Amsterdam, 2006) or a pipeline approach (Horn in Confronting the odds: students at risk and the pipeline to higher education. National Center for Education Statistics, Washington, D.C., 1997; Cabrera and LaNasa in Understanding the colleges choice of disadvantaged. Jossey-Bass Inc, San Francisco, 2000a) that do not consider the additional resources and skills SOC must possess in navigating their educational pathways. This paper presents findings from two larger studies to propose an approach that colors outside the standard college access and readiness frameworks and uses a more culturally responsive approach to consider the complex and auspicious ways in which SOC navigate their college pathways. Culturally responsive recommendations for increasing college readiness and access for SOC in secondary schools will be provided based on the perspectives of SOC themselves.