Effective leadership influences the process quality of early childhood education and care (ECEC) programs and therefore the academic, health and socio-emotional outcomes for children. Yet, the cultivation of leadership is impacted by the complex nature of ECEC environments and the persistent challenges therein. Complex workforce issues, inadequate…

What do we, as women, give up? What does it mean to give up as a woman in academia? We explored this question through a study with women doctoral students to reframe giving up as a purposeful, willful act. Sara Ahmed describes willfulness in relation to women who are perceived as resisting norms, shifting away from normative expectations, refusing…

States have increasingly relied on financial policies to address teacher staffing challenges, particularly in high need areas. Case in point, South Carolina developed the Rural Recruitment Initiative (RRI) to provide funding for recruitment and retention efforts in rural and other underserved districts facing severe teacher staffing challenges.…

A clear and comprehensive guide to evaluating and supporting instructional coaches and coaching programs, including how to recruit, hire, and retain effective coaches. With sound practices in place to evaluate coaching programs, instructional coaches will become better partners, teachers will become better mentors, and students will become better…

This paper presents findings from a qualitative case study that investigates how adult learners experience a student success-rich culture within a community college. The data includes 14 semi-structured interviews with ten adult learners and four institutional-academic representatives, in addition to supporting document analysis of national,…

This nationwide study explores the professional identity of technology and engineering education (TEE) teachers and the impacts of this identity on retention and attrition decisions. Using existing literature on retention and attrition research within general education and other STEM education areas as a guide, this study made use of a…

This research study was intended to understand the level of student effectiveness in academic support services. The study sought to discover the academic support services' strengths and weaknesses within the institution. The research took place on the campus of a private historically black college. The study formulation was a qualitative case…

Mentorship is the guidance given by a more experienced and older individual to a younger and less experienced individual, usually working in the same profession or field. This relationship is developmental, with the mentor taking a key interest in improving and enhancing the skills of their protege. Many people attribute part of their professional…

First-generation students are often underprepared for college and have lower persistence rates (Balemian & Feng, 2013), and they face a unique set of challenges in their transition to college that many of their peers do not (Pelco, Bell, & Lockeman, 2014). Consistent with national statistics, data obtained from UM's Office of Institutional…

This study examines perseverance, the ability to achieve goals, and grit, the long-term completion of goals and tasks. Educators have seen a decline in students' ability to persist through daily challenges. Instilling this quality in students early on can help them set and achieve short-and long-term goals, close academic gaps, sustain…

The purpose of the study is to analyze disaggregate rural public teacher retention data to determine significant differences in retention by race, gender, and educational attainment. Missouri public schools in Northwest Missouri, who are considered rural through the years 2019-2021 were included in this study. ANOVA test results were analyzed to…

The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine if and to what extent a correlation exists between the two components of college self-efficacy, which are course efficacy and social efficacy, and college persistence, as measured by institutional commitment, in first-generation undergraduate online college students. There were…

The national shortage of teachers is cause for great concern. What was once considered a noble profession is not viewed with the same outlook today, particularly by young people. As a result, primary and secondary students suffer because of the startling number of teachers who leave every year. Furthermore, school districts are challenged to…

Over the past decade, 113,000 adults with some college but no degree (SCND) have reconnected with higher education at Tennessee community colleges. Most of these students reconnected at community colleges after attending elsewhere, and many had made substantial progress toward a credential before stopping out. However, after reconnecting, fewer…

Online learning in higher education has been increasing over the last two decades (NCES, 2016). Previous research has highlighted the importance of student engagement for academic achievement and performance (Fuller, Wilson, & Tobin, 2011; Northey et al., 2018). The current study aims to further understand students' perceptions of peer…