Despite extensive research, policies, and practical efforts to improve college readiness in the United States, a large proportion of low-income students remain unprepared to enter and succeed in higher education. Karen D. Arnold, Boston College, draws on the human ecology theory of Urie Bronfenbrenner to offer a fresh perspective that accounts for the complexity of the interacting personal, organizational, and societal factors in play. Ecological principles shift the focus to individual differences in the ways that students engage environments and to the connections across students’ immediate settings and relationships.

Image courtesy of interviewee. January 3, 2017