With a decade-long stagnant 34% Black male college graduation rate, there was little understanding of how and why Black male initiatives, designed to improve Black male persistence and graduation in 4-year colleges, affected retention and graduation-related behaviors, as understood by the Black male participants in such initiatives. This…

Esports teams (competitive video gaming organizations) are proliferating at colleges and universities throughout the United States as colleges seek to attract and retain students with diverse sets of interests. While these teams bolster college recruitment efforts, additional research is needed to explore several potential links between the…

College retention is a topic of concern for many leaders of post-secondary institutions. This study explores the multifaceted elements of a summer bridge program aimed at bolstering college retention for minority first-generation students through a combination of mentorship, academic support, and community-building initiatives. The purpose of the…

The purpose of this study is to explore how one community-based organization supports adolescents through the transition from high school to college, specifically looking at the experiences of three late-arriving refugee-background students who successfully gained access to higher education. Through the critical conceptual framework of community…

This qualitative phenomenological research study used narrative inquiry to examine the perceptions of recent high school graduate SLIFE (Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education) regarding secondary school support systems. The study aimed to discover factors that support acculturation of SLIFE and impact their persistence through to…

Building upon critical education policy studies of crisis, disaster, and reform, this essay develops a theory of "recovery" that further elaborates the nature and operation of "crisis politics" in neoliberal education reform. Recovery is an integral process in capital accumulation, exploiting material, and subjective…

The purpose of this study was to investigate advocacy influences that may impact school arts programs using data from the 2009-10 National Center for Education Statistics elementary and secondary school surveys on arts education. Regression models were employed to assess the relative effectiveness of variables representing community support,…

Background/Context: Educational resilience is defined as having successful outcomes in school despite the adversities one has faced in life. There is a dearth of research on a particularly high-risk group--unaccompanied refugee minors who are separated from their parents by war and lack the protection and advocacy provided by adult caretakers.…

In spite of a nationwide concern for the crumbling infrastructure of school buildings, the prospects of passing bond issues to repair or replace buildings are elusive. This study examined positive and negative factors that affected the outcomes of school bond elections in four purposefully-selected school districts in Iowa. Variables that…