The Lived Experiences of Faculty Who Guide Students Toward Postsecondary Aspirations

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore how college and career readiness teachers describe their lived experiences as they guide students from a K-12 district in Phoenix, toward their postsecondary aspirations. This study was derived from the funds of knowledge theory, status attainment theory, and social capital theory. Using these theoretical foundations collectively provided a stronger foundation for the study. Through interviews with 10 teachers, that taught a combination of fourth-through eighth- grade students, this study is an attempt to understand their lived experiences. This study was not an attempt to develop a new theory. However, this study was able to understand the perceptions and perspectives of college and career readiness teachers as they guided students toward their postsecondary aspirations. The results of this study present an analysis of the data in a non-evaluative, unbiased, organized manner that relates to the lived experiences of college and career readiness teachers. This study had five themes. The themes were: The idea that the structure of the schedule influences relationships; the influence of school support in relation to curriculum for the college and career readiness program; the influence of the socioeconomic status of the students in relation to the teacher’s instructional outcomes; the importance of postsecondary education; and parental influence in relation to student aspirations. Given that at the time of this study the researcher was unable to find any literature related to elementary students postsecondary aspirations, this study potentially opens the door to additional future research in the area