When Amanda Datnow took Bud Mehan's course in Language, Culture and Education in the late 1980s, she never dreamed that she would someday teach that same class. But today, Datnow is a professor at UC San Diego, and the instructor of the very course that made a difference in her career path.

As an undergraduate, Datnow was taking courses in preparation for becoming an elementary school teacher. The Sociology of Education course taught by Mehan—which focuses largely on the inequities of the nation's educational system—reinforced Datnow's interest in education, but by the time the final was turned in, her desire was to conduct research that was aimed at improving educational policies in the U.S.

"I learned about the huge inequities that exist in our educational system," said Datnow. "I was inspired by the course to try to make a difference in education reform."

Datnow went on to earn her Ph.D. in education at UCLA in 1995. She served on the faculties at the University of Toronto, Johns Hopkins University and USC. In 2008, Datnow returned to her alma mater as professor and director of UC San Diego's education studies program.

"I was thrilled to come back to UC San Diego and make a contribution to the place which helped me get my start," Datnow commented.

Datnow oversees an exciting five-year collaborative study funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation—"Pathways to Post-Secondary Success: Maximizing Opportunities for Youth in Poverty." The study is part of the Gates Foundation's "Post-Secondary Education Success Plan," which brings together interdisciplinary researchers at the University of California All Campus Consortium on Research for Diversity (UC ACCORD) to study youth in poverty and post-secondary educational opportunities.

"Pathways to Post-Secondary Success," led by Datnow and Daniel Solorzano of UCLA, seeks to understand what knowledge and tools are needed to maximize opportunities for low-income youth to succeed in higher education. The study—which includes researchers from UC San Diego's education studies program and the Center for Research on Educational Equity, Assessment and Teaching Excellence (CREATE)—is designed to provide a portrait of the various supports and barriers that low-income youth face during their efforts to attend and complete college.

"At the end of the day, our goal is to have better information on what interventions and policies improve post-secondary opportunities for low-income youth," said Datnow. "And we also want to know what elements of the educational system may be hindering our youths' efforts to succeed in college."

In order to bring a range of different lenses to the problems under study, the project was designed to be multi-method and cross-disciplinary. The research team is comprised of individuals from different academic areas including education, sociology and psychology.

"Although about 50 percent of youth from low-income families pursue some form of post-secondary education, less than 14 percent obtain bachelor's degrees," said Datnow. "Our early findings reveal that the pathway to college is often fraught with landmines for these youth."

According to Datnow, low-income students must often juggle full-time work and other responsibilities while pursuing their education. In addition, research shows that institutions are not always accommodating of the difficult circumstances students find themselves in. "We need to find better ways to help low-income youth navigate community college programs, as well as the transfer process to universities," she said.

"Through our detailed case studies of 100 youth in California communities, we are examining the ways these students make sense of their educational experiences to and through post-secondary education," said Datnow. "Studying the students' lives in this way will help inform us on how we can better support their college success in the future."

When asked what her favorite part of her job is, Datnow noted that it is exciting to work with faculty and staff who are so committed to improving education for all students. She continued, "I also really enjoy teaching. I have had the chance to offer some exciting graduate seminars in our doctoral programs. And I love teaching undergraduates in the same class—EDS/Soc 117—that inspired me to get into this field. Whether my students choose to go into teaching, or pursue research like I did, it's wonderful to be interacting with students who are motivated to improve our education system."

For more information on Education Studies at UC San Diego, please visit: http://eds.ucsd.edu. For more information on CREATE, please visit http://create.ucsd.edu.