Helping principals improve their leadership practices is a common use of federal funds and one way to improve instruction and student achievement. This study sought to better understand the effectiveness of an intensive principal professional development program focused primarily on helping principals conduct structured observations of teachers'…

Across the country, colleges using Complete College America (CCA) strategies are improving graduation rates. But despite these overall gains, data continues to show persistent institutional performance gaps for BILPOC (Black, Indigenous, Latinx, People of Color) students and students ages 25 and older. Students in both of these groups…

With more than two decades of on-the-ground experience impacting 300,000 educators and 3 million students, NIET's success is grounded in research. The success of NIET's work is evident in the positive findings from evaluations of impact. In NIET's 2022-23 Research Summary, we summarize findings from five new studies and highlight selected findings…

The problem addressed by this study was the disproportionately low retention of racial minorities and women in STEM degree programs in community colleges. Although underrepresented groups are enrolling in STEM degree programs, they still face barriers that impact their retention, which has resulted in unequal outcomes across multiple STEM fields.…

Pre-college access programs operating in high schools commonly focus on assisting underserved and historically excluded populations of students in preparing for, applying to, and enrolling in postsecondary education. Through two analyses, this study examines the efficacy of two types of access programs in facilitating postsecondary enrollment and…

Due to its emphasis on academics and exclusion of athletic scholarships, the NCAA's Division III (DIII) is often praised by coaches, media, and higher education leaders for offering the purest form of collegiate athletics. However, the academics-first philosophy and higher graduation rates the NCAA celebrates for most of its sports are not…

The federal government and many individual organizations have invested in programs to support diversity in the STEM pipeline, including STEM summer programs for high school students, but there is little rigorous evidence of their efficacy. We fielded a randomized controlled trial to study a suite of such programs targeted to underrepresented high…

A growing body of literature points to the need to rethink the traditional lecture-based teaching methodology. The flipped classroom is a pedagogical model in which students are exposed to new material outside of the classroom via lecture videos, assigned readings, or other online videos or resources while the traditional face-to-face classroom…

Over the past two years, Pullias Center researchers and practitioners from the nonprofit Get Schooled have collaborated on a project designed to boost first year persistence and success at California State University, Dominguez Hills. This brief is intended to share outcomes and lessons learned from implementing the texting component of Get…

This article reports on an intervention related to L2 learner well-being based on Oxford's (2016) EMPATHICS theoretical framework. The intervention was conducted at a women's university in Tokyo in three of the researcher's own first-year, compulsory, four-skills English-language classes. Forty-six learners agreed to take part in the study. To…

This descriptive study explored the relationship between sustained attendance in high-quality 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC)-- funded programs and key child outcomes. The key hypothesis was that high-quality programming is associated with the development of social and emotional skills, which in turn may be related to academic…

The purpose of this research study was to explore the benefits and challenges of cross-racial mentoring experienced by both first-generation BIPOC student mentees attending predominantly white institutions, and their white mentors, who participated in a non-profit college success program. First-generation BIPOC college students experience greater…

As the looming enrollment cliff approaches and more adult learners return to higher education, understanding the factors that affect their persistence and retention is vital for higher education institutions. Previous studies have shown that external factors influence post-traditional learners' pursuit of higher education. This program evaluation…

Adverse life events and trauma have the potential to devastate college students' lives across all domains of well-being, including physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and social. Thriving despite these challenges requires academic resilience. Physical activity is one well-known strategy to support increased resilience. No research has…

This What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) intervention report summarizes the research on InsideTrack Coaching, an intervention designed to provide proactive, personalized coaching to help students identify and overcome both academic and non-academic barriers to college persistence and graduation. InsideTrack partners with universities to deliver its…