Not What Every Other Girl Wants: American Indian Women's Educational Aspirations

Abstract American Indian (AI) women participate in and complete higher education at better rates than AI males, yet both are underrepresented and unlikely to persist. This study examined the role of factors such as demographics, future goals, individual attributes, family background, precollege educational experiences, values, religion, and culture on AI women's educational aspirations. Findings indicated that aspirations primarily resulted from the desire for a better quality of life, personal growth, and stability for themselves and their immediate and extended families. The women, most of whom had completed either an associate's or a bachelor's degree, wanted to be role models and improve the lives of others—immediate and extended families, and tribes. For these women, a strong aspiration for higher education, resulting from religious- and family-instilled values, resulted in the decision to enroll and to complete some level of education. KEYWORDS: American Indian womenaspirationshigher educationpersistence Notes National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Facts (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, 2009). Chris Chapman, Jennifer Laird, Nicole Ifill, Angelina KewalRamani, "Trends in High School Dropout and Completion Rates in the United States: 1972–2009 (NCES 2012-006)" (U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, 2011). National Center for Education Statistics, The Condition of Education (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, 2010). Ibid. Ernest T. Pascarella and Patrick T. Terenzini, How College Affects Students: Vol. 2. A Third Decade of Research (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2005). Susan R. Madsen and Cheryl Hanewicz, The Benefits of Higher Education for Women in Utah (Orem: Utah Women and Education Project, Utah Valley University, 2011). Ibid. Alma Clayton-Pedersen, "Rethinking Education to Make Excellence Inclusive," Diversity & Democracy 12, no. 2 (2009): 1. Angela M. Jaime, "A Room without a View from within the Ivory Tower," American Indian Quarterly 27, no. 1–2 (2003): 252–263. Angelina E. Castagno, "Extending the Bounds of Race and Racism: Indigenous Women and the Persistence of the Black–White Paradigm of Race," The Urban Review 37, no. 5 (2005): 447–468. Bryan McKinley Jones Brayboy, "Hiding in the Ivy: American Indian students and Visibility in Elite Educational Settings," Harvard Educational Review 74, no. 2 (2004): 125–152. Laura I. Rendón, "Validating Culturally Diverse Students: Toward a New Model of Learning and Student Development," Innovative Higher Education 19, no. 1 (1994): 33–51; Joseph J. Saggio and Laura I. Rendón, "Persistence among American Indians and Alaska Natives at a Bible College: The Importance of Family, Spirituality, and Validation," Christian Higher Education 3 (2004): 223–240. Saggio and Rendón, 2004. Lynn Okagaki, Mary Kay Helling, and Gary E. Bingham, "American Indian College Students' Ethnic Identity and Beliefs about Education," Journal of College Student Development 50, no. 2 (2009): 157–176. Raphael M. Guillory and Mimi Wolverton, "It's about Family: Native American Student Persistence in Higher Education," The Journal of Higher Education 79, no. 1 (2008): 58–87. Stephanie J. Waterman, "A Complex Path to Haudenosaunee Degree Completion," Journal of American Indian Education 46, no. 1 (2007): 20–40. Brayboy, 2004. Iris HeavyRunner and Richard DeCelles, "Family Education Model: Meeting the Student Retention Challenge," Journal of American Indian Education 41, no. 2 (2002): 29–37. Guillory and Wolverton, 2008; Waterman, 2007. Heather J. Shotton, E. Star L.Oosahwe, and Rosa Cintrón, "Stories of Success: Experiences of American Indian Students in a Peer-Mentoring Retention Program," The Review of Higher Education 31, no. 1 (2007): 81–107. See Bobby Wright and William G. Tierney, "American Indians in Higher Education: A History of Cultural Conflict," Change 23, no. 2 (1991): 11–18. Laura I. Rendón, "Parental Involvement Suggested: Rethinking Family Involvement for Low-Income Groups" (Sacramento, CA: Association for the Study of Higher Education, 2001). D. Michael Pavel, Ella Inglebret, and Susan R. Banks, "Tribal Colleges and Universities in an Era of Dynamic Development," Peabody Journal of Education 76, no. 1 (2001): 58. T. Gregory Barrett and Lourene Thaxton, "Robert A. Roessel Jr. and Navajo Community College: Cross-Cultural Roles of Key Individuals in its Creation, 1951–1989," American Indian Culture and Research Journal 31, no. 4 (2007): 25–50; Donna Brown, "Tribal Colleges: Playing a Key Role in the Transition from Secondary to Postsecondary Education for American Indian Students," Journal of American Indian Education 42, no. 1 (2003): 36–45; Pavel, Inlegret, and Banks, 2001. Paul Boyer, "First Survey of Tribal College Students Reveals Attitudes," Tribal College Journal 9, no. 2 (1997): 36–41. Juan A. A. Hernandez, "Empowering Students for Success," Tribal College Journal 18, no. 1 (2006): 12–17. See Guillory and Wolverton, 2008; Jaime, 2003; Tiffany S. Lee, "Successes and Challenges in Higher Education Transitions," Tribal College Journal 19, no. 1 (2007): 30–35; William G. Tierney, Margaret W. Sallee, and Kristan M. Venegas, "Access and Financial Aid: How American-Indian Students Pay for College," Journal of College Admission 197 (2007): 14–23. Tierney et al., 2007. William G. Tierney and Kristan M. Venegas, "Fictive Kin and Social Capital: The Role of Peer Groups in Applying and Paying for College," American Behavioral Scientist 49, no. 12 (2006): 1687–1702; Maria E. Zarate and Harry P. Pachon, Perceptions of College Financial Aid among California Latino Youth (Los Angeles, CA: University of Southern California, 2006). Zoë B. Corwin, Kristan M. Venegas, Paz Maya Oliverez, Julia E. Colyar, "School Counsel: How Appropriate Guidance Affects Educational Equality," Urban Education 39, no. 4 (2004): 442–457. Tierney, Corwin, and Colyar, 2005. Aaron Doyle, Judith Kleinfeld, and Maria Reyes, "The Educational Aspirations/attainment Gap among Rural Alaska Native Students," The Rural Educator 30, no. 3 (2009): 25–33. Tierney et al., 2007. See Doyle, Kleinfeld, and Reyes, 2009; Guillory and Wolverton, 2008; Jaime, 2003; Yatta Kanu, "Getting Them through the College Pipeline: Critical Elements of Instruction Influencing School Success among Native Canadian High School Students," Journal of Advanced Academics 18, no. 1 (2006): 116–145; Don B. Woodcock and Osman Alawiye, "The Antecedents of Failure and Emerging Hope: American Indians and Public Higher Education," Education 121, no. 4 (2001): 810–820. See John W. Creswell, Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches, 2nd ed. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2003); Stan Lester, An Introduction to Phenomenological Research (Taunton, UK: Stan Lester Developments, 1999). Lester, 1999. See Patti Lather, "Research as Praxis," Harvard Educational Review 56, no. 3 (1986): 257–277; Yvonna S. Lincoln and Egon G. Guba, Naturalistic Inquiry (Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1985). See Louis C. Attinasi, "Rethinking the Study of the Outcomes of College Attendance," Journal of College Student Development 33 (1992): 61–70; Steinar Kvale, InterViews: An Introduction to Qualitative Research Interviewing (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1996). See Corrine Glesne, Becoming Qualitative Researchers: An Introduction, 2nd ed. (New York, NY: Addison Wesley Longman, 1999); Lincoln and Guba, Naturalistic Inquiry; Renata Tesch, Qualitative Research: Analysis Types and Software Tools (Philadelphia, PA: RoutledgeFalmer, 1990). Rendón, 1994, 44; Saggio and Rendón, 2004. See HeavyRunner and DeCelles, 2002; Guillory and Wolverton, 2008; Waterman, 2007. Saggio and Rendón, 2004. See Doyle, Kleinfeld, and Reyes, 2009. See Castagno, 2005; Jaime, 2003: Brayboy, 2004. See Waterman, 2007. Additional informationNotes on contributorsMaureen Snow Andrade Maureen Snow Andrade is Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs Academic Programs at Utah Valley University. Her responsibilities include distance learning, assessment, curriculum, general education, community college programs, and graduate studies. Dr. Andrade is a professor in the field of education, specializing in teaching English as a second language (ESL). She is a former ESL program director, department chair, and journal editor. Her professional interests include student access, transition, and success, distance language learning, self-regulated learning, and the scholarship of teaching and learning. E-mail: maureen.andrade@uvu.edu

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