With some help from my friends: Examining the role of peer networks in educational achievement for students in a community-based youth organization

In the current educational context, institutional barriers to educational attainment exist that affect specific groups of students. Tracking policies disproportionately place Black and Latino students in special education and non-honors courses (Love, 2004), and studies of discipline practices reveal disproportionality across racial and socioeconomic lines (Skiba, Michael, Nardo & Peterson, 2000). It is important to understand the ways in which many students are able to navigate these and other barriers to achieving their educational goals. Members of a tight peer network can use their network to establish an academic identity, and are more likely to achieve their goals as a result of a sense of obligation to succeed they feel toward fellow members (Sallee & Tierney, 2007). Attendance in school can allow for students to establish friends and networks among their peers to produce these outcomes. At the same time, educational transitions such as moving on to high school or college may threaten networks, thus challenging the ability of the students' networks to produce the desired results. This research focuses on the peer groups of students participating in a college preparatory, community based youth organization. Using data collected from focus groups and interviews conducted with high school and college students, the study addresses three questions: a) How do peer networks developed within a community based youth organization influence Black and Latino/a students' goals of educational achievement? b) How are these peer networks formed? c) How do students understand the role played by these peer networks in their educational achievement? Peer networks developed as a result of participation in a community based youth organizations can serve as social capital in ways that can bolster aspirations and help students rise above barriers to access they might face in schools. Additionally, this research aims to broaden the understanding of educational spaces by adding the context of community based youth organizations to the discussion.