Spit Shined And Polished And Ready For College: A Critical Race Analysis Of Program Directors’ Perspectives On The Contexts Of College Access Programs

College access programs work to prepare underserved students for college admission and enrollment. It is important to identify how the assumptions of college access program leaders affect their common practices and implementation of programs serving African American students, as well as to identify the tensions that exist among theory, research and practice in the college access field. This qualitative study explores the perspectives of college access program directors on the contexts of college access program. Using critical race theory as a theoretical framework, the impact of whiteness, perpetuated by the college access of ideology, is examined