A PORTRAIT OF FILIPINO LEARNING COMMUNITIES AND STUDENT SUCCESS PROGRAMS AT CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY COLLEGES: A RAPID AND CRITICAL ETHNOGRAPHY

This is a qualitative study with rapid and critical ethnography as a research design to determine the lived experiences of Filipino and Filipino American community college students, as well as their success and challenges in a Filipino learning community or student success program at Skyline College, Southwestern College, and City College of San Francisco. Because Filipinos are aggregated into the overall Asian category, research on Filipinos at community colleges is limited despite the fact that Filipinos are the second largest Asian subgroup in the United States and the largest Asian group in California. This research study was a first of its kind to study the only three Filipino learning communities and student success programs in California: Kababyan Learning Community, Bayan Scholars Learning Community, and Tulay Filipino Student Success Program. Using ethnographic field notes from participant observations of virtual program events, in-depth interviews, and analysis of site documents and artifacts, results found that Filipino and Filipino American students wrestled with their identities due to generational effects of colonial mentality and grappled with biculturalism. Filipino community college students also experienced financial hardship and struggled during the COVID-19 global pandemic, trying to balance identity, home, and the college environment. Filipino community college students’ success resulted from (a) pipelines that Filipino learning communities and student success programs established to transition students from high school to college, (b) infusion of Filipino critical pedagogy into academic instruction and culturally relevant student activities, and (c) wraparound student services. Filipino community college students experienced a cultural awakening or “kapwa” which led to a sense of belonging and community.