I conducted a narrative literature review on first-year seminars to provide practitioners and researchers with a current, comprehensive review of the research investigating the effectiveness of this widely used, high-impact practice so that they could use this information to improve the course at their institution. I searched for peer-reviewed…

Dropout is a global crisis and an affliction in the United States. This study analyzes graduation rates based on prior academic achievement, attendance, and behavior at an urban American high school in Virginia over 4 years to identify who is (not) graduating and why. Using a correlational, nonexperimental design, four cohorts of graduates were…

The United States prioritized increasing the number of underrepresented undergraduate students who completed degrees in STEM fields. The ongoing challenge was to create a diverse workforce to maintain the country's global competitiveness. Higher education rolled out intervention programs to help underrepresented students stay on track and graduate…

This research brief summarizes the major findings from a multi-year research study of the long-term impacts of student grade retention. The study examined New York City students in grades 3 through 8 subject an assessment-based promotion policy in academic years 2003-2004 through 2011-2012, following them through the 2015-2016 school year. This…

TransferBOOST (Bachelor's Opportunity Options that are Straightforward and Transparent) is a multi-year state-level initiative developed to provide students with affordable, quality, well-supported two- to four-year pathways. For every 100 students who enroll in community colleges, 31 students transfer to a four-year institution. Of those, only 15…

The past three decades have seen charter schools emerge as a prominent and controversial alternative to traditional public schools. This policy brief examines "Thirty Years of Charter Schools: What Does Lottery-Based Research Tell Us?" which summarizes 40 studies that have used lottery research designs to analyze how charter schools…

How many international students are reported for academic integrity violations (AIV), what are their demographics, and how do AIV sanctions affect their retention and/or graduation? Descriptive statistical analyses showed that the number of internationals reported for AIVs at an American West Coast public university increased almost six-fold…

Using social psychological theory, the authors demonstrate in two studies, one cross sectional and one experimental, commitment interventions for timely course scheduling can significantly hasten course-scheduling behavior. Using a simple intervention, the authors were able to alter a regularly occurring student behavior tied to both retention and…

College admission typically requires students to present their high school GPA and a standardized score, such as ACT or SAT. High school GPA is usually attributed to students' cumulative effort during their high school career and is often used as a measure of resilience. The ACT score allows students' aptitude to be assessed. Contemporary…

The focus of this research is to provide a framework for community colleges and community-based organizations to partner in a manner that improves student outcomes in persistence and graduation rates. The proposed framework encourages digital student engagement that assists students with their non-academic needs, such as hunger or homelessness.…

Using a unique dataset of 44 Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), this article examines critical patterns of enrollment, engagement, persistence, and completion among students in online higher education. By leveraging fixed-effects specifications based on over 2.1 million student observations across more than 2,900 lectures, we analyzed…

The current study examined whether it is possible to increase college students' intention to earn a four-year degree with the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Three research questions were examined: (1) Can the TPB predict traditional undergraduates' graduation intention? (2) Does graduation intention differ by traditional students' year of…

Boys and men of color (BMOC) are at significant risks for poor outcomes across multiple domains including education, health, and financial well-being with little promise of improvement in the near future. Out of concern for this situation, President Obama instituted the My Brother's Keeper Initiative (MBKI) to enlist the combined resources of…

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of early preparation for postsecondary education and explore the effectiveness of Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP). This comparative case study included 836 students from two cohorts (GEAR UP and Non GEAR UP). We compared high school attendance,…

Western culture admonishes that ''winners never quit,'' but sometimes the termination of a specific goal is the best choice for a student. Cognitive perseveration is commonly defined as one repeating an action after learning that it produces a poor outcome and may be considered a form of ''never quitting.'' This type of cognitive perseveration…