Date of Award
Spring 3-21-2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ed.D. Transformational Teaching and Learning
Department
Secondary Education
First Advisor
Dr. Andrew Miness
Second Advisor
Dr. Kathleen Stanfa
Third Advisor
Dr. Danelle Bower
Abstract
The study aimed to understand demographic, cultural, and ecological factors, as well as supportive assets like mentorship on the academic persistence and educational achievement of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) students. DACA protects qualified individuals who arrived in the United States as children from deportation and grants them lawful permission to seek employment and educational opportunities.
Interviews of DACA students, and mentors and advocates of DACA students, were conducted to identify similarities, differences, and common themes. Despite DACA protection positively impacting the students' financial and academic success, limited socioeconomic conditions created a need for guidance or mentorship to help the students develop survival strategies. Mentorship positively impacted the students' college preparation and integration by providing general direction, emotional support, and strategic planning toward achieving their academic goals.
Identifying a strong interest-convergence between the students' academic motivation and their institutions' need to improve student retention and graduation rates, the study recommended the Socio-Ecological Model of Liminal Advocacy (SEMLA) that holistically incorporates risk and protective factors, including restrictive policies, collective contribution, and mentorship. This liminality-focused advocacy framework can be applied toward developing support strategies for an increasingly culturally diverse student population faced with academic and socio-economic pressures.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Mejabi, Patricia F., "Persistence, Mentorship, and Educational Achievement: Exploring the DACA Student Experience" (2025). Education Doctorate Dissertations. 47.
https://research.library.kutztown.edu/edddissertations/47
Included in
Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons, Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons, Educational Leadership Commons, Educational Methods Commons, Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education Commons, Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons
