The Latino and Adult Student Success (LASS) Academy is a multi-year initiative administered by CAEL (the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning) focused on supporting Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) in their efforts to improve outcomes for adult and Latino adult learners. In its first phase, from 2018 through 2021, the LASS Academy…

DE programming in higher education should be designed to increase student success, and well-designed corequisite models have shown great potential as an accelerated option for completion of the first college-level course in math. With the support of a Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board grant, Tarleton State University, a member institution…

As higher education institutions develop fully online course programs to provide better access for the non-traditional learner, there is increasing interest in identifying students who may be at risk of attrition and poor performance in these online course programs. In our study, we investigate the effectiveness of an online orientation course in…

Project GOAL is a systematic dropout prevention model including individual and peer-mediated group interventions for at-risk students. This article provides an overview of the Project GOAL model and describes a 2-year experimental pilot study of Project GOAL with a cohort of eighth-and ninth-grade students in a low-income school district in the…

In an era of increasingly hyped Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) that seem to evoke feelings of both promise and peril for higher education, many institutions are struggling to find their niche among top-tier Ivy League schools offering courses to thousands of participants for free. While the effectiveness of MOOCs in terms of learning outcomes…

The purpose of this brief, the third in a series released by the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP), is twofold: (1) To describe the emerging themes from the Lumina MSI-Models of Success initiative, and (2) to examine the context of remedial education and the discourse centered on the policy, practice, and role of postsecondary settings…

Career and technical education (CTE) students pursuing occupational associate's degrees or certificates differ from students seeking academic majors at 2-year institutions in several ways. This article examines several theoretical models of student persistence and offers a conceptual model of student success focused on CTE students in community…

Despite the major push for higher student outcomes in graduation, school achievement, and test scores, even when legislated (NCLB, 2001), too many students fail to persist in school, often choosing to drop out as their last resort (Bridgeland, DiIulio, & Morison, 2006). Specifically, one third of the nation's students drop out of school, even when…

By now people are all too familiar with the disheartening numbers: approximately 7,000 students drop out each day, which means nearly one-third of high school students will not graduate with their peers. The statistics are even more staggering for minority and low-income students, especially in the nation's largest urban districts, where less than…

This is the final report of the National Evaluation of Student Support Services (SSS). SSS is one of eight federally funded grant programs that are administered as part of the Federal TRIO Programs within the U.S. Department of Education (ED). The SSS program, in particular, focuses on students while they are enrolled in college. In general, SSS…

In this important resource, Dr. Fleming (a noted expert in the field of minority retention) draws on educational evaluations she has developed in the course of her distinguished career. This book analyzes the common factors and the role institutional characteristics play in minority student retention to show what really works in increasing…

This case study describes the philosophy underlying the delivery of online programs and courses at the University of Illinois-Springfield. The strategies used to implement the UIS model and the measures used to validate its success are outlined. These factors are reviewed in the context of the Sloan-C Five Pillars for quality learning environments.

Engagement of the online learner is one approach to reduce attrition rates. Attrition rates for classes taught through distance education are 10-20% higher than classes taught in a face-to-face setting. This paper introduces a Model for Engagement and provides strategies to engage the online learner. The Model depicts various opportunities where…

This article features Dallas Baptist University (DBU), a private, Christian, liberal arts institution located in the DFW Metroplex. With just over 5,200 students, DBU provides both traditional undergraduate, adult and graduate degrees with the enrollment almost equally divided between the three student groups. Today, DBU offers 34 degree programs…

This case study offers a strategic model of methods and services resulting in relatively high student success rates as defined by course completion of introductory first and second semester online courses. This strategic model is presented in the context of Sloan-C's "Five Pillars of Quality Online Education."