Over 30 states have experienced a shortage of music teachers in the past decade. The attrition of early-career teachers is one of the largest contributing factors to the rising demand for teachers nationally, but there is a lack of rigorous empirical research examining characteristics associated with attrition of music teachers. I leveraged data…

The COVID-19 pandemic had an immediate impact and a long-lasting toll on the well-being of students and faculty, influencing their performance and affecting retention rates on college campuses. This study focused on the entire academic department, rather than an individual faculty member or peer, as the department serves as the immediate learning…

This action research study investigated the academic integration and persistence of first-generation, second-year Latino students in a community college in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. The study employed a mixed-methods approach to investigate persistence and integration among first-generation Latinos. Using Tinto's theory of persistence, the…

A growing literature suggests the combination of financial aid, academic support and student advising may be needed to ensure that students, especially low-income students, not only enroll in college but obtain a degree. Established at CUNY in 1965, the Search for Education, Elevation, and Knowledge (SEEK) program is a legislatively mandated…

Background: The teacher workforce in the United States is under increasing pressure from long-standing and compounding challenges, including high annual turnover rates, difficult working conditions, and declining interest in the profession. For the past two decades, approximately 15% of teachers moved schools or left the profession each year. This…

Information frictions significantly shape students' academic trajectories, but their differential impact across student backgrounds remains understudied. Using a novel panel survey capturing incoming students' subjective expectations and anonymized transcript data from Arizona State University, we first show that parental education strongly…

This chapter leverages STEM-focused Integrated Postsecondary Data System (IPEDS) data to investigate the consequences of chilly institutional climates across institutional types, with particular attention to implications for institutions and researchers. Further, we synthesize the literature, findings, and recommendations across the volume and…

Retention has been an issue in higher education for decades (Freedman, 1956; Noel et al., 1986; Tinto, 1987, 2012). Many attempts have been made to address this issue, with most research focusing on the freshman year. Recently, increasing focus has centered on sophomore students and what may cause them to leave college early. However, even after…

Institutions of higher education are searching for successful strategies to increase student persistence, retention, and degree completion rates. One prominent strategy currently employed at some colleges and universities is implementing personal strengths identification and development for new undergraduate students. Research has indicated an…

This research identified and described the strengths and limitations that are influencing non-traditional, senior learner degree completion in four-year higher education institutions. It filled a gap in the research base, predominately occupied by traditional-age learner adult education research, by offering a glimpse into a better understanding…

This paper aimed to explore the variables that influenced the intention to quit the teaching profession among vocational teachers. Moreover, the researchers examined the differences in the perception of the levels of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, personal accomplishment, job satisfaction, and life satisfaction among vocational teachers…

The National Center for Educational Statistics (US Department of Education, 2016) reports enrollment in Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) has increased 36 percent since 1990, with the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPED) reporting 355,058 students enrolled in HBCUs compared to 260,381 in 1990. The growth of…

Developmental systems theory and life span development describe the role of individual--context interactions in individual development but have not directly addressed how individuals pursue achievement goals in institutional contexts. We developed a theory informed by these perspectives that explains how institutional contexts affect emerging…

This research aimed to investigate the impact of high-level teacher questioning on 6th grade students' science achievement, retention of learning and their attitudes toward science. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group design was employed in this research. Participants consisted of 43 students enrolled in two intact 6th grade…

The need to increase the number of African American women who obtain STEM degrees has been well documented in the literature by researchers, scientists, and policymakers. Increasing the participation of this group of women and other underrepresented groups in STEM is both an issue of social justice and economic advancement on a national scale.…