Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to explore how the presence of a multicultural navigator in the lives of college-bound middle and high school students enrolled in the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program affected their academic achievement (GPA), self-efficacy for learning, and perceived task-value. AVID is designed to increase first-generation college bound students’ preparedness for college (Swanson, Mehan & Hubbard, 1995). AVID staff members are school-based social models who transmit the codes required for college preparation. Multicultural navigators are people who provide access to the codes related to college preparation for first-generation college-bound students (Carter, 2005). Fifty-three students enrolled in the AVID elective class at one high school located in a rural school district responded to a demographic questionnaire and two scales, the Self-Efficacy for Learning Form (SELF) (Zimmerman & Kitsantas
2007) and the Self and task perceptions questionnaire (STPQ) (Eccles & Wigfield, 1994). The results of this study indicated that 100% of the students were able to identify at least one multicultural navigator. Further, 88% of the students in this study identified a multicultural navigator in AVID, or had parents/guardians who had gone to college. Of the students whose parents/guardians went to college, 61% identified a multicultural navigator not in the AVID program. No significant differences were found, however, there were several trends related to the results of this study, Those students who identified someone in AVID as their multicultural navigator scored higher on SELF than those who selected someone not in AVID as their multicultural navigator and those who identified their AVID teacher as their multicultural navigator scored higher on Task-Value, SELF, and GPA. However, the differences were not statistically significant. This study concludes with discussion of the implications related to preparing first-generation students for college, limitations of this study, and suggestions for future research.
