In addition to acting (and occasionally riling the nerves of Republican politicians), Eva Longoria is busy financing academic studies as well these days. A study recently released by UCLA on the academic effects which can serve as markers for success among young Latinas was funded by the Eva Longoria Foundation.

"Making Education Work for Latinas in the US" looks at various factors that contribute to the success of Latinas as they make their way through the educational system. The report was authored by Patricia Gandara and presented by UCLA's "Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles," which was founded in 1996.

Longoria, who is known for getting involved in civic causes, saw the study as an opportunity to identify factors to success for young Hispanic women, so that perhaps the positive effects could be replicated for others.

"We were frustrated to primarily find analysis of what does not work for Latinas, and we wanted to find out what does," Longoria said to the UCLA Newsroom. "The findings from this study will help us fine-tune our education work, and we hope others will use this research to support Latina achievement."

Gandara said that the report was focused on female students because "although they perform somewhat better than Latinos academically (females now perform better across all ethnic groups), Latinas are faring much more poorly than their white and Asian counterparts and their progress has been extremely slow."

Two primary factors that stood out from the study were the effects of extracurricular activities and the presence of Latino/Latina role models during the educational experience. The high performing participants in the case studies all had access to both during their high school years.

"Although we had noted how extracurricular activities showed up as important both in the prior literature as well as in our data analyses, we were nonetheless surprised by just how important these activities had been for the young women we interviewed," the study noted. "Virtually all had participated in sports and/or other significant activities such as music. It was interesting as well to hear about the various ways that these activities had supported their academic performance."

Having role models that mirrored themselves was also important to the successful students interviewed for the study.

"Our data analyses showed that having a Latina/o teacher increased Latina students' chances of going on to college," the report reads. "We could not say if it also increased their chances of completing high school, but all of the young women we interviewed had a great deal to say about the Latino/a teachers and counselors they had."

While having a Latino or Latina teacher and/or counselor available to them might provide an extra incentive to students, the study also noted that there might be an extra reason that students in that academic dynamic do well.

"Some research has shown that minority teachers may be more likely to identify talents in students from their own racial or ethnic group and to recommend them for GATE programs than teachers from the majority group," the study said.

Also found to be an advantage for Latinas was cross-cultural exposure. Many students said that being around white kids, and more highly advantaged students was key to picking up information, skills or habits that led to making college more accessible to them.

The study found that being bilingual was also an indicator of success, and one advantage that Latinas in particular will be able to exploit.

Obstacles that are regularly faced include economic disadvantage, early pregnancy and undocumented status, though all of these obstacles had been overcome by participants in the group study.

In summation, Gandara sees the improvement of academic and life opportunities for young Hispanic women as a key to overall success in the US.

"Latinas are the linchpin of the next generation - how a child fares in school is highly correlated with their mother's education," Gandara said to the UCLA Newsroom. "If the cycle of under-education is to be broken for the Latino population, it will depend to a large extent on changing the fortunes of young women."