Funds of Knowledge in Transition: Responding to Diverse Student Populations in Summer Bridge Programs

Abstract

In examining twenty-two summer bridge program websites across the country, this study focused on a particular type of student support at one of the most historically-contentious positions in a college student’s trajectory—the point of access. Diverse student populations bring specific strengths, resources, skills, and knowledge, or “funds of knowledge,” to the university space from other parts of their lives (Kiyama & Rios-Aguilar, 2018; Moll, Amanti, Neff, & González, 2005). In light of the history of deficit-based explanations for student failure, funds of knowledge approaches to instruction and program design offer models that more fully describe the abilities and potential of diverse groups of students. Drawing on the diametrically opposed frameworks of remediation and funds of knowledge, this qualitative research study sought to answer the following research questions: (1) What do the website descriptions of bridge programs at a range of institutions reveal regarding assumptions about students and support they need?, and (2) In what ways, if any, do these descriptions connect to funds of knowledge?I engage in systematic qualitative coding and analysis of the bridge program websites. The emphasis on academic/study skills, college knowledge, and relationships in the data set (see Chapter 3) positioned bridge programs as the benevolent giver of these things instead of presenting students as capable of building on their skills and existing knowledges. In the figured world (Holland, Lachiotte, Skinner, & Cain, 1998) of summer bridge, the underlying assumption goes as follows: Adjusting to a challenging new environment is possible as long as the university provides students with academic and social integration. Without these supports, students are not likely to succeed on their own due to their demographics as first-generation students, low-income students, or students of color or due to the intensity of their chosen major (in the case of the STEM-affiliated bridge programs). However, eight of the programs were partially aligned with a funds of knowledge approach, especially regarding aspirational knowledge and familial knowledge (see Chapter 4). The funds of knowledge framework is a constructive response to deficit discourse that asks bridge programs and other student success initiatives across the university to rethink their assumptions about students’ prior knowledges and strengths.