From their very beginnings, the community colleges have demonstrated a commitment to their founding principles of access, affordability, and quality. However, following February 2009, when President Obama set forth the agenda for U.S. postsecondary education to have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020, priority shifted…

Dropping out of school before achieving any qualification is a serious problem both at an individual and societal level. This study provides an insight into the lives of young people who have dropped out or are at a risk of dropping out of vocational schools in Estonia and gives an overview of the reasons behind the interruption of their studies.…

The purpose of this study is to explore the general topic of what it means to implement a transformative approach to teacher education consistent with a holistic philosophy, particularly when working with educators teaching in an "unholistic" professional setting. The exploration will be through a case study of the tenth cohort of the MA…

Theoretically grounded in Tinto's model of retention and Braxton and colleagues' revisions , this study is designed to examine the applicability of the integration model to students of different racial backgrounds. Results from a sample of full-time undergraduate students at a research-extensive university suggest that (a) academic and social…

Despite substantial modelling research assessing the impact of cigarette taxes on smoking rates across income groups, few studies have examined the broader financial effects and unintended consequences on very low-income smokers. This study explored how socioeconomically disadvantaged smokers in a high-income country manage smoking costs on…

The integration of young adults into the labor market is a challenge for every society. Because Germany survived the current crisis quite well and youth unemployment rate is more or less stable, the German apprenticeship-system, Duale Ausbildung, became a kind of new role model in Europe. In this article Marcus Eckelt and Guido Schmidt analyze the…

The number and range of problems associated with academies and "free" schools is worrying and can be attributed to the lack of ability of central Government to oversee the increasingly fragmented education provision. In this article, the author looks at just a few of those problems which have been reported since she started to log them…

This study describes the impact of caregiving on parents of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Secondly, we investigate construct validation of the care-related quality of life instrument (CarerQol) measuring impact of caregiving. Primary caregivers of children with ASDs were included. Many parents experienced considerable problems…

This article explores how resettled refugees' aspirations cultivated through education collide with postschooling realities. We find that post-graduation barriers of financial insecurity, housing insecurity, violence and discrimination, and lack of critical awareness of unequal opportunity structures stand in the way of resettlement aspirations.…

Prior research shows that rural students' education expectations and aspirations, as well as their postsecondary enrollment and persistence rates, tend to be lower than those of nonrural students. However, much of that prior research may not apply to today's students because it uses old data or focuses on individual states or purposive samples.…

The researchers conducted an evaluation study assessing outcomes among 37 social workers who completed a continuing education course on financial capability and working with clients. Key constructs assessed included participants' attitudes about financial capability, self-efficacy to provide services, organizational barriers, and basic financial…

The retention of students to graduation is a concern for most higher education institutions. This article seeks to understand why engineering and built environment students fail to continue their degree programmes despite being academically eligible to do so. The sample comprised 275 students registered between 2006 and 2011 in a faculty of…

As the demography of Texas and the United States changes, the spotlight must be placed on the evolving needs of the Hispanic college student. As the nation focuses on many challenges, the need for education reform is looming. Today's leaders in higher education need to understand the students who will face many barriers including those focused on…

A large number of new community college presidents will be hired in the next 5 years due to vacancies. New leaders must be prepared to lead their institutions through the challenges facing community colleges. Forty-one community college presidents in North Carolina participated in our research (70.7% response rate). We found that community college…

Unemployment is, and will likely continue to be, a problem in industrialized nations. Numerous studies have concluded unemployment negatively impacts self-esteem and self-efficacy. Additional studies have shown that unemployed individuals with lower self-esteem and self-efficacy tend to remain unemployed longer than individuals with higher…