Background: While studies examining graduate engineering student attrition have grown more prevalent, there is an incomplete understanding of the plight faced by persisting students. As mental health and well-being crises emerge in graduate student populations, it is important to understand how students conceptualize their well-being in relation…

Co-published with the Association for State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), which sponsored the project from which the book emerged. This book answers the question "What would your institution look like if students really mattered?" The authors argue that really putting student success at the center of attention will require a radical…

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is the application that postsecondary students complete to receive federal grants, work-study, and loans; as well as some state and institutional grants, and private financial aid. In 2019-2020, 17.7 million undergraduates filed a FAFSA and in 2021-2022, full-time equivalent students received an…

At English Medium Instruction (EMI) universities, where the English language is used to teach academic subjects in countries where the first language of the majority of the population is not English, students are required to undertake a preparatory year English language program before they are permitted to commence their chosen field of study. The…

This dissertation investigated the critical issue of staff retention during and after the pandemic in public schools. Focusing on instructional staff, the study explored the impact of self-efficacy, relationships within the school setting, and administrators' support on their decision to remain in or leave their positions during these…

The purpose of this study is to understand how beginning teachers' self-efficacy changes after working with a mentor in Mountain West School District as a response to the problem of increasing teacher attrition rates. Social cognitive theory is used to explain the impacts on beginning teachers' self-efficacy. Using a qualitative phenomenological…

This research study utilized a phenomenology approach to determine barriers faced by two-year community college students and investigated ways in which colleges can mitigate these barriers in order to minimize students withdrawing from their courses. The objective was to explore students' experiences and perspectives to answer three research…

In spring 2020, a worldwide pandemic caused many postsecondary institutions to pivot from face-to-face to online learning for the remainder of the semester. While some institutions reverted to face-to-face teaching in fall 2020, many institutions mainly remained online. As a result, the effect of students' disparate access to enabling technology…

In this era of the Great Resignation, when nearly 40% of principals anticipate leaving their roles, districts need more resilient leaders who can meet the challenges ahead. The past two years--from the global pandemic to the national social justice movement--have created a vastly more complex and demanding environment for school leaders. The need…

This exploratory study sought to gain a better understanding of the nature and extent to which Black, Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) faculty at community college institutions experience racial battle fatigue. This study examined the implications of racial battle fatigue on burnout and the retention of BIPOC faculty at community college…

This qualitative study explores the factors that motivate elementary teachers to remain in the classroom in a micropolitan area school district as filtered through the theoretical framework of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. The findings suggest, teachers working to satisfy safety needs are less likely to reach satisfaction in the areas of esteem and…

Urban charter schools serving economically disadvantaged minority communities experience high teacher attrition. This study examined the association between high-demand teachers, school working conditions, and turnover, both voluntary departures and involuntary terminations in an urban, charter school district. I found that improved working…

The number of autistic students pursuing postsecondary education continues to increase, but they do not persist, graduate, or maintain post-graduate employment at the same rate as their allistic (non-autistic) peers. Using a critical theoretical lens and exploring persistence from Schlossberg's transition theory (1981,) this narrative inquiry…

Teacher retention has been a challenge for most schools for several years. High-needs schools have been known to have twice the trouble with teacher retention as schools not considered high-needs. The purpose of this study was to identify effective practices school principals can implement to retain teachers at high-needs, urban secondary schools.…

Teacher retention has long been a problem, but recent escalations in retention rates across the country have districts scrambling to correct the problem through incentives such as increased pay and teacher workdays. However, the problem seems to be much deeper and goes beyond compensation. Research has suggested that teachers are inadequately…