The effects of poverty, dysfunction, and educational and economic inequity in urban Black and Latino communities are clearly reflected in the disparate academic achievement levels of urban students of color. There is an abundance of literature that establishes a connection between low academic achievement and at risk factors. This study focuses on factors that contribute to educational resilience among a specific disadvantaged, marginalized group by giving voice to the experiences and perspectives of eight Latina women who overcame adverse conditions and fulfilled their academic potential in spite of intense risk factors that could have justified failure.

In order to create pathways to success for Latino/a students, it is important to understand the phenomena of educational resilience in terms of what they themselves understand about how they overcome obstacles and succeed against the odds. As a step in this direction, this study attempts to bridge educational resilience theory with the experiences and perceptions shared by Latina college students who have persevered and graduated from college. In particular, it explores how resilient Latinas view themselves, the role of culture, the development of their ethnic and bicultural identity, and their family and school experiences—factors that are often absent from resilience literature—in terms of their academic achievement. In order to ascertain the importance and role such factors may have for Latinas, the study uses a qualitative methodology, relying on information provided by participants during intensive life history interviews that probed their understanding of what has been critical in their development.

Moving beyond the standard focus on personality and environment to explore the role of culture, this study examines and conceptualizes additional factors in the development of academic resiliency in Latina students. Noting the effects on Latina women of, among other things, familial pressures, stereotypes, bicultural expectations, and negative maternal role models (which often turn out, counterintuitively, to be spurs to success), the study concludes that supportive adults and access to financial opportunities are critical factors in academic achievement.