Intergenerational education mobility is one of the key dimensions of social mobility. Educational mobility is defined as the association between parents and children’s educational attainment. Children with college educated parents are more likely to graduate from college. On the other hand, first generation college students (i.e., students who have parents without a college degree) are less likely to go to college and are more likely to drop out of college. Previous literature has suggested that parental involvement in higher education leads to improved student performance. Parents who did not attend college, on the other hand, might not have the knowledge to help their children navigate college. College students, especially in their freshman year, face many challenges, such as a heavier workload and a distracting peer culture. At our Historically Black University, we developed a year-long communication plan targeting parents of first-year students that aimed to boost the educational cultural capital of parents and cultivate a supportive environment that enhances students' educational experiences and outcomes. One of our main goals was to help retain students in the academic pipeline in majors related to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), as well as the health sciences. The program has graduated 3 cohorts of freshman parents. Applying an online survey method, our preliminary results indicate that our intervention may be beneficial to parents without a college degree. In addition, the program might also have empowered parents with educational cultural capital. Details about the intervention and the implications of our findings will be presented.

Authors:
Xuanren Goodman, Delaware State University, United States
Lawita Cheatham-Hemphill, Delaware State University, United States
Sharon Smith, National Institutes of Health, United States
Melissa Harrington, Delaware State University, United States

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Xuanren Goodman is currently an Assistant Professor at Delaware State University, Delaware, USA. Her general research interests include: Social Demography; Community Engaged Research; Social Stratification & Inequality; and Racial Relations.

See this presentation on the full schedule – Wednesday Schedule

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